Tarzan - Season One: Part One (4 Discs)

Johnny Weismuller was the greatest Tarzan ever.But,Ron Ely made an excellent TV Tarzan.He was perfect for the part,was athletic and did most of his own stunts which usually ended up with him getting hurt.Up to that point,he was the 15th actor to assume the role, going all the way back to 1918.Gone was the "Me Tarzan,you Jane" dialogue,This was a well educated Tarzan.Gone was Jane as well.Manuel Padilla Jr played an orphan boy named Jai which Tarzan takes under his wing.I used to watch this as a child and am still happy to say that it is exactly the way I remembered it with plenty of action and adventure.There are plenty of guest stars here which includes Ruth Roman Jack Elam Support your local Sheriff) Julie Harris (Knot's Landing) Maurice Evans (Bewitched) Ralph Meeker Henry Silva (Ocean's Eleven) Robert J Wilke (The Legend of Jesse James) James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader) Jock Mahoney (Yancey Derringer)Coincidentally, Jock Mahoney played Tarzan in the movie,Tarzan goes to India.He appears three times here in season one as different characters.He was also the stepfather of actress Sally Field.Manuel Padilla Jr, who plays Jai, would appear in the final season of Sally Fields "The Flying Nun" TV series.Good stories throughout this season with one episode playing out like an episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" with hi-tech computers and villains in an underwater cavern.Another episode has Tarzan pitting his wits against a computer that can predict it's opponents next move.It's a shame that Ron Ely did not do more TV work as he makes a great man of action as you will see in this series

I recall as if it were only yesterday sitting in front of a small black and white television watching this tv series. It is one of my favorites from my childhood. The scenery depicting the African jungle contributed to my fascination with the entire African continent which endures to this day. My deep love for African wildlife was no doubt shaped by this show. I didn't know at the time the profound effect the show would have upon me.From what I have read, they have done an excellent job in presenting these episodes I assumed would be lost forever. I am so glad to see them on the market finally. I only wish it was available as a regular dvd, not a DVD-r format. I believe that format will not hold up as long as a regular dvd. Make a backup is all I can tell you. Even in this format, I intend to buy, if they release both seasons. I am just waiting for the price to be a much more attractive. I refuse to pay the full going rate for a show that is placed on inferior media. That's what dvd-r is, inferior.This set is no doubt like a time capsule from the second half of the 1960s. It should be treasured for the work of art that it surely is.

Tarzan for its time 1966-1968 was a great action series with neat locations and sets and actors.Nichelle Nichols, Don Marshall,Diana Ross and the Supremes, Helen Hays,James MacArthur,Sally Kellerman,Ethel Merman,Nemiah Persoff,Lloyd Haynes,George Kennedy,Nancy Malone,James Earl Jones and many many more enliven this series with these great actors.Ron Ely was in excellent shape at the time to play this character for two seasons.Ron really took this role seriously and rarely used a stunt double.During the first season he sustained at least 17 separate injuries. He was bitten by a lion on the forehead and thigh on two different occasions.He singed his feet and legs running through fires, He ripped the skin off his feet sliding down a hill.While swinging on those vines they have broken at least three times falling 25 feet sustaining a separated shoulder,a broken shoulder, tons of cuts and bruises including both wrists and three ribs.Now thats really a trooper for and actor to really want to make the series believable.Ely is also famous for playing Doc Savage.For years the syndication prints have been horrible with really faded color prints, Update: Now that I have seen them they look remastered to me.You really can enjoy every episode like never before since they were made.The blues and greens are incredible and enhance the scenery.If you can't get one on amazon the WB archives sell it and part two as well to complete season one.

When I realized that the Tarzan tv series from the 1960s was finally available on dvd I ordered the two parts of Season One immediately. Ron Ely is the ultimate virile Tarzan and I can't imagine anyone more at ease in a loincloth. I think that the second season episodes are even better than the first so I can hardly wait for those ones to appear as well. On the plus side : Ron Ely is front and center for most episodes and the color is richer than I recall. The only negative is that the series is pretty useless as a lesson in Natural History and Geography because a single episode will mix together stock footage of fauna from South America ( jaguars, macaws, spider monkeys), Africa (lions, cheetahs, rhinos) and Asia (tigers, orangutans )and some episodes feature Africans and the next will have South American Indians. It would have been great too if extras had been included - an interview with Ron would have been a great addition. But all in all, I'm grateful for what has been provided after years of waiting for its release.

It's been decades since I watched the Tarzan show as a teenager, and I always remembered the show as having the most faithful portrayal of Edgar Rice Burroughs' literary character. Most big and little screen portrayals of Tarzan are so disappointing for fans of the original books, but Ron Ely's portrayal of Tarzan is satisfying and still the best and most authentic to this day. Production values of the show were good for the time and the scripts, acting and directing and overall storytelling are generally good. The audio/visual quality of the DVD's are quite decent. I did have an issue twice with the audio and video being out of sync, but hitting the stop button followed by hitting play on the DVD player immediately resolved the problem. These Tarzan show DVD's are a swingin' good time and I highly recommend them!

i was glad that this television series came on dvd as i always wanted this for long time as i still got some the tarzan books from when i was child used read this every weekend, now this lovely tv series on dvd i will get the next some time really worth buying.

Great childhood memories

I loved it as a child. At last I have gained me the DVDs. The image quality is ok (You must not expect too much). Ron Ely is of course top ...

Excellent brought back happy memories of me watching this series on a Saturday morning as a child

great item