In Tarzan, Jane is a woman in her early 20s with fair skin, blue eyes, and long, brown hair. She slowly began to lower her defenses (visualized through her progressive change of attire), became more open-minded to the peculiar world in which she was exploring, and eventually felt her home was not in England but in the jungle itself and with Tarzan. After her first encounter with Tarzan, Jane grew a natural understanding of the ape-man and the jungle itself. Interestingly, however, she is somewhat quick to adapt. Within the jungle, she is also out of her element, meaning she initially had difficulty surviving its perils upon encountering them, forcing her to be saved by Tarzan repeatedly. She has a habit of getting herself into trouble, and sometimes due to her own arrogance, such as when she teased and taunted a baby baboon, not realizing his aggressive family was nearby and ready to protect their child. This led to bitterness between herself and her arrogant guide, Clayton, who continuously doubted Jane's capabilities.įor all of her talents, Jane is far from perfect. She generally appreciates and respects the animal kingdom, and takes it as her responsibility to be mindful of their living conditions during her explorations. Though she primarily works from a reference, her sketch of Tarzan was done solely on memory, further exemplifying her talent.Īside from art, Jane has a passionate admiration for wildlife of all kinds. Overall, Jane is nevertheless intelligent and greatly gifted in her skills as a zoologist and artist seen several times throughout the film, Jane can conjure an extremely accurate representation of an animal (or even a human, such as Tarzan) and portray it on her sketch board with relative ease and exquisite detail. However, she still has a sense of standards and tries to stay true to her roots as an Englishwoman while also adapting to life in the jungle. Their most ambitious expedition is one taking place in Africa, where a long-awaited journey to study gorillas was to occur.ĭespite her origins linking back to upper-class England, Jane is fairly eccentric and spontaneous - not unlike her father. Together, they use their combined resources to garner a better understanding of animal habitats and behavior. What became of Jane's mother is unknown, though Archimedes briefly mentioned that their daughter takes after her, quite a bit.Īt adulthood, Jane became an animal researcher in a field that allows her to work closely with her father.
It was one of my favorite series at the time.Jane is a young woman living in Victoria-era Britain, alongside her father, the esteemed Professor Archimedes Q. The plots were well-contrived and enjoyable. The introduction always ran with Ely calling out that famous Tarzan yell (Johnny Weismuller's original recorded Tarzan yell - as it was with most Tarzan movies and shows). The vine swinging and running through the jungle were performed with style and aplomb. Long and lanky, yet sinewy and strong, he made the physical part of Tarzan's exploits look good. Ely had a great physical look for Tarzan. You could always count on Cheetah to bring a smile to Tarzan's face at the end of each show with Jai in hot pursuit shouting, "Cheetah, you come back here," or something of that nature.
Was he an orphan or what? Was he a "ward" of Tarzan's, a la Batman's Dick Grayson? Nevertheless, Jai provided an important element to the series - he took the serious edge off of Tarzan and made him compassionate, looking out for a young boy who emulated him (loin cloth and all). I always wondered how Jai fit in to the cast, as it seemed unusual for a Hispanic boy to be running around in Africa with Tarzan.
The Pharoah's Carlos from American Graffiti) and Cheetah the Chimp to provide the less-serious, comedy relief tone to the show. Ely's Tarzan was articulate and educated. Ely's Tarzan was reminiscent of Hawaii Five-O's Steve McGarrett (played by Jack Lord). Ron played Tarzan serious and straight, dealing with poachers and jungle baddies of all sorts as though it were natural for a partially naked man to be a quasi-jungle policeman/detective. Unlike campy Batman, the show took itself seriously and yet, Ron Ely running around in a loin cloth week by week on prime time, didn't seem out of place.
The show was also contemporary with Star Trek. Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward and The Green Hornet with Van Williams and Bruce Lee. An unlikely show, in a sense, it played well amidst the superhero genre that was somewhat prevalent at the time - i.e. Aside from Johnny Weismuller, Ron Ely is my favorite Tarzan.