The film stars Ron Ely as Tarzan and Joan Blondell as Jane Porter. The story begins with Tarzan and Jane returning to the jungle after a year in civilization. However, their peaceful life is short-lived, as they soon discover that Jane's estranged father, Archimedes Porter, is in Africa, searching for a valuable treasure.
For years, this series was difficult to find in its entirety. The Internet Archive's Tarzan page provides a digital repository for these episodes, preserving the legacy of Ron Ely’s physically demanding performance. tarzan 1966 internet archive exclusive
(Scanned PDFs and audio files available for download) The film stars Ron Ely as Tarzan and
The 1966 Tarzan television series starring Ron Ely remains a high point for fans of classic adventure television. Filmed on location in Brazil and Mexico, this production brought a gritty, athletic realism to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ legendary character. For decades, finding complete, high-quality episodes of this series was a massive challenge for media historians and casual fans alike. For years, this series was difficult to find in its entirety
: Ron Ely famously insisted on performing his own stunts, resulting in 17 different injuries during the first season alone—including lion bites and broken bones.
Let’s rewind. By 1966, Tarzan was in a rut. The Johnny Weissmuller era was a distant memory; the late 50s and early 60s had seen a few low-budget adventures, but the cultural bite was gone. NBC decided to take a massive swing. They greenlit a new series simply titled Tarzan .
The Internet Archive hosts these as preservation copies of orphaned works (no clear active copyright holder pursuing distribution). However, technically, the series is still under copyright. The Archive responds to DMCA takedowns, but the 1966 Tarzan has largely remained untouched due to its "abandoned" commercial status.