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presents
Volume 7774

TARZAN, LORD OF THE JUNGLE-35
Tarzan and the Super 7 number 7—Episode 35 of the entire range
October 27 , 1979 ~ Episode 7 of 4th Season



TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS
Review by Charles Mento

“The jungle is a beautiful place but filled with hidden dangers.”
“Holding wild animals in captivity is wrong.”
“Every creature has a right to freedom and happiness.
It is wrong for man to take away such freedom.”

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Aired October 27, 1979, I probably never saw this. That year was a busy year for me and my family and frankly, I thought, like most other Saturday Morning shows at this point, that they only aired new episodes for one or two seasons and then just aired repeat after repeat after repeat, which they were doing with TARZAN. Interspersed with repeats were new episodes, which I just recently found out.

It is the reason I’m also reviewing these backwards, which is not the best way to do the reviews but there you go. It makes it difficult to note reused footage and stock footage, which is the same thing really.

 PLOT: 

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Here is the synopsis from Wikipedia: After saving a gorilla and her son from the Bolmangani, Tarzan ends up having an encounter with Fana the Huntress and her pet white tiger Pasha. Fana ends up targeting Jad-bal-ja. During Fana's hunt, the Bolmangani Commander Kerlock and his men mistake her as an ally of Tarzan and capture her and Pasha causing Tarzan to come to her rescue.

OBSERVATIONS

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The Bolmangani, which to me sound like Bolgani are gorilla men who wear clothes and carry spears and negs. They try to capture an ape and her baby. The ape seems to be named Kalu. Tarzan rescues them after some very nice footage of him swinging through the morning jungle accompanied by some beautiful music on the soundtrack (almost always stock from the first season). The stuff of Tarzan swinging and flipping through the air may be stock or seem like filler but I love it. It gives the jungle that air of wonder and beauty the narration at the start of each episode mentions.

The Bolmangani are capturing apes for work in the king’s jewel mine. Also capturing animals is Fana (sounds like Fauna to me), a woman of unknown origin who has a “pet” minion, a  white tiger named Pasha.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger

Tarzan does not recognize this animal and it is clear it comes from another place. Tarzan hears her trap a pig (looks to me like a wild boar with tusks) that he calls Horta. She tells Tarzan he will be freed as will all the animals she captures when she gets what she is really after: the Golden Lion who will join Pasha in helping her hunt animals for sport. What? That makes little sense but never mind. This is a simple adventure and all the more fun for it.

Tarzan tells Nakima and Kalu, “The jungle is a beautiful place but filled with hidden dangers.”

Jar Ba Ja is the Golden Lion that featured in episode 3 who helped Tarzan against the Bolmangani in the past. He tells Fana that holding animals in captivity is wrong. Tarzan vs Pasha and makes the white tiger submit. When Fana tries to whip Pasha, Tarzan intervenes. He moves to go get to Jad (Jar Bac Ja, or Jad the Golden Lion). He thinks the “river will hide our spore.”  Or scent from Pasha?

In the river, Tarzan fights a croc in a great sequence. Nakima watches from a tree above and sees their forms under the water. It is well done. He hides the Golden Lion in the southern veldts where not even Fana can find him. Before this, there is a flashback to when Tarzan and Nakima first found Jad, his mother died from illness.

Commander Kerak’s plan is to trap Fana and Pasha (the tiger in a net) and bring them to their king at their fortress, thinking she is a friend of Tarzan’s. Though Fana keeps calling Pasha stupid, it is Pasha who escapes the courtyard where the king of the Bolmangani ordered them kept to lure Tarzan in. At first, it seems the King asked Kerak, “You dare bring one of Tarzan’s friend’s here?” as if he were sure this was a bad plan. Then he smiled.

Pasha escapes but his rope gets caught and he is menaced by Hyenas but  Jad scares them away. Tarzan frees Pasha but Tarzan asks Pasha to show him the way to the city fortress where she is being held. It seems Pasha relayed to Tarzan she was captured? Tarzan pole vaults to the top of the wall and jumps into the fortress. He’s called elephants to break the doors in so that Pasha and Jad can enter, too. All of them scare off the gorilla men; Tarzan fighting many; as this is an animated show for children, there is little to no violence: gorilla men hit each other’s heads, Pasha and Jad bite the bottom of the shirts of the gorilla men; and the king is jumped by Jad and the king crawls into a cage.

In the end, all the animals are set free, apes and others from both the Bolmangani and Fana, who’s learned her lesson never to hunt for sport again. She is going to bring Pasha back to his (or her?) native land. Tarzan tells her freedom and happiness is the right of every living creature and man is wrong to take away those.

This was far superior to the episode that follows it, Tarzan and the White Elephant. Sometimes television works best when a simple adventure unfolds and this is that. There is a lot of forward movement and action. After having watched the city bound WB’s TARZAN, it was refreshing to see a story that stayed in the thick of an African “jungle” even if a fantasy version. At first, the title made me think they were going to remake the Johnny Weissmuller epic TARZAN AND THE HUNTRESS and indeed, some aspects of that movie are seen here: a huntress but not from civilization as Fana is dressed in strange garb (Indian? Some other lost civilization? We’re not told).

There are a few good fights here including even yet another croc fight. The animation is not stilted as in the next episode. It flows far better. Nakima is fun, too, especially as he jumps on the king when the king is trying to spear Tarzan, who laughs it all off. Nakima jumps on the king’s neck and covers his eyes.

The music really helps to move the action along, too. It has a greatness about it in its entirety and sound wonderful and moving. It is the one thing I remember about the show to this day. I also remember it being fast paced and having some messages given to us, which all Saturday Morning Shows in the 1970s HAD to do. This did it without hitting us over the head.

Everything about this episode works. It doesn’t even feel dated. I wish a professional copy of these later episodes were put out on DVD and/or Blu Ray.

I really enjoyed this episode.

Note:

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Mangani – A type of great ape. They are intelligent, with their own spoken language (which Tarzan knows), are Tarzan's friends and family, and will come to his aid if summoned. Named Mangani include Terkoz (voiced by Lou Scheimer) and Tor. Kala was only seen in the intro of this cartoon.
Bolmangani – A race of gorilla-men. They take monkeys, normal gorillas, and other animals to be used as slaves in plots to enhance their city and to take over the entire jungle. They have fought Tarzan many times and have been thwarted by him. They try to get revenge on him for thwarting their plots.
Donlumangani – A race of short humanoid primates that live in the snowy mountains. They are nicknamed the Ice People.
Monkey People – A race of creatures that are part human, part monkey.

Other animals
Almost all of the animals in the Filmation series are referred to using the Mangani-language names that Tarzan knows them by.

Argus – A giant eagle
Bazansi – A spider
Bolgani – A Gorilla
Borta – A Common Warthog
Buto – A Black Rhinoceros
Dimetrodon – a reptile from the inner world of Pellucidar and the land of Pal-ul-don
Dango – A Spotted Hyena
Duro – A Hippopotamus
Eta-pamba - A Kangaroo rat
Gimla – A Crocodile
Gordo – An aquatic beast resembling a sauropod
Gorgos – An African Buffalo
Gryf – A dinosaur-like creature in Pal-ul-don that is described by Tarzan as "ancient". It resembles a Triceratops with the dorsal plates and spiked tail of a Stegosaurus and teeth like a Tyrannosaurus.
Handal – A hornet
Histah – An African Rock Python
Lukota – A giant tortoise
Manu – A monkey. N'kima is one.
Nita – A hawk
Numa – A Lion
Pacco - A Zebra
Plesa – A fish
Sabor – A lioness
Sheeta – A large jungle cat
Tandor - The Pellucidar name for the Woolly Mammoth
Tangani – A baboon
Tarbogani – A white gorilla
Tar-Sheeta – A large white tiger that lives in the snowy mountains
Thipdar - The Pellucidar name for the Pteranodon
Zabor - The Pellucidar name for the Tyrannosaurus
Zupisa – A great whale

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Charles Mento's Reviews of ALL the Tarzan TV Series
https://www.ERBzine.com/mento
ERBzine List of the Tarzan Filmation Animated Series
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle Tarzan Episode Titles
https://www.erbzine.com/mag27/2799.html

Off-Site References
Tarzan and the Huntress TV Ep. Video
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle :: Filmation TV in Wikipedia
Tarzan and the Huntress in IMDB
Show Screen Captures by Charles Mento
White Elephant Video 1: Daily Motion.com
White Elephant Video 2: Daily Motion.com
Tantor the Elephant in Wikipedia
Tarzan and the White Elephant in IMDB