Tarzan is a fictional character, an exemplary untamed child raised in the African jungles by the "great apes". Tarzan, the Ape Man is a 1959 action adventure film starring Denny Miller as TarzanTarzan later experiences civilization only to completely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. The movie is loosely based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel Tarzan of the Apes, and is a remake of the classic 1932 film of the same name. Tarzan then became a series that aired on NBC from 1966 – 1968.

The series portrayed Tarzan as a well-educated character, one who, tired of civilization, had returned to the jungle where Tarszan had been raised, to live out his life. The show retained many of the trappings of the classic movie series, including Cheeta, while excluding other elements, such as Jane. A fair amount of footage was taken directly from the 1932 version rather than being reshot, including scenes of Tarzan swinging on vines and the elephants' destruction of a pygmy village. A scene of Tarzan fighting a crocodile was reused from Tarzan and His Mate, the sequel to the 1932 film. CBS aired repeat episodes of the program during the summer of 1969.