TARZAN-season one-7-THE PRODIGAL PUMA

 

TARZAN-season one-7-THE PRODIGAL PUMA

 

We are, seemingly, back in Brazil with Jason Flood, Rao, a fully clothed Jai, even Tall Boy has a scene, and the settlement/outpost. Ely’s hair once again looks dyed black.

 

We also have the narration, though it is shorter again and the early first season theme music. There’s also another “pet” for Jai, this time a puma, who needs more of its kind around, and another puma, on the loose who is sought after by a man named Spandrell.

 

Spandrell is played by the handsome, well built, Rafer Johnson, who has a long list of credits, including Mike Henry’s TARZAN movies TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY and TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER, in which he performs admirably. Here, he has an extended well choreographed fight with Tarzan at the climax of this exciting episode.

 

During the fight, Tarzan also has to take out yet another crocodile. Crocs also threatened he and Rao, when they were tied up. Rao also gets grazed in the head by a bullet. In one curious scene, Jai tries to get him to go after Spandrell (after Spandrell threatened Jai by holding him up in the air bodily!) and Rao falls down, wounded and Jai smiles, “Rao, are you playing?” What?

 

Other than that, Jai’s presence adds to the episode and he even faces down Spandrell far better than Jason Flood, who had a rifle, does. While Rao and Jai are sometimes liabilities, they’re useful to Tarzan and the plot while Jason just seems like excess baggage.

 

Jai remembers Spandrell from two (and change) years ago when Tarzan put him away for a crime. Jai is now ten and must have been eight or less years old!

 

Jan Merlin, also always a villain and a great one (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, THE TIME TUNNEL, THE FUGITIVE and many, many more) appears as Hacker, Spandrell’s sidekick (or is Spandrell his sidekick as for once, interestingly, it’s difficult to tell which one is in charge, perhaps neither is). He’s taken care of Tarzan before the fight with Spandrell. Also interestingly, and perhaps charmingly, Tarzan doesn’t kill either villain, though if any two deserved it…

 

What’s odd is that…this TARZAN seems at odds with TARZANs of old. In the past, in  movies anyway, Tarzan seemed to think badly of any man (or woman) wanting to capture ANY animals for a zoo, circus, or any captivity and he was always dead set against it to the point of murdering anyone who wanted to. Here, it is the reverse. He’s helping Rao capture the golden puma to bring it to the other golden puma.

 

Charmingly, Jai seems to do what Spandrell wants and gives him a canister that is supposed to have gasoline in it but…Spandrell finds out later that is nothing but water!

 

Another notable thing about this enjoyable episode is that the girl is Gigi Perreau who plays Sheri Kapinski, a believable woman in the jungle who is an aide to a doctor (named Lancer) who dies (the idiot tried to take the food of one of the pumas and is killed by it; the natives superstitious over the golden puma do not want to help him).

 

Sheri wants to go home and Tarzan calls her out on her pity. She was teaching natives to read and seemed confident until the doctor was killed. Her rapport with Ely is apparent, despite the character conflict between the two. It is apparent by the end that the two actors and characters really like each other. Sort of a shrinking violet, she does two things that are brave: she empties the riverboat of fuel, even while tied hands and feet, AND she throws the pistol of Spandrell into the water after also misguiding his aim by knocking into him.

 

At first, when Cheetah hugs her, she’s appalled or seems to be but by the end, she’s welcoming Cheetah’s comfort.

 

Speaking of comfort, Ely seems perfectly comfortable around the puma just as Tarzan would be. Amazing.

 

BTW, Sheri is played by child star Gigi who has a long list of credits, too.

 

Rao and Flood have some good scenes with Jai, here, too.

 

Also of note: where past movies have given the untying of bonds over to Cheetah, here, Cheetah (a “he”) is treated as just an animal who can’t untie Tarzan and Rao but can bring a pointed rock to Tarzan so he can free himself.

 

All in all, this episode has some wonderful locations, good character interplay, a lot of tension and some fantastic action. I have to admit Ely is pretty amazing as Tarzan and this episode shows why: he’s running, diving into water, calming a puma, fighting man and beast in water, and basically calming the girl into realizing her best and withdrawing her self pity. Most of the people we’re met from ep 1 to 7 seem to have thought Tarzan was just a myth or have already heard about him and are surprised to actually meet him. Here, Spandrell has reason to want revenge on Tarzan, even though his pal says, “Why not let bye-gones be bye-gones?”