General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Tarzan and Jane (2017 TV series)

Tarzan and Jane (full title Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and Jane) is a computer-animated children's television series produced for Netflix that reimagines the Tarzan story in the present day, following a 16-year-old Tarzan who leaves the African jungle to attend a London boarding school and partners with a city girl named Jane to fight environmental injustice, crimes, and mysteries.¹ The series ran for two seasons, from January 6, 2017 to October 12, 2018, totaling 13 episodes.²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Production	41 Entertainment; executive producer Avi Arad (Arad Animation); animation by ARC Productions¹
Network and run	Netflix, January 6, 2017 to October 12, 2018; 13 episodes in 2 seasons (8 and 5)²^•³^•⁴
Premise	Teenage Tarzan, saved from a plane crash and given special abilities, joins Jane to protect his jungle home from threats⁵
Main voice cast	Giles Panton (Tarzan), Rebecca Shoichet (Jane), Marci T. House (Angela), Michael Dobson (Clayton), Omari Newton (Chief Wazari), Paul Dobson (Dr. Porter)⁶
Format	21-minute episodes; rated TV-Y7 (FV)⁵^•⁶
Reception	IMDb 4.8/10; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 40% from 2 reviews; Common Sense Media age 8+ rating⁵^•⁶^•²

Spoilers

Premise and story

In its first episode, the show depicts an infant being found amid the remains of a crashed aircraft deep in the African rainforest near the equator. Western and native medicines combine to save him, and the locals return him to the maternal gorilla who found him, Kala, to be raised among the jungle creatures and hidden from visitors. As Tarzan grows older, keeping his existence secret becomes harder, and he eventually travels from his longtime home to London to attend school, where he meets Jane; the two team up to fight for environmental justice and solve mysteries.²

Netflix's synopsis describes the setup as a modern-day remake in which 16-year-old Tarzan is returned from the African jungle to a London boarding school, where he is a "fish-out-of-water" and challenges conformity. Jane is central to the story alongside Tarzan as his partner in solving environmental injustice, crimes, and mysteries.¹

Season 1 episodes. The eight episodes of the first season, all released on January 6, 2017, tell a compounding story: "A Hero Is Born" (Tarzan rescued from the plane crash by Kala, with special medicines giving him abilities), "Tarzan Meet Jane" (the teenage Tarzan saves Dr. Porter's daughter from a panther attack), "In the Urban Jungle" (Tarzan adjusts to London high school and the pair uncover an animal trafficking ring), "Dangerous Rescue," "The Betrayal," "By Air and by Sea" (toxic pesticides at the Greystroke organic farm), "Chasing the Mastermind" (a pursuit that reaches Morocco), and "Showdown in the Jungle," in which Tarzan and Jane free Kala from a trap and stop poachers from destroying the village.⁶

Production

The series was produced by 41 Entertainment with Avi Arad, founder of Arad Animation and formerly chairman and chief executive officer of Marvel Studios, as executive producer, and animation from ARC Productions.¹ Jesse Lickman directed the first season, with Sean Catherine Derek as screenwriter and Allen Bohbot sharing executive producer credit.⁶ For the second season, direction changed to Steve Ball, whose credits include Storm Hawks, ReBoot, and The League of Super Evil.⁴

Release and reception

Season 1 dropped on Netflix on January 6, 2017 with 8 episodes. A second season was not confirmed until September 2018, when it appeared in Netflix's October 2018 release roundup; it premiered on October 12, 2018 with 5 episodes, launching alongside the second season of The Boss Baby: Back in Business.⁴ The season 2 episode titles were "That Day in Rio," "Into the Rainforest," "Too Much Monkey Business," "The Ruins," and "Return of the King."⁴

Critical response was mixed to negative. The series holds a 4.8/10 rating on IMDb and a 40% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes from two reviews.⁵^•⁶ Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle gave it 1 out of 4 stars, writing "Tarzan is silly. It really is."⁶ Emily Ashby, reviewing for Common Sense Media, gave it 3 out of 5 and called it visually enjoyable, noting the humorous edge of Tarzan's mischievous streak and his adjustment to London life.⁶ Common Sense Media rated the show appropriate for ages 8 and up, finding little violence despite characters shown with guns and constant threats to Tarzan's jungle home, and praising the clearly defined good and evil and the pairing of Tarzan with an able, principled Jane. It noted that because the episodes tell a compounding story and the animation is more realistic, the show is meant for a slightly older audience than typical preschool fare.²

Availability

After ending in 2018, the series remained available digitally: it streams on Netflix (including the ad-supported tier) and free with ads on Pluto TV and Tubi, and can be purchased on Amazon Video starting at $9.95.⁵^•³

Place in the Tarzan franchise

The series is one of many adaptations of Edgar Rice Burroughs's characters; Tarzan has been filmed dozens of times, and this version stands out by moving the ape-man to modern London rather than keeping him in the jungle and by making Jane an active co-protagonist rather than a visitor to his world.² It should not be confused with Tarzan & Jane (2002), a Disney direct-to-video animated film about the married couple's first year together.⁷

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026