Tarzan

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

This year's winner of the "Greatest Post-Pilot Decay Award," given in memory of the late, unlamented John Doe, has got to be Tarzan. In fact, Tarzan suffers from almost the exact same problem that killed John Doe - after creating an initially interesting premise, the producers are unable to come up with any sort of plot that doesn't involve the main character becoming an honorary police officer.

Tarzan started off well enough, really. Jungle boy gets rescued by sinister uncle and kept in a cell, from which he escapes and meets an attractive young policewoman. The show looked good - early episodes were directed by X-Files veteran David Nutter and Buffy veteran David Solomon - dark, shady, mysterious. And they did a nice job with the fight scenes, all of which were very reminiscent of Brotherhood of the Wolf. All good signs. And it had Mitch "Shocker" Pilleggi as the evil uncle. And Xena as Tarzan's aunt (who, for reasons I don't entirely understand, decided to play her character in the most lecherous manner possible - yay, incest!)

And then they sort of ran out of steam. I guess Tarzan can't really stop poachers in the city, so he needs to hunt a sniper? It just seems like a waste of perfectly good premise. Like John Doe, the big story arcs seem to be consigned to the last 5 or 10 minutes of each episode.

Fortunately, the show has allegedly been killed already, so I can't complain too much. But wasted potential is always sad.

Rating: C

Reviewed by Padgett Arango
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