To understand what you are looking for on the Archive, you first need the backstory. By 1966, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Lord of the Apes had already been played by Johnny Weissmuller, Lex Barker, and Gordon Scott on the big screen. But television was the new frontier.
Produced by Banner Productions and airing on NBC from September 8, 1966, to April 11, 1968, this Tarzan (1966) series starred a former Florida State University quarterback and actor named Ron Ely.
Why was this version different?
Only 57 episodes were produced. For decades, the series was considered "lost media" or locked in syndication rights hell. VHS copies from the 1980s were expensive and rare. Then came the Internet Archive.
Simply typing "Tarzan 1966" into the main search bar on Archive.org is a start, but here is the expert method to find the highest quality versions. tarzan 1966 internet archive
Step 1: Go to archive.org
Step 2: Use specific search strings.
Do not just type "Tarzan." Instead, use:
Step 3: Filter by "Movies" and "Community Video." Because this is user-uploaded content, it usually lives under the "Community Video" or "Classic TV" collections. To understand what you are looking for on
Step 4: Look for the "Complete Series" bundles. As of 2025, there are multiple entries. The most popular uploads are usually titled something like: "Tarzan (1966-1968) - The Complete Series - 57 Episodes - Ron Ely."
Pro tip: Download the highest-resolution file you have space for. The streaming compression sometimes crushes the already-dim shadows. A local copy feels more like a treasure you found in a $1 bin. Only 57 episodes were produced