"Tarzan and the Lost Cub" is the third episode of The Legend of Tarzan. It originally aired on UPN on September 5, 2001.
Summary[]
While washing her clothes in a river, Jane finds a lost leopard cub, stranded and isolated by itself in the jungle. Later, Jane asks Tarzan about keeping the leopard. Tarzan laughs at the idea and suggests that they also make friends with other menacing animals such as crocodiles. However, since everyone else thinks the cub is so cute and adorable, Tarzan gives in and agrees to give the leopard a chance much like he was given when he was taken in by Kala. Jane later asks Terk and Tantor to look after and babysit the cub for a while so she and Tarzan can catch a break. They of course lose the cub and then give chase after the run-away animal and find themselves in a predicament with the baboons. They hastily retrieve the cub and take off, and the baboons begin to pursue them then head for the treehouse. The tree-house becomes over-crowded with the baboons and starts to fall to pieces. Tarzan sees this from afar while relaxing with Jane and hurries to save the gang. When Tarzan returns, he blames the mess on the leopard cub and says he must go. A disheartened Jane turns to Kala and asks for advice on what she should do. Kala suggests that she should take him back to his own kind just as she would've done with Tarzan if she had found other people. Kala and Jane travel deep into the jungle in search of other leopards that could care for the cub. When Jane and Kala finally offer the cub to a pack of leopards, they become angry and attack. Tarzan, Terk, Tantor, and the professor swing in to rescue them - meanwhile the cub sneaks off and climbs a few cliffs to find another leopard inside a den. This leopard turns out to be the lost cub's mother. What's more, the leopard also jumps down into the action to save Tarzan and the gang from disaster and allows them to escape to safety. After Tarzan leaves, the cub's mother reappears - Tarzan at first grabs his spear, but then lets go of the weapon as he recognizes that it is the mother. The cub also jumps out from behind and Tarzan begins to play around with him, he then admits he was wrong about a leopard being unable to "change its spots".
Cast[]
- Michael T. Weiss as Tarzan
- Olivia d'Abo as Jane Porter
- Jeff Bennett as Archimedes Q. Porter
- Jim Cummings as Tantor
- April Winchell as Terk
- Susanne Blakeslee as Kala
- Jason Marsden as Mungo
- Erik von Detten as Flynt
- Frank Welker as Nuru and Sheeta
Trivia[]
- Near the end of the episode, Jane wears the clothes she wore at the end of movie, but she's now using it as a swimsuit.
- Disney wanted this episode to show that two different kinds of people (in this case, Tarzan and the leopard) can be friends even with their rough past.
- Ironically, Tarzan treats the cub the same way Kerchak treated Tarzan.
