Greystoke

Greystoke is a 2012 6 part miniseries by HBO and based on the novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The miniseries itself is 1 hour long for each episode and is the most faithful adaptation of the novel so far, It aired from October 4 to November 8, celebrating the centennial of Tarzan. Upon airing it received critical acclaim for its writing and acting, it also won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Drama Series. It was followed in 2014 by a sequel called Greystoke: Tarzan's Return based on The Return of Tarzan.

Plot
In 1886 Lord John Greystoke and his wife Lady Alice Greystoke were abandoned on the west coast of the Belgium Congo following a mutiny and soon after Alice gives birth but soon afterwards dies from a fever and Lord John gets slain by brutal ape leader Kerchak. Luckily, a female Great Ape named Kala who lost her biological baby to Kerchak's rages finds the baby and adopts him as her own.

21 years after in 1907 the grown up boy named Tarzan meets a stranded group consisting of Jane Porter, her father Archimedes Q. Porter, her ward Esmeralda and William Cecil Clayton who unbeknown to them Tarzan's cousin.

Jane meets the mysterious ape-man of the jungle when he rescues her from falling and takes her into the jungle, whilst with Tarzan in the jungle Jane begins to fall in love with him and even considers staying in the jungle with him. However Jane and her father eventually return to America, however Tarzan soon follows them there.

However despite being reunited with Jane, Tarzan soon learns that civilized life is far different from that of the jungle where he grew up. But maters soon become even more complicated when Jane and her father are kidnapped by a man who they owe money to and Tarzan must come to rescue them. Eventually Cecil learns the truth but keeps it hidden.

Humans

 * Henry Cavill as Tarzan - The son of Lord John and Lady Alice Greystoke who were both stranded in the West African jungle in 1886 following a mutiny, after their deaths he was adopted by the Great Ape Kala of the Mangani tribe and grew up learning the laws of the African jungle and eventually claimed the title "Lord of the Apes". When he was 21 he met and fell in love with the beautiful young American Jane Porter.
 * TBA as Infant Tarzan.
 * TBA as Year old Tarzan.
 * TBA as Tarzan aged 5.
 * Ty Simpkins as Tarzan aged 12.
 * Tania Raymonde as Jane Porter - A beautiful young woman from Baltimore, Maryland in America. She came to West Africa with her father to search for some lost treasure in order for him to settle his debt with a mobster. It was on the expedition that she falls in love with Tarzan, however she is unsure if their romance could work out due to the worlds they live in despite feeling more at home in the jungles of West Africa then in Baltimore. She is also a supporter of the suffragette movement.
 * Daniel Radcliff as William Cecil Clayton - The cousin of Tarzan and the current Lord of Greystoke. He came to Africa to look for his aunt and uncle who disappeared over 21 years ago but eventually discovered that they had died. He arrogantly refuses to believe that Tarzan is his cousin due to his wild appearance but eventually does after receiving a telegram from d'Arnot.
 * Ewan McGregor as Paul d'Arnot - A Walloon commander of the Belgium Navy who came to look for Archimedes team but ended up being captures by a tribe of cannibals but is rescued by Tarzan, he then teaches Tarzan how to speak French and he also becomes his loyal friend.
 * Ian McShane as Professor Archimedes Q. Porter - Jane's father who is a University professor from Baltimore, America. He came to Africa to study the newly discovered region on the Congo. He is also in debt with a mobster named Robert Canler
 * Freema Agyeman as Esmeralda - Jane and Archimedes' loyal maid from Haiti.
 * Justin Berfield as Samuel T. Philander - Archimedes' bumbling young assistant who is a student in the Baltimore University. Despite being
 * Shaine Jones as Robert Canler - A violent gang-boss from America. He kidnapped Jane, Archimedes and Cecil and tried to lure Tarzan into a trap but was defeated when Jane managed to warn Tarzan that it was a trap, after a brief fight between Tarzan and Canlers men Tarzan managed to capture Canler and left him tied up outside the police station and was arrested.
 * Patrick Wilson as Secondino "Dino" Carusone -
 * Dagmara Domińczyk as Annamaria Carusone -
 * TBA as Gigancarlo Carusone -
 * Jude Law as Lord John Greystoke - The birth father of Tarzan who was stranded with his wife Alice in West Africa, due to him befriending the crew member who lead a mutiny against the captain of the ship he and his wife were travelling one Sadly however shortly after Tarzan's birth he was killed by Sabor.
 * Famke Janesson as Lady Alice Greystoke - The birth mother of Tarzan and the beloved wife of John who was abandoned on the coast of West Africa, she soon suffered a mental breakdown after having to shoot a wild ape that attacked John and started believing that they were both still in London. Sadly however shortly after giving birth to Tarzan she died from a fever.
 * TBA as Black Michael -
 * TBA as Chief Mbonga - The chief of a tribe of cannibals and one of two main antagonist of the miniseries. He lead his tribe to the Mangani's part of the jungle after killing a Belgium major, fearing the wrath of King Leopold II he and his tribe fled to a deep part of the jungle and built their new village. Later when Tarzan killed his son Kulonga he swore to kill him in revenge,
 * TBA as Kulonga -
 * TBA as Edgar Rice Burroughs -

Mangani

 * TBA as Kala - Tarzan's adoptive mother a gentle, female Great Ape who lost her other baby to Kerchak's rages. She was the one who found Tarzan and both raised and loved him as if he were her own, sadly however she was eventually killed by a tribal hunter.
 * Andy Serkis as Kerchak - The savage and violent leader of the Mangani tribe. He was responsible for causing the death of Kala's baby and later killing Tarzan's father, throughout Tarzan's life.
 * TBA as Tublat - Kala's mate and the adopted father of Tarzan. Unlike Kala he despises Tarzan as he views him to be weak, despite Tarzan's attempts to be kind to him. Years later, during the rite of Dum-Dum, he attempted to steal a piece of meat that Tarzan had only to be stopped by Kala. This caused him to finally snap and attempt to kill Kala, only for Tarzan to stab him to death with his real fathers knife.
 * TBA as Terkoz - Kerchak's son and an enemy of Tarzan. He first appeared in the third episode where Tarzan kills Kerchak and declares himself leader of the Mangani, enraged as he was supposed to become leader he attempted to attack Tarzan, only for the rest of the tribe to unite and cast him out. He appeared later in the episode where he attempted to abduct Jane, only for Tarzan to fight a kill him.
 * TBA as Droopy Ears - A friend of Tarzan from his childhood. He and Tarzan would often play together whenever Kala and his mother weren't looking, sadly whilst playing by the river one day, they were attacked by Sabor the lioness. Tarzan managed to escape by diving into the water and swimming to safety, since Droopy Ears was an ape and couldn't swim, he attempted to flee only for Sabor to catch and kill him.

African Animals Featured

 * African Forest Elephant (Tantor) - Two Elephants appeared in the miniseries. One was an Elephant whom Tarzan befriended in his youth, the other was a dead individual that was being cut up in the French colonial town.
 * African Leopard (Sheeta) - 
 * African Lion (Numa, Sabor) -
 * African Rock Python (Histah) -
 * Black Rhinoceros (Buto) -
 * Great Apes - The Mangani are the Great Apes who adopt Tarzan when he was an infant. They seem to be a cross between Gorillas and chimpanzees,
 * Nile Crocodile (Gimla) - One appeared in the second episode. It attacked Cecil as he was out looking for Archimedes, he was walking through a swamp when he came upon it. Tarzan came to his aide and killed the crocodile by snapping its neck.
 * Plains Zebra (Pacco)
 * Red River Hog (Horta) -
 * Western Lowland Gorilla (Bolgani) - One appeared in the first episode. A large male attacked Tarzan whilst he was visiting his deceased parents cabin, he managed to kill it after a brutal fight but not before it badly wounded him.

Locations

 * Equatorial West Africa -
 * Greystoke Tree house - A tree house that Lord John and Lady Alice Greystoke built and lived in following their marooning in Africa by mutineers. It was also where Tarzan and raised until his first year when his parents died and he was adopted by Kala.
 * Cannibal Village -
 * St. Eustache - A French colonial town.
 * Baltimore, America -
 * Porter House - The home of Tarzan's love interest Jane Porter and her father Archimedes.

Differences from the novel
Despite being the most faithful adaption of Tarzan yet there are several changes:
 * In the novel Jane and Esmeralda were attacked by a Lion whereas in the miniseries they are attacked by a Panther.
 * In the novel the Greystokes live in a cabin, in the miniseries they live in a tree house.
 * Jane is introduced to the Mangani, this never happens in the novel
 * Jane and Tarzan go skinny dipping, this scene is absent in the novel.
 * The novel is set in 1909, whereas in the miniseries it is set two years earlier in 1907.
 * Jane is brunette in the miniseries, whilst in the novel she is blonde.

Trivia

 * The miniseries was filmed in Korup National Park, Cameroon. The film Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes was also filmed there.
 * The Carusone family, as well as the fifth and sixth episodes were adapted from the Dynamite Tarzan comic, Lord of the Jungle, written by Arvid Nelson.
 * John Scott who was the composer for the original Greystoke film, returned to compose for the miniseries.
 * The swimming scene was taken from the 1943 film Tarzan and his Mate
 * This miniseries was Andy Serkis' third time playing an ape, the first was for Peter Jackson's King Kong as Kong and as Caesar in Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Episode 1

 * Tarzan is shown entirely nude as child before he forms his loincloth, this is portrayed as innocence only.


 * Some African tribal women are seen topless, this for tribal purposes only.

Episode 2

 * Jane is seen stripping naked and changing into her nightdress, her breasts and buttocks are seen.

Episode 3

 * Jane and Tarzan are seen skinny dipping in a river, Tarzan wears his loincloth whilst Jane is naked. Her breasts and buttocks are seen through the water.

Episode 5

 * Tarzan sneaks naked into Jane's room with his bare buttocks seen. He then unties Jane's nightdress and drops it from her, her breasts and her buttocks are seen. He then carries her over to her bed and they make love, there is some thrusting and moaning.

Episode 1

 * Tarzan's human father is attacked by Kerchak who kills him by ripping out his throat. His torn out throat and blood are seen.

Episode 3

 * The mutineers stab Major Downing to death with a dirk. Blood is shown.

Episode 4

 * The mutineers

Episode 3

 * Jane swears "Jesus Christ" when annoyed.


 * Major Downing goes "Damn" when cross.

Episode 7

 * Robert Canler calls Tarzan a "Fucking Savage".

Episode 3

 * Major Downing smokes a cigar and drinks rum.

Episode 6

 * People are seen drinking alcohol and smoking on the colonial bar.

Episode 9

 * Canler drinks beer and smokes a cigar.

Episode 1

 * Sabor pounces out with lighting crackling. A terrifying scene.

Episode 4

 * The dissected corpses of several sailors is seen, can be disturbing.