The serial presents a more authentic version of the character than most other film adaptations, with Tarzan as the cultured and well-educated gentleman in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs novels.

It was produced by Ashton Dearholt, Bennett Cohen and George W. Stout under the corporate name of “Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises, Inc.” (which also distributed) and was directed by Edward Kull and Wilbur F. McGaugh.

The original version of the plot proposed involvement of munitions runners and government agents, focussing more on the super-explosive formula hidden in the idol.

)[1] Several plot elements bring the characters together in search (and pursuit) of the Guatemalan idol known as The Green Goddess: Tarzan's friend D'Arnot has crash landed in the region and is in the hands of a lost tribe of jungle natives; Major Martling is leading an expedition to find the fabled artefact for a powerful explosives formula hidden within it; Ula Vale's fiancé died in an earlier expedition to rescue the artefact for its archaeological benefit, and so she starts one of her own in his honour; and Raglan has been sent by Hiram Powers, Ula's lawyer, to steal the valuable idol for himself.

Tarzan, Ula and Major Martling locate the lost city containing the idol and rescue D'Arnot from the natives who worship it in the 70-minute-long first episode.

The adventures end out at sea, where, during a hurricane, they are able to permanently secure the idol while Raglan is killed by another of Powers's agents because of his failures.

Burroughs, long dissatisfied with Hollywood's treatment of his Tarzan character, refused, but he took a liking to Dearholt personally and they became friends.

Therefore, in late 1934, Dearholt "led an expedition" of 29 cast and crew, with several tons of freight, aboard the liner Seattle to begin filming in highland ruins in Guatemala.

[5] Far from being the low-cost, exotically located, adventurous film-making experience Dearholt anticipated, this decision caused unusual production problems.

Once there, they were held up by customs and security officers of President Jorge Ubico, whose assistance Dearholt had counted on and had even written into the serial's final episode as a character (whether he intended to ask the Presidente to play himself is not known).

[9] Guatemala had no motion picture industry of its own, so everywhere they went the company had to carry tons of equipment brought with them from the States, including an enormous sound truck that was not designed for the winding, dirt mountain highways which made up most of the country's transit infrastructure.

"[4] The local climate became another problem when the production was affected by tropical storms and some film was damaged by the humid environment of the very real jungle.

[13] While in Guatemala in 1933 troubleshooting for RKO, Ashton Dearholt met and fell in love with a young swimmer whom he hired as the serial's lead actress.

While filming, Edgar Rice Burroughs divorced his wife Emma Hubert and married Florence Gilbert, 30 years his junior, on 4 April 1935, after which they escaped to Hawaii for their honeymoon.

[3] However, the serial did much better abroad, especially in England, where it was re-released following World War II with its first episode shortened to 45 minutes and its two feature versions also edited, all at the hands of E. J. Fancey's New Realm Pictures, Ltd.

Fancey also dubbed or redubbed the first feature version, the poor quality of which he excused by adding an "apology" to the credits that claimed the problem was due to "variable atmospheric conditions" in Guatemala which had affected the original recording.

MGM's Johnny Weissmuller films, featuring the now standard yell, had been in production for some time when this serial was created, starting with Tarzan the Ape Man (1932).The original version of the plot involved munitions runners and government agents, focussing more on the super-explosive formula hidden in the idol.

There may have been suspicions that this was due to MGM's influence over the trade media, but with the low budget, major financial difficulties, and problems with the Guatemalan government while on location, it may just have been its fate as an independent picture.