Product Description
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With his black cape, eye , and signature rapier-inflicted
mark, Zorro has been a popular cultural icon for nearly 100
years. In this adaptation of a familiar tale, Duncan Regehr stars
as the mild-mannered Don Diego de la Vega and his swashbuckling
alter ego. Originally televised on the Family Channel from 1990
to 1993, the 88-episode series, which was filmed in Spain,
depicts a mythical 19th-century outpost in southern California
populated by corrupt or lazy officials, chivalrous gentlemen,
pretty señ,oritas, simple but honest peasants, and other stock
characters. Recommended by the National Education Association at
the time of its airing, this family-friendly fare is formulaic
and predictable. A bonus disc contains "The Mark of Zorro" a
full-length version of the 1920 silent film with Douglas
Fairbanks in the title role, along with the pilot to this series
and various theatrical trailers. Of potential interest to fans of
the original series or those who follow the different iterations
of the man called Zorro. [The Disney series starring Guy
Williams, which ran from 1957 to 1959, is also available in
numerous editions, for those truly nostalgic.—,Ed.]—,Linda
Frederiksen, Washington State Univ. Lib., Vancouver Copyright
2011 Reed Business Information.
.com
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No doubt that the release of all 88 episodes of this fondly
remembered 1990 Family Channel series will exert the same
irresistible nostalgic pull on Generation Y as the classic 1950s
Disney series has on Baby Boomers. But while Duncan Regehr (the
cult fave Monster Squad), as the dashing Zorro, is no Guy
Williams (forgive the generational bias), this entertaining
family-friendly series is a worthy addition to the prolific Zorro
canon that dates back to 1919. You have to get eight episodes
into the first season for the four-episode arc that reveals how
Don Diego de la Vega was compelled to become the legendary outlaw
who fights injustice in 19th-century Spanish California. Efrem
Zimbalist Jr. provides some old-school Hollywood glamour as Don
Diego's her, who wishes his bookish son were more like Zorro.
He was replaced Darrin-style in season two by Henry Darrow. There
is mild love interest in the feisty form of Patrice Camhi
Martinez as the independent, strong-willed Victoria. Juan Diego
Botto provides added kid appeal as Felipe, a young mute who keeps
Don Diego's heroic alter ego a secret. And stealing his scenes is
Zorro's horse, Tornado. The series boasts good production values,
swashbuckling action, hissable villains (Michael Tylo as the
tyrannical mayor Luis Ramon in the first two seasons), corny
humor, and some curious guest stars, including Adam West as an
inventor hired to devise a trap for Zorro ("The Wizard"), Philip
Michael Thomas as a runaway slave ("Pride of the Pueblo"), and
future 007 Daniel Craig as a ruthless tax collector's lieutenant
("The Arrival," "Death and Taxes"), not to mention wrestlers
Andre the Giant, Jesse Ventura, and Roddy Piper (in separate
episodes). For aficionados, the real fun is on a disc full of
bonus Zorro-abilia, including the 1920 silent film The Mark of
Zorro starring Douglas Fairbanks, the first chapter of the 1939
serial Zorro's Fighting Legion, an alternative version of the
series pilot episode starring Patrick James, and Zorro trailers.
--Donald Liebenson