''Zorro: Generation Z'' is a British-German

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

that began in 2006. Former

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...

development executive

Rick Ungar Richard "Rick" Ungar (; born November 4, 1950) is the host of ''The Rick Ungar Show'', a two hour political and news commentary radio show. Ungar is also the Editor In Chief of The Daily Centrist website. Previously, Ungar was the co-host of ' ...

developed the original series in association with

BKN International BKN International AG (BKNI) was a German kids TV production and distribution company that formerly operated as the international division of BKN, Inc. History BKN International was originally founded as Bohbot Entertainment Worldwide in 1994 ...

, BKN New Media, G7 Animation, and

Pangea Corporation Pangea Corporation is an entertainment development and creative services company that specializes in the animation and toy industries. The company was part of the original creative team that launched the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" for Playmate ...

. The programming deal and concept for the new series was developed by Ungar, G7, and Pangea and underwritten partially by a master toy license with Brazilian toy company, Gulliver Toys. What made the show unique were the plethora of Pangea-designed high tech gadgets and the conceit of having the young Zorro ride his motorcycle named after his horse, Tornado.

Plot

In 2015, teenager Diego de la Vega, the five times great-grandson of the original

Zorro Zorro (Spanish language, Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed a ...

, discovers his heritage and decides to take up the mantle. Clad in a black suit and high-tech weapons, Zorro signs the "Z" to establish justice in the metropolis of Pueblo Grande,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Main characters

Diego de la Vega/Zorro

After living abroad for sometime, Diego returns to Pueblo Grande when his father is kidnapped by mayor Martínez, to prevent him from running in the election. Diego grew up listening to his grandfather's stories about

and is quick to take over the family role after he and Bernardo find the Fox Den. He rides a motorcycle called the Tornado–Z (named after the original Zorro's horse) and wields the Z–Weapon, a multi–purpose

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

weapon which can act as a gun, sword, bow-staff or whip/grappling hook. The Z-Weapon also has a "DNA lock"; meaning that only he or a member of his family can activate it. In addition, his cape is bulletproof and can function as a parachute or a glider. He is based on Don Diego de la Vega from the original novel.

Bernardo

Diego's best friend and a technological genius - the mute Bernardo maintains Zorro's equipment, does online detective work and occasionally wears the costume when Diego and Zorro need to appear together. He is based on Don Diego's mute manservant Bernardo from the original novel. Bernardo is very loving and affectionate with a snarky sense of humor. He and Diego are almost brothers as they both grew up together on the same street. Diego's grandfather also gave Bernardo a small fortune which he used to repair Diego's bike in one episode.

Alejandro de la Vega

Diego's father and the owner of Dela Vega Industries. He is unaware of the family secret; until recently assumed Zorro was a myth. He is still unsure that a masked crusader is what the city needs. He worries a lot about Diego's lack of responsibility, assuming his son is out all night partying. Based on Don Alejandro de la Vega in previous versions.

Mrs. McAlistair

The de la Vegas' Irish housekeeper. She knows Diego's secret as Zorro and approves of what he is doing.

Horace Hernando Martinez

The corrupt ex-

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Pueblo Grande, Martinez is Zorro's greatest enemy. In addition to imposing high taxes and secretly running Pueblo Grande's

organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, he is a business rival of the Dela Vega family and often targets Alejandro's company with his criminal schemes. He is based on the corrupt

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

s in earlier versions of Zorro and bears a strong resemblance to Alcalde Quintero in the 1974 film, '' The Mark of Zorro''.

Maria Martinez/Scarlet Whip

The daughter of Horace Martinez. Maria adopts a costumed identity to fight against her father's corruption using a pair of laser-whips. She and Diego are at college together and have a friendly rivalry. Neither knows the other's

secret identity A secret identity is a person's alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. Brought into popular culture by the Scarlet Pimpernel in 1903, the concept was widespread in pulp heroes and is particularly prevalent ...

; until near the end of the final episode in Season 1 "''Poll Axed''". She is somewhat similar to Lolita Quintero in the 1940 version of '' The Mark of Zorro'' or Theresa in the 1974 version - both of whom are Zorro's love interest and the Alcalde's niece - her masked identity may be based on the title character of the 1944 film ''

Zorro's Black Whip ''Zorro's Black Whip'' is a 1944 12-chapter film serial by Republic Pictures starring Linda Stirling. The film was made after the 1940 20th Century-Fox remake of '' The Mark of Zorro'' in order to capitalize on it. Republic was not able to us ...

''. According to the series' bible; her costumed identity was originally going to be the Black Whip rather than the Scarlet Whip, but it was changed to better distinguish her from Zorro.

Sergeant Garcia

The mayor's aide and head of the Pueblo Grande Police Department. Sergeant Garcia is corrupt enough to turn a blind eye to his boss' actions most of the time, but not enough to actually get involved or allow anyone to get hurt. His role is usually to tell the police not to investigate. He is clumsy and always eating (usually spilling his food whenever someone calls for him) he is based on Sergeant Garcia in the 1950s TV series, ''

''.

The Dons

A group of criminal hoodlums hired by Mayor Martínez to take charge of various criminal businesses in Pueblo Grande. When Gloria Sheffield runs for Pueblo Grande mayor, they ended up being hired by her.

Guest Characters

Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro

The first Zorro and ancestor of the present Zorro. He is only seen in one episode where Diego is somehow sent back in time and fights alongside him against the villain El Fantasma.

Isabella

The love interest of the original Zorro.

El Fantasma

The villain from the 1800s and enemy of the original Zorro.

Gustavo de la Vega / Zorro

Diego's late grandfather was the Zorro before him. Gustavo chose to keep the family legacy a secret from Alejandro as he felt that his son was not meant to be Zorro and would not want to be Zorro either. Now he often appears in

dream sequence A dream sequence is a technique used in storytelling, particularly in television and film, to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flashforward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other ...

s and flashbacks by giving Diego advice about how to be Zorro.

Alejandro's grandmother

Alejandro's grandmother is a Native American and, like Diego's grandfather, has died before the series begins but appears in dream sequences as a young girl who offers cryptic advice. She is probably based on the character White Owl from some recent re–telling of the Zorro story. She only appears in ''The Perfect Fox Hunt''.

Fearsome Four

Criminals hired by Mayor Martínez to destroy Zorro but they end up unleashing mayhem in Pueblo Grande and try to take over the city themselves. They are eventually defeated by Zorro.

Alfredo Catalano

A scientist who invented an earthquake machine. After his invention was discovered by Maria and Diego he was hired by Mayor Martínez for city demolition jobs. However his first job under the mayor was foiled by Zorro and Scarlet Whip and he is subsequently arrested.

Augusto Catalano

Alfredo's twin brother specializing in

nanite A molecular machine, nanite, or nanomachine is a molecular component that produces quasi-mechanical movements (output) in response to specific stimuli (input). In cellular biology, macromolecular machines frequently perform tasks essential for l ...

s research. When Augusto offered his service to Mayor Martínez, in exchange for releasing his brother, Martínez demands Augusto destroys Zorro first. When Augusto's plan was initially successful in stopping Zorro the mayor changed his terms to demand he destroys Scarlet Whip as well. With Zorro's equipment infected by nanites Zorro turns to an old barn for a horse and antique weapons to fight Augusto. Zorro breaks into Augusto's lab and captures him.

Mayor Gloria Sheffield

Founder and CEO of Sheffield Industries, and

of Pueblo Grande. After Alejandro de la Vega had dropped out of mayor elections, Gloria Sheffield planned a series of citywide sabotages to destroy Horace Martínez's reputation in order to overtake the mayoral position in the election. Gloria ended up being the new mayor of Pueblo Grande despite Zorro and Scarlet Whip's attempt to help Horace.

Jack Sheffield

Gloria Sheffield's son is disguised as a dumb jock at Pueblo Grande College. However, he was the technical genius behind the citywide sabotages and the retina recognition program to uncover the true identities of Zorro and Scarlet Whip. Later, Zorro is able to work out Jack's role in the citywide sabotage and discovers the potential identity leak. Bernardo was eventually able to intercept Jack's retina recognition program by replacing the final image with the Sheffields.

Episodes

Movies

*''Zorro: Return to the Future'' is a feature that includes the first 3 episodes of the series. It can also be found on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. *''Zorro and Scarlet Whip Revealed!'' is a feature that includes ''The Earthquake Machine'', ''Z-Virus'', and ''Poll Axed''.

Cast

Ben Small Benjamin Small is a British voice actor who has acted on animated films and television shows, including Thomas the Tank Engine and Toby the Tram Engine in the UK dub of the children's television series ''Thomas & Friends''. Career Small voice ...

as Diego de la Vega / Zorro *

Alessandro Juliani Alessandro Juliani (born July 6) is a Canadian actor and singer. He is notable for playing the roles of Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the Sci-Fi Channel television program ''Battlestar Galactica'', Emil Hamilton in ''Smallville'', Ja ...

as Bernardo *

Jules de Jongh Jules de Jongh is an American voice actress. She provided the voices of Yugo and Evangelyne in the first 2 seasons of '' Wakfu: The Animated Series'', the voice of the protagonist Faith from the video game ''Mirror's Edge'', and the voice of se ...

as Maria Martinez / Scarlet Whip *

Janet Brown Janet McLuckie Brown (14 December 192327 May 2011) was a Scottish actress, comedian and impressionist who gained considerable fame in the 1970s and 1980s for her impersonations of Margaret Thatcher. Brown was the wife of Peter Butterworth, who ...

as Mrs. McAlistair * Morgan Deare as Horace Martinez *Luis Soto as Sergeant Garcia * Sarah Douglas as Gloria Sheffield * Alan Marriott as Don Ichy / Don Skull

Development and Broadcast

The show has been aired in the United Kingdom on Pop on 7 April 2008 and was shown on

Kix! Pop Max (formerly Kix! and then Kix) is a British free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. As of June 2014, it broadcasts cartoons, sci-fi, action and adventure series and ani ...

on 19 May 2008. This version of the Zorro story features a descendant of the original

, named Diego de la Vega, as the original Zorro, fighting crime and the corrupt government of Pueblo Grande in a near-future setting. ''Zorro: Generation Z'' has yet to air in the United States. The series has already been shown in the Philippines via

Hero TV Hero (also known as Hero TV) was a 24-hour Philippine pay television channel created by ABS-CBN's narrowcast arm Creative Programs Inc. from 2005 to 2018. The programming was composed primarily of Filipino-dubbed Japanese anime series. It wa ...

and Australia on

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. A planned second season of 26 episodes of the series was announced in 2009 for a release in 2010, entitled ''Zorro Generation Z: HD'' but it was not fully completed or released for broadcast as BKN International filed for insolvency in October 2009, despite a press statement from Nicola Andrews, managing director of BKN New Media Ltd in London, who noted: 'We have already commissioned and produced Season II for 2009."

External links

Zorro Productions, Inc.
* *BKN Kids Zorro
Generation ZGeneration Z: HDReturn to the FutureZorro and Scarlet Whip Revealed!News for Zorro: Generation ZBKN Announces Release Of Two New Films
* ttps://archive.today/20130201133937/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS153934+05-Feb-2008+RNS20080205 BKN International AG - BKN Signs Master Toy Licensee : NON-REG {{Zorro 2000s British animated television series 2006 British television series debuts 2006 British television series endings Zorro television series British children's animated action television series British children's animated adventure television series Television series created by Rick Ungar Television series set in 2015 Television shows set in California Films based on works by Johnston McCulley