''The New Adventures of Zorro'' is an American

animated television 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 eith ...

produced by

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and ...

in 1981. The series, which has 13 episodes, is based on the

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

created by

Johnston McCulley John William Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1958) was an American writer of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro. Biography Born in O ...

. It aired as part of '' The Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour''. This is the only series Filmation made in which they contracted an outside, third party animation studio (although the storyboards were created by Filmation themselves). The series was outsourced to

Tokyo Movie Shinsha , formerly known as the , also known as or , is a Japanese animation studio established on October 22, 1946. TMS is one of the oldest and most famous anime studios in Japan, best known for numerous anime franchises such as '' Lupin the Third'' ...

in Japan. All other series afterwards were animated internally by Filmation themselves. It was producer

Norm Prescott Norman Prescott (January 31, 1927 – July 2, 2005) was co-founder and executive producer at Filmation Associates, an animation studio he created with veteran animator Lou Scheimer. Life and career Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Bosto ...

's final series with Filmation, bringing to an end the famous 'rotating producers' wheel that made Filmation a household name. From '' Gilligan's Planet'' onwards,

Lou Scheimer Louis Scheimer (October 19, 1928 – October 17, 2013) was an American producer and voice actor who was one of the original founders of Filmation. He was also credited as an executive producer of many of its cartoons. Early life and education ...

would handle production duties on his own.

Plot

''Don Diego de la Vega'' is a young man of high social position from the town of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, who fights against tyranny under a

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 prevalen ...

, ''Zorro''. He is helped by ''Tempest'' (originally "Tornado"), his black horse, and ''Miguel'', a young swordsman (replacing the traditional mute servant Bernardo). Miguel wears a disguise very similar to Zorro’s (but with different colors and without a cape) and rides a

Palomino Palomino is a genetic color in horses, consisting of a gold coat and white mane and tail; the degree of whiteness can vary from bright white to yellow. Genetically, the palomino color is created by a single allele of a dilution gene called t ...

. ''Ramón'', the captain of the garrison, is Zorro’s main foe. Captain Ramón is helped in his task of capturing Zorro by ''González'', a foolish sergeant who is friends with the De La Vega family. Sergeant González was a character from the original Zorro story 'The Curse of Capistrano'. He had been replaced by Sergeant Garcia on the Disney series. The actor who voiced González, Don Diamond, played Sergeant Garcia's companion Corporal Reyes.

Voice cast

* Henry Darrow as

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

Julio Medina Julio Medina Salazar (born 16 January 1933) is a retired Colombian actor. He is notable for his debut work in ''Gunsmoke'' and for his award-winning role in ''Las aguas mansas''. For nearly thirty years, Median worked and lived in Los Angeles u ...

as Miguel *

Don Diamond Donald Alan Diamond (June 4, 1921 – June 19, 2011) was an American radio, film, and television actor who portrayed "Crazy Cat", the sidekick and heir apparent to Chief Wild Eagle on the popular 1960s television sitcom, ''F Troop'' (1965–19 ...

as Gonzales *

Eric Mason Eric Mason (died 7 June 2010) was a British actor. Originally a stevedore working at Surrey Docks, he sustained a back injury in a road accident and end up taking an acting career. He made his theatrical debut in ''Gentle Jack'' by Robert Bolt, st ...

as Ramon *Christine Avila as Maria *Socorro Valdez as Lucia *Carlos Rivas as Don Alejandro * Ismael 'East' Carlo as Fray Gaspar

Episodes

Educational messages

Zorro showed the viewers information about

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and the influence of

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the ...

and

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

in the region at the end of each episode. These kinds of educational messages were common in 1980's animated television series of Filmation. Other examples of this are the moral advice found in episodes of ''

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's toy line ''Masters of the Universe''. The show, often referred to as simply ''He-Man'', was one of the most popular anim ...

''.

Merchandising

In 1981, toy manufacturer Gabriel released a line of Zorro action figures that tied in with Filmation's animated series. The characters included in the toy line were Zorro, Miguel, Captain Ramon, Sergeant Gonzalez, Tempest (horse) and Picaro (horse).

References

External links

Zorro Productions, Inc.
*
''The New Adventures of Zorro''
on Hulu.com
Pictures and information about ''The New Adventures of Zorro'' in Planete-Jeunesse
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Adventures Of Zorro 1981 American television series debuts 1981 American television series endings 1980s American animated television series American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series English-language television shows Television series by Filmation Television series by CBS Studios Zorro television series CBS original programming