''Zorro'' (also known as ''The New Zorro,'' ''New World Zorro,'' and ''Zorro 1990'') is an American action-

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...

featuring Duncan Regehr as the character of

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 ...

. Regehr portrayed the fearless Spanish hero and fencer on The Family Channel from 1990 to 1993. The series was shot entirely in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain and produced by

New World Television New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...

(U.S.), The Family Channel (U.S.), Ellipse Programme of

Canal Plus Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

(France), Beta TV (Germany), and

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

(Italy). 88 episodes of the series were produced, Raymond Austin directed 55 episodes and produced 37. There were 10 more episodes made than the first ''Zorro'' television series, which was produced by Disney in the late 1950s. Since 2011, the series is airing in the United States on Retro Television Network as ''The New Zorro''. Sony Pictures is the distributor for this version of ''Zorro''.

Synopsis

The series is set in early 19th-century

Spanish California The history of California can be divided into the Native American period (about 10,000 years ago until 1542), the European exploration period (1542–1769), the Spanish colonial period (1769–1821), the Mexican period (1821–1848), and Uni ...

. When the commandant of Los Angeles,

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) ...

Luis Ramone, terrorizes the people of the

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

and oppresses them, Don Alejandro de la Vega summons home from Spain his son Diego to fight the alcalde and his men. When Diego arrives, he finds his town in a sorry state, and while pretending to have little interest in anything but books and his experiments, he creates the secret identity of ''El Zorro:'' The Fox. He and his mute servant, the teenage Felipe, battle the alcalde's tyranny.

Cast and characters

Main

* Duncan Regehr as Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro * Patrice Martinez as Victoria Escalante (credited as "Patrice Camhi" Seasons 1–2) *

Juan Diego Botto Juan Diego Botto Rota (born 29 August 1975) is an Argentine-Spanish film, stage and television actor. Born in Argentina, he moved to Spain together with his mother (the actress and acting coach Cristina Rota) in 1978. Following early film appe ...

as Felipe * James Victor as Sgt. Jaime Mendoza *

Michael Tylo Michael Edward Tylo (October 16, 1948 – September 28, 2021) was an American actor. Career Among his numerous soap opera roles, he was best known for his portrayal of Quinton Chamberlain on ''Guiding Light''. He played the role from 1981 to 19 ...

as Alcalde Luis Ramone (Seasons 1–2) *

J. G. Hertzler John Garman Hertzler Jr. (born March 18, 1950) is an American actor, author, screenwriter, and activist best known for his role on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' as the Klingon General (later Chancellor) Martok, whom he portrayed from 1995 unti ...

as Alcalde Ignacio de Soto (Seasons 3–4) * Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Don Alejandro de la Vega (Season 1) * Henry Darrow as Don Alejandro de la Vega (Seasons 2–4) * Tabare Carballo as Sepulveda (Seasons 3–4) (Cpl. in Season 3 / Pvt. in Season 4)

Guest stars

A * Adam West *

André the Giant André René Roussimoff (; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by excess ...

B *

Bernard Kay Bernard Frederic Bemrose Kay (23 February 1928 – 25 December 2014) was an English actor with an extensive theatre, television, and film repertoire. Career Kay began his working life as a reporter for the ''Bolton Evening News'', and a str ...

* Benito Martinez *

Ben Miles Benjamin Charles Miles (born 29 September 1966) is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the television comedy ''Coupling'', from 2000 to 2004, as Montague Dartie in ''The Forsyte Saga'', from 2002 to 2003, a ...

D *

Daniel Craig Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English-American actor who gained international fame playing the secret agent James Bond in the film series, beginning with '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and in four further instalments, up to '' ...

* Doug McClure *

Dougray Scott Stephen Dougray Scott (born 25 November 1965) is a Scottish actor. He has appeared in the films ''Ever After'' (1998), '' Mission: Impossible 2'' (2000), ''Enigma'' (2001), ''Hitman'' (2007), and ''My Week with Marilyn'' (2011). Early life Sc ...

F *

Faith Brook Faith Brook (16 February 1922 – 11 March 2012) was an English actress who appeared on stage, in films and on television, generally in upper-class roles. She was the daughter of actor Clive Brook. Early years Although she was born in York ...

G * Garfield Morgan H * Hilton McRae *

Hunter Tylo Hunter Tylo (born Deborah Jo Hunter; July 3, 1962) is an American actress, author and former model. She is best known for her role as Taylor Hayes (1990–2002, 2004–14, 2018–19) on '' The Bold and the Beautiful''. Early life Tylo was born ...

J *

James Horan James Horan may refer to: * James Horan (actor) (born 1954), American character actor * James Horan (cricketer) (1880–1945), Australian cricketer * James Horan (Gaelic footballer) (born 1972), two-time and current Mayo manager * James Horan (mo ...

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* Jim Carter *

John Hallam John William Francis Hallam (28 October 1941 – 14 November 2006) was a British character actor, who frequently played hard men or military types. Early life John Hallam was born, the son of a superintendent at London Docklands, in 19 ...

* Julie T. Wallace K *

Kevin Brophy Kevin M. Brophy (born November 1, 1953) is an American film and TV actor. Brophy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in ''Lucan'' (1977-78). He appeared with his wife, Amy, in the 1994 film ' ...

M * Michael Culver N *

Nicholas Clay Nicholas Anthony Phillip Clay (18 September 1946 – 25 May 2000) was an English actor. Early life Clay was born in Streatham, London on 18 September 1946, the son of a professional soldier in the British Army's Royal Engineers. The famil ...

* Nigel Terry O * Oliver Haden *

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* Omri Katz P * Patrick Drury *

Patsy Rowlands Patricia Amy Rowlands (19 January 1931 – 22 January 2005) was an English actress who is best remembered for her roles in the ''Carry On'' films series, as Betty Lewis in the ITV Thames sitcom '' Bless This House'', and as Alice Meredit ...

* Peter Guinness *

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* Philip Michael Thomas R * Robert Hoy *

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S * Soon-Tek Oh T *

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V *

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Vincenzo Nicoli Vincenzo Nicoli (born 27 July 1958) is a British actor who appears in film, television and theatre. He is best known for roles in blockbuster films, such as Alan Jude in the 1992 science fiction film '' Alien³'' (1992), Enrico Biscaglia in the ...

W * Warwick Davis

Episodes

Production

Out of the 88 produced episodes directer Raymond Austin directed 55 and directed and produced 37. He also camera operated 83 episodes. The title sequence of the first episode differs from the one used in the rest of the series. The rest of the episodes' openings use the same opening theme, but different clips, and the song is performed by Cathi Campo (

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song " Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano" ...

's niece), rather than a male singer. Patrice Martinez is credited as "Patrice Camhi" in the first two seasons of the series. She was married to producer-director Daniel Camhi during that time. (He did not work on this series.) Zorro's horse is usually named

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...

, but in this series he has been renamed Toronado. The

bridle A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. As defined in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the "bridle" includes both the that holds a bit that goes in the mouth of a horse, and the reins that are attached to the bit. Headgea ...

and breastplate worn by Toronado in this series are identical to the one worn by Zorro's horse in the

Alain Delon Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for h ...

film ''

'' (1975) and by Chico, the Queen's horse, in the syndicated television series '' Queen of Swords'' (2000-2001). Both this series and ''Queen of Swords'' were filmed in Spain. ''Zorro'' was shot at studios outside of Madrid in 1990, and filming for ''Queen of Swords'' took place at the Texas Hollywood Studios in Southern Spain in 2000. Henry Darrow is the first? Latino actor to play the role of Zorro's father on television. (Armando Joseph Catalano, aka Guy Williams, who portrayed the character in Disney’s series, was Sicilian). He was the first actor to work in three different ''Zorro'' television series. He was the voice of Zorro in the animated series '' The New Adventures of Zorro'' (1981), and played the older Zorro in the short-lived CBS series ''

Zorro and Son ''Zorro and Son'' is an American television Western based on the character Zorro that aired on CBS. Created by Walt Disney Television, the series stars Henry Darrow as Zorro (Don Diego) and Paul Regina as his son Zorro Jr. (Don Carlos). The li ...

'' (1983) and Zorro's father in this series. The original pilot (as included in the DVD boxed set ''Zorro: The Complete Series'') focuses on a young man named Antonio de la Cruz, played by Patrick James, who is told by a mortally wounded Don Diego de la Vega to take on the mantle of Zorro. In this pilot Felipe is able to speak. Only Patrice Martinez albeit as a different character survived to the actual series. The pilot was filmed at Texas Hollywood.

Music

The Complete Zorro Soundtrack was released in 2012. It includes 25 tracks composed by Jay Asher and is available in CD and MP3 formats.

Release

VHS

Two tapes of episodes from this series were released to the United States home video market in 1996. The first tape contains Parts 1–4 of "The Legend Begins" from the first season (which originally aired as a made-for-cable movie based on the series, and was released on VHS in that format), and the second tape contains the final four episodes of the series under the name ''A Conspiracy of Blood.'' Each tape's four episodes are presented as a 90-minute movie, with at least one scene in each movie that is not in the regular episodes.

DVD

Two separate DVD boxed sets are available in France. The episodes are dubbed in French and subtitled. In 2009, the German company Kinowelt Home Entertainment released the complete first season of the series, dubbed in German. The entire series is available on DVD in Region 1. In this set, the unique opening theme used in the series premiere is replaced by Campo's version, which was used in the rest of the series. Also, some of the episodes use the abbreviated version of the opening credits that appeared in reruns on The Family Channel. "The Legend Begins" is included in its episodic version, rather than as the expanded movie that was originally aired and later released on VHS. Other episodes that originally aired as one hour specials ("The Devil's Fortress" and "One for All") are split in to separate episodes (as they were for reruns) on the DVD set.