From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa
Genre	Action-adventure
Creator(s)	Johnston McCulley
Developer(s)	Telemundo-RTI Colombia with Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI)
Starring	Christian Meier Marlene Favela
Country of origin	Colombia  United States
Language(s)	Spanish
No. of episodes	120
Production
Executive producer(s)	Patricio Wills Hugo Leon Ferrer
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Telemundo
Picture format	Color
Original run	February 12, 2007 – July 27, 2007
Links
Official website
IMDb profile

Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa (The Sword and the Rose) is a Spanish-language telenovela based on Johnston McCulley's characters. It premiered February 12, 2007 on Telemundo. This limited-run serial is expected to run for 120 hours on weekdays over 23 weeks. The masked crusader shows the hero torn between his fight for justice and his love for a beautiful woman.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Production 3 Theme Song 4 International airings 5 Characters 6 See also 7 External links

The melodrama loosely follows the retcon of Zorro from the 2005 novel by Isabel Allende, yet also uses the major characters from the 1950s series. The hero, Don Diego de la Vega, adopts the secret identity of Zorro, the masked avenger. Instead of being a Spaniard, however, Diego is now a mestizo born in the 1790s to a white father, Don Alejandro de la Vega, and his wife, a Native American warrior.

Diego learned his acrobatics and fencing skills in Barcelona, under the tutelage of a great swordmaster. Remembering the injustices he saw as a child, he returned to California. Now he lives as both a nobleman and a vigilante, fighting imperialist oppression.

Since this is a telenovela, much of the drama focuses on romantic melodrama and family intrigue. Here, Zorro falls in love with a beautiful young widow, Esmeralda Sánchez de Moncada. She arrives in California with her father, Fernando Sánchez de Moncada, the newly appointed governor -- and villainous dictator -- of Los Angeles.

The hero must challenge a host of evildoers, branding them with the distinctive Zorro “Z” – made from three swift scratches. The story arc focuses on mysteries concerning Esmeralda's long-lost mother and the man whose atrocities changed Diego's life forever. From Telemundo's promotional copy:

At heart, Zorro is not different from other men in his need to love and to be loved, his desire to fall in love and form a family, and his ambition to find the ideal woman. Will he obtain them?"[1]

Zorro began filming on November 8, 2006 in Bogotá, Villa de Leyva and Cartagena, Colombia[2]. Telemundo and RTI Colombia developed the show with Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI), while CPT Holdings is listed as copyright holder. Venezuelan screenwriter Humberto "Kiko" Olivieri, a fan of Disney's Zorro[3], developed the story; a supporting character, Cardinal Olivieri, has the same last name.

Telemundo airs this novela with English subtitles on the default closed captioning channel, CC1. The network normally broadcasts translations on CC3, which is not available on many older TV sets. It also expanded two weeks of March episodes to 90 minutes. The finale is expected to air on July 27, 2007.

This series is also known as Zorro: La Telenovela and Zorro: La Novela.

Beyoncé and Alejandro Fernandez performed Amor Gitano ("Gypsy Love"), a flamenco-pop track commissioned by Sony for the series. According to the label's translation, Fernandez sings, "I'm your gypsy, your pilgrimage. I'm your thief, I'm going to love you even if they tear my heart out."[4]

Grammy winner Rudy Pérez produced the track, which will appear on albums from both performers. Jaime Flores, Reyli Barba and Beyoncé Knowles are listed as songwriters. The track was recorded at the Rock the Mic Studios in New York in January, 2007, shortly before the show's Telemundo premiere.

Zorro has been sold to broadcasters in 96 countries.[5] Telemundo and Sony split the international rights, with Sony holding the rights for Latin America.[6] The show airs in Colombia on Caracol TV. In Romania, it debuted on Acasa TV on March 5, 2007. The pilot episode aired with English subtitles in the USA on Universal HD.It premiered in Argentina on March 26 in Telefé.

• El Zorro ("The Fox") and Don Diego de la Vega (Christian Meier)
• Esmeralda Sánchez de Moncada (Marlene Favela)
• Gobernador Fernando Sánchez de Moncada (Arturo Peniche)
• Don Alejandro de la Vega (Osvaldo Ríos)
• Padre Tomás Villarte (Jorge Cao)
• Renzo el Gitano (Erick Elías)
• Sor Suplicios (Natasha Klauss)
• Almudena Sánchez de Moncada (Luly Bosa)
• Mariángel Sánchez de Moncada (Andrea López)
• María Pía de la Vega (Andrea Montenegro)
• Capitán Ricardo Montero de Avila (Harry Geithner)
• Bernardo (Ricardo González)
• Yumalay/Regina (Adriana Campos)
• Olmos (Raúl Gutierrez)
• Dolores (Carmen Marina Torres)
• Pizarro (Héctor Suárez Gomis)
• Sargento Demetrio López García (Césa Mora)
• Azucena la gitana (Margarita Giraldo)
• Jonás el gitano (Germán Rojas)
• Laisha la gitana (Natalia Bedoya)
• Miguel el gitano (Orlando Valenzuela)
• Tornado, el caballo del Zorro (El Francés)

• Zorro
• Character profiles from the 1950s Zorro series.

• Telemundo Zorro page (Spanish)
• Canal Caracol Zorro page (Spanish)
• Telenovela World Zorro forum