Memory Is A Tricky Thing

One of the other things I received over the holidays was the complete Walt Disney Zorro series, which has been collected in a rather nice set. The DVD box for each season is in a metal tin, and there's a little picture of Guy Williams in costume in both, and hat pins. I love hat pins! I finished watching Season 1 this morning and figured we could chat a bit about it.

The last time I talked about Zorro, I was focusing mostly on Seargent Garcia (Henry Calvin), and I commented on how often Zorro ends up leaving his mark on Garcia's uniform. Oddly, I didn't see a single time in all of Season 1 where Zorro actually does that to Garcia. He prefers to leave his mark on doors, satchels, things of that sort. But in every episode, the theme song shows Zorro slicing a "Z" into Garcia's shirt, so perhaps that's what I'm thinking of, or they're saving all those for Season 2.

Also, I remembered Capitan Monastario being around longer. He's the villain at the start of the series, but he's finished in Episode 13. From there on, it's all about the mysterious "Eagle", and trying to deduce his plots. So the Eagle arc runs for 25 episodes, with the Eagle himself not making an appearance until the last third of that, and not actually coming near Los Angeles until even later. Actually, I thought more of the episodes would be standalone, done-in-one episodes, but almost all of them tie-in with an overarching story. Example, in the first episode, Don Ignacio Torres is accused of treason, and Zorro helps him, with Torres fleeing to the mission to seek sanctuary. There are four episodes shortly after that which are almost all about Monastario trying to get Torres out of the mission, and Zorro trying to prevent this.

It was interesting to see how often the villains fall at the hands of their associates. Sometimes the associate is trying to assist them with a dirty trick in a fight, and sometimes they've dirty-dealed said associate, and receive payback in return. But Zorro never deals the finishing stroke to any of them. Not Monastario, not the false Commandate Ortega, not the Magistrado, not the Eagle. I'm guessing there's meant to be a lesson there about the danger or futility of greed and maliciousness. Diego's father Alejandro kills more men in Season 1 than Zorro, as does Seargent Garcia. I'm not sure what that means, except perhaps that Alejandro is a respected member of the community, and Garcia is a solider tasked with protecting the pueblo, and they only kill men trying to do them harm, while Zorro is a shadowy vigilante, and so perhaps it's best he doesn't start killing, as that might turn the people's opinion of him Better to focus on rescuing those being oppressed, while disarming the soldiers, or leading them on a merry chase.

If you count Garcia, who is acting Commandante at times, there are 4 different Commandantes in Season 1. Monastario, who disgraces himself when he can't convince anyone Diego is Zorro, his replacement is killed the same day he arrives, while making a speech of his intentions outside the cuartel. He hadn't even unloaded his stuff yet. Then the fake Ortega, who dies. Then Capitan Toledan who is actually a good fellow (his wife is another matter, she's Naive Evil) who gets transferred away to another pueblo after not too much time.

One thing that puzzles me is Don Alejandro. More than once he expresses disappointment that all Diego seems to care about is music, poetry and literature. He wants Diego to take greater interest in the community. Except Diego does this. I don't mean as Zorro. As Diego, he frequently questions the evil leader of the moment as to the purpose behind his actions, and attempts to politely convince him that he's in error. The Evil Leader in question, being evil, doesn't listen, but it's not from a lack of attempt to persuade him on Diego's part. Diego urges his father not to take part in a committee of vigilance designed to deal with what the Magistrado assures them is bubbling unrest among the peasants, and to not try and lead an attack on the cuartel to free the wife and daughter of Don Torres when Monastario tries imprisoning them to make them talk.

He is taking an interest, just one that advocates nonviolent resolution to the problems facing the pueblo. I'm not sure whether that's what bothers Alejandro, or whether it's that Diego keeps disagreeing with him. It's a bit like the Odin/Thor relationship in the comics, where Odin wants Thor to assume more repsonsibilities, but in Odin's mind, the only acceptable responsibilities involve Asgard. When Thor chooses to defend the inhabitants of Earth, because he feels his responsibility lies there, and in the process doesn't answer the call at Asgard, that's unacceptable to Odin and he gives his son a bunch of grief about it. Because Odin's a jerk. I think Alejandro wants Diego to be a man, to take a leadership role in Los Angeles, but only in the narrow definition Alejandro thinks in.