Queen of Swords

Queen Of Swords was an excellent syndicated TV series that was basically the adventures of a female Zorro, but was unique on its own. Sadly, this show only lasted one season (2000-2001) and was caught in the battle of syndication ratings from other shows like Sheena, Xena: Warrior Princess, Beastmaster, Relic Hunter, Andromeda, etc. Not garnering enough viewers, the show was cancelled by its producer, Fireworks Entertainment.

This show had excellent writing, great action/stunts, wonderful 19th-century costume designs, and a remarkable cast of talented stars, along with some well established actors & actresses making guest starring roles during its run. The series was filmed entirely on location in Almeria, Spain. This, of course, made for excellent scenery.

The big surprise was the show's main lead herself, Tessie Santiago, who played Tessa Alvarado/Queen Of Swords. This was her first professional acting work, and she really showed that she is a talented (and beautiful) actress, and that she can carry a series. I hope that she has a successful acting career in the many years to come.

I love the new ZORRO babe, she will definitely run Xena out of town. Original story lines, really adds allure this soon to be made classic. If only the original writers of ZORRO could come up with such outrageous materiel, maybe then it would not have been cancelled. Despite the wonderful script, and character development, at least there is a babe!!!

I, too, thought, "A female Zorro," when I saw the description. I loved the Zorro movie and figured I'd watch. As the show has progressed it has been made clear that though that is an inspiration this is not "just a rip-off in drag." There is a great deal of style and humour in the scripts. The action is excellent, but there is character development as well. Poetic justice is common; moral values are there, but not shoved down a viewer's throat. This series will last--and deserves to. This is one I won't miss--it's programmed into the VCR for weekly so I can never manage to forget it.

The show is very well scripted with phenomenal acting by the star and the co-stars. Queen of Swords is an obvious female Zorro but with some differences which make the series relevant to Y2K and more interesting than the old Zorro series. The scripts are able to cover a great amount of information in 43 minutes so the viewer feels satisfied but not confused about how the story got from point A to point B. The show reminds one of Batgirl and Xena mixed together, but better. Definitely a memorable piece of television to start off this millennium.

After ghostbusters, it seems that rebooting a successful franchise with a female lead, doesn't guarantee its success. Yet this is exactly what happened with the 'Queen of swords'. Having grown up with the old Zorro series starring Duncan Regehr, this one seems to be aimed at a slightly older audience, he antagonists aren't true stereotypical cartoon characters as much, sometimes posing a real threat and actually killing people; but nothing overly violent. For what it is, an 80s-like show aiming for some swashbuckling entertainment, it couldn't have been executed better. It's a little more layered and fleshed out than the original Zorro series, but not so deep as to abandon its fun concept. A great job, reaching a well deserved 7/10, the maximum I'll give for the genre.