Tessa, à la pointe de l'épée

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.

This "movie" (actually series) is well done and the cast is quite good. I love the "Queen of Swords" herself. You have to be a real movie fan by which I mean you go to the movies to be entertained not to review everyday realism. For an action, adventure fan this is a top one to see. I am setting my satellite recorder to record it every day until it goes off the air. Would like to see a full length movie done with this material and actors. Movies like this don't win academy awards as the people doing the awards do not have real life exposure but instead live in the world of make-believe. Those that live in the real world appreciate make-believe movies. I am completely entertained by movies like the "Mask of Zorro" and understand that the majority of the activity is really not very close to reality; but I have that all day so I don't go to the movies to see "reality". I am completely wrapped up in the "Queen of Swords" and love every minute.

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.

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 must say I find a series Refreshingly good. The stories and the plot seem interesting. The main hero or heroine is not only beautiful, but likable. Many of the other characters are pretty interesting. Especially the American captain. If the series was made for Portugal as I've read, it makes me wonder what their views on Americans are the way this captain behaves.

A couple of negatives. When Tessa is sword fighting, I find that believable. When she's engaged in hand-in-hand combat with men, it's rather ridiculous. I was watching an episode last night with my wife, and I said to her you could handle three of those guys, the guards that wear the long tall hats, Yourself at the same time for real with how bad of fighters they are. If they were really that bad in real life. And my wife is only 5 foot tall. She laughingly agreed and thought she Would pull off all their testicles pretty quickly. Plus, I've seen Tessa pull guys off horses. Does anyone really realize how hard it is to pull a man off a horse when you're on the ground?

Anyway, other than these couple of somewhat unrealistic things, it's decent show. I would advise it.