Diego de la Vega (Guy Williams), his mute (and pretending to be deaf) servant Bernardo (Gene Sheldon), Sargent Garcia (Henry Calvin) and his lackey, Corporal Reyes (Don Diamond) all travel to the California Colony capital in Monterey in order to help supplement the city's loss of funds due to a recent increase in bandits. When Zorro (Diego's alter-ego for those uninitiated) also shows up, he helps deal with the growing criminal element in the city, but the group don't just go back the little pueblo of Los Angeles when the money is safe and secure. Instead, everyone sticks around for a few more mini-adventures that almost lead to Diego deciding to hang up his cape and mask for love.
Diego comes close to this decision when he meets the lovely Ana Maria Verdugo (Jolene Brand), and when an old friend of Diego's shows up, what started off as a semi-complicated love story involving Diego falling for Ana Maria and Ana Maria falling for Zorro, gets even more complicated since this new character, Ricardo (Richard Anderson) also seeks the young lady's hand. This competition for Ana Maria's hand quickly escalates and, as I mentioned above, Zorro almost unmasks himself in public in order to stay with Ana Maria, but is talked out of it by his father, Alejandro (George J. Lewis) who confesses to Diego that he has known of his son's secret identity for quite some time now.
As soon as the group returns to their hometown, they are faced with another odd crisis when Diego's uncle (and Alejandro's brother-in-law), Esteban (played by none other than Cesar Romero), comes to town seeking his fortune. Unfortunately for the Vega's, Esteban is a pretty good con artist and their reputation is on the line if anyone finds out that their relative is cheating people. Of course, this bit of swindling isn't the extent of the storyline's troubles as Esteban soon claims to fall for a young senorita who will just happen to come into a lot of land and wealth upon her marriage. Because of this, Zorro does everything in his power to expose the con artist.
Once Romero leaves the show, another guest star takes center stage for a few episodes. Annette Funicello (a 16 year-old Mouseketeer) rides into Los Angeles as Anita, a young girl looking for her long-lost father. The problem is, no one seems to know the man she is talking about, and when she claims to be stalked, most people start to think that she just makes up stories in order to get attention. Funicello later stars in one of the two Walt Disney Presents specials found in this collection. While she plays a different character, her role is very similar. This time though, she plays a lovesick lady who doesn't realize that her soon-to-be-husband is just trying to steal her substantial dowry.
After Funicello's parental mystery is solved, the town gets visited by mountain man Joe Crane (Jeff York, who plays the same part in an earlier Disney miniseries, The Saga of Andy Burnett). Here Zorro must help the strange Americano get out of town with his furs and mule while keeping him safe from a proud (and dishonored) Jonathan Harris (who later co-stared with Williams in the Lost in Space series as Dr. Smith).
The lengthy season wraps up with two more storylines, one involving an emissary from Spain looking to tax the people dry and then steal the money for himself, and the other involves the colony's governor being injured and having to stay at the De la Vega Hacienda while one of his assistants gets a taste for power and starts plotting for ways to keep the position on a more permanent basis.
I mentioned one of the two specials earlier, but there is a second one-hour episode that was a part of the Walt Disney Presents series. This one features Ricardo Montalban as a friend of Diego's from school who knows how good of a swordsman Diego really is (and also that Bernardo can hear). When the man deduces that Diego is Zorro, he starts scheming for a way to not only get rich, but ruin his old rival's life once and for all.
Much like the First Season, there are just a lot of good points about Walt Disney Treasures: Zorro: The Second Complete Season. Not only is there a ton of action and sword fighting, but a bit more romance was added into Diego/Zorro's life making the show a bit more enjoyable for any older viewers out there. The show isn't just about action and romance though, there is a good bit of humor and music found throughout the season. There are plenty of scenes where Calvin's deep voice can be heard singing, and as you would expect, Funicello has a couple of songs as well. As for the comedy side, one of my favorite scenes was an attempted conversation between Bernardo and Garcia. While Bernardo can hear, he must feign deafness so as not to blow his cover and the attempted sign-language and miscommunications that go on between the two are really amusing.
Besides the two one-hour episodes, The Second Complete Season has a featurette that interviews a ton of people about the creation of the series (including interviews with Williams' family), and another short feature where we get to see some of the clothing and merchandise from the show with his son. Both extras should be pleasing to fans both old and new.
While it was sad to see the series end, having sat through all 78 episodes and four one-hour specials, I can say without a doubt that this is a series that stands the test of time and should be seen by pretty much anyone out there. It isn't strictly necessary to have seen the first season of the show in order to watch this one, but it is definitely helpful, especially since the first season shows Zorro's origin, but I would definitely say that this particular wave of Walt Disney Treasures is worth the purchase, especially if there are readers out there that grew up on the show and want to pass it on to the newer generations.
