The Disney Movie Club DVDs
Text copyright © 2006, 2007 by Bill Cotter
All Rights Reserved
Zorro fans have long looked for ways to collect the adventures of Zorro. Several VHS tapes were released in the past, but fans hoping for a complete set of episodes instead had to rely on old tapes copied off The Disney Channel. In 2004, the complete first season was released in France in a boxed set of DVDs, as described here. American audiences, though, were seemingly thwarted in their pursuit of DVD copies of the series. Letter writing campaigns and petitions failed to sway the Disney executives, and year after year Zorro remained conspicuously absent from the the Disney Home Video catalog.
Happily, this changed in August 2006 with the release of Zorro episodes from The Disney Movie Club. These DVDs are only available to members of the Club and are not available in stores. Each contains eight episodes of the series. As with the French versions, these are the colorized versions.
Let's take a look at the DVDs. Here's a look at the cover, insert and disk of the first two volumes:
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The disks are rather plain when compared to the French versions, which featured color photos of Zorro in action.
Let's take a look now at the DVD contents. Here's the first thing you see on screen:
Not much of a menu screen, is it? While the flames were animated on the French versions, this screen is just a static shot of Zorro and Tornado. No options for soundtrack or subtitle (the DVD does have English subtitles available, but no other languages), nor any special features. The only options are to play the entire disk or to select individual episodes.. Here's a look at the two episode selection screens:
Disc 2 isn't much different:
So, as of this writing, if you want to collect Zorro on DVD, at least in the US, you will need to be a member of The Disney Movie Club - and to content yourself with only the first season. If you would like to join the Club, which has a number of other Disney DVDs not available in stores, please visit their website at www.disneymovieclub.com. There are five volumes available, or a boxed set pf the complete first season. Hopefully if sales are high enough they will also release the second season and hour-long episodes as well.
Note: Several Internet sites offer the complete series on DVD, but these are not authorized by Disney and reports are that quality can vary greatly, with most sets having the Disney Channel logo on the screen.
Last updated: 07/01/2007
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