October 7, 2000: Queen of Swords premieres on American television, in syndication. It provides an answer for this question: "What if Zorro was a woman?"
Tessie Marie Santiago was born on August 10, 1975 in Miami. After appearing onstage in South Florida, London and Europe, her first on-screen acting job was a starring one, in Queen of Swords, a drama about, essentially, a female Zorro -- explicitly nodding to Batman's not-so-secret connection to that character by having noblewoman Maria Theresa "Tessa" Alvarado become the Queen (named for the tarot card, usually representing a widow or a woman otherwise in mourning) to avenge her father's death in colonial California in 1817, 4 years before Mexico gained its independence from Spain, temporarily taking California with it.
Like Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro and Bruce Wayne/Batman, Tessa Alvarado pretends to be the wealthy privilege-protector, professing sympathy for the downtrodden but too timid to do anything about it, and then going all-out in costume. To further show the contrast, Tessa usually dressed in white before putting on the black costume.
The blouse was loose for easier swordfighting. The pants were a bit tight, leading to a guest character, seeing her ride off being chased by Spanish soldiers, to say, "Nice saddle." But since, like Batman, she usually wore the costume at night, it didn't show off her figure much. And her civilian clothes were not especially revealing. The point was that Tessa was heroic first, and beautiful second.
It was a fantastic show, also featuring Valentine Pelka, an English actor of Polish and Irish parentage, as a charismatic but truly nasty villain, Colonel Luis Montoya, Spain's military governor of Tessa's hometown of Santa Helena.
Canadian actor Anthony Lemke played Captain Marcus Grisham, Montoya's second-in-command, who deserted the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 after killing his commanding officer to cover up an act of fraud. He led the pursuit of Don Alvarado for a trumped-up charge, and fired the shot that killed him. It is never made clear whether Montoya knows this -- certainly, he knows that Don Alvarado wouldn't do business with him, and was killed by one of his men -- but he only partially trusts Grisham.
Spanish actress Elsa Pataky, who later married Thor actor Chris Hemsworth, played Vera Hidalgo, wife of the weak-minded and weak-willed Don Gaspar Hidalgo (Spanish actor Tacho Gonzalez). She cheats on him with Grisham, and "plays both sides" to her advantage.
Paulina Gálvez, born in Chile to Spanish parents and raised in Spain, played Marta, a Romani (described on the show as a "Gypsy," but that term is now considered a slur) who was hired by Don Alvarado to look after Tessa -- essentially, a female "Alfred" to her "Batman," or "Bernardo" to her "Zorro." She uses tarot cards to see the future, and inspires the Queen of Swords persona.
Not appearing in the pilot was Dr. Robert Helm, a British physician in Santa Helena, who is intrigued by both Tessa and the Queen, but not fully trusting either, and not suspecting that they are the same woman. He was played by Welsh actor Peter Wingfield, who was a qualified anesthesiologist. So he was a real doctor, he didn't just play one on TV.
Anthony Lemke, Tessie Santiago, Paulina Gálvez and Valentine Pelka
The show had a great theme song, "Behind the Mask," written by Spencer Proffer and Steve Plunkett, and sung by José Feliciano: "Everyone wears a disguise. We've all got secrets to hide." This was true for every character in the main cast.
Like Clint Eastwood's "spaghetti westerns," it was filmed in Spain, because its coastal area resembled old California more than modern California did. As a result, many British and Spanish actors got their first (some, so far, their only) American exposure. (The show was a Canadian production, and the French version made for Quebec was titled Tessa: At the Point of the Sword.)
The show never got good ratings, and only lasted one season. The last episode to air was a regular one, with no cliffhanger. She righted some wrongs, but didn't get her full revenge: Viewers knew the full truth, but she never found it out. Nor was the romantic tension between Tessa and Peter settled.
Queen of Swords was often shown in tandem with Tia Carrere's Relic Hunter, and I hoped for a crossover in which a descendant of Tessa's looked up Carrere's Dr. Sydney Fox, and together they could solve Don Alvarado's nearly 200-year-old murder, and clear the Queen's name, with a descendant of Montoya's trying to stop them. No such luck.
Tessie Santiago hasn't had much luck in acting since then, either. Her next series, the sitcom Good Morning, Miami, in which she played the co-host of a local morning news show, lasted just 11 episodes in the 2002-03 season. Twentysixmiles, named for the distance between its setting, Santa Catalina Island, and the coast of California, lasted only 6 episodes in 2010. She played the Vice President in 9 episodes of Scandal in 2017.
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October 7, 2000 was a Saturday. The American League Division Series were already over, with the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners both advancing. In the National League Division Series, the New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-2 in Game 3 at Shea Stadium. Benny Agbayani hit a home run in the bottom of the 13th inning. The Mets wrapped up the series the next day.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta, completing a 3-game sweep. Met fans, knowing that they were still in, and the team that had been stopping them lately, the Braves were out, thought this was their year: They would win the Pennant, and that they would beat the Yankees in the World Series to reclaim New York. They were right on the former, but not the latter.
The last event was held in the 77-year history of the original Wembley Stadium in London. The England national soccer team lost to Germany, 1-0. I have a separate entry for that event.
On the same day, the Columbus Blue Jackets bring the NHL back to Ohio after 22 years, and give the State capital its 1st-ever major league team, unless you count Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew, or the Columbus Bullies who won the only titles of the 1940-41 American Football League.
Their 1st game is at home against the Chicago Blackhawks, who win, 5-3 at Nationwide Arena, still the Jackets' home. Their 1st goal is scored by Bruce Gardiner. I have a separate entry for this game.
It is also the night of the 1st game for another expansion team, the Minnesota Wild. They open on the road, at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix, and lose to the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-1.
Elsewhere in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 2-1 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-1 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes play to a tie, 3-3 at the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena (now the Lenovo Center).
* The Ottawa Senators beat the Dallas Stars, 3-1 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, Ontario.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat their arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 2-0 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Nashville Predators, 3-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-3 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.
* And the Colorado Rockies and the Edmonton Oilers play to a tie, 1-1 at the Skyreach Centre, as the Northlands Coliseum was then known, in Edmonton.
And there was college football on the day, including the following games:
* Number 1 Florida State were upset by Number 7 Miami, 27-24 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The Hurricanes won the Big East Conference title. Florida State still won the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
* Number 2 Nebraska beat Iowa State, 49-27 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.
* Number 3 Virginia Tech beat Temple, 35-13 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.
* Number 4 Kansas State beat their arch-rivals, Kansas, 52-13 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.
* Number 5 Clemson beat North Carolina State, 34-27 at Clemson Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.
* Number 6 Michigan lost to Purdue, 32-31 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue won the Big 10 Conference title.
* Number 8 Ohio State beat Number 24 Wisconsin, 23-7 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
* Number 10 Oklahoma beat Number 11 Texas, 63-14 in the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Sooners went on to win beat Kansas State for the Big 12 Conference title, and Florida State in the Orange Bowl, and won the National Championship.
* Number 12 Florida beat Louisiana State, 41-9 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators went on to beat Auburn for the Southeastern Conference title, but lost the Sugar Bowl to Miami.
* Number 13 Washington beat Number 23 Oregon State, 33-30 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Washington won the Pacific-10 Conference title, and beat Purdue in the Rose Bowl.
* Number 15 Auburn were upset by Number 20 Mississippi State, 17-10 at Scott Field in Starkville, Mississippi.
* Number 18 Southern California were upset by Arizona, 31-15 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* Number 19 Georgia beat Number 21 Tennessee, 21-10 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Tennessee still ended up going to the Cotton Bowl, but lost it to Kansas State.
* Number 25 Notre Dame beat Stanford, 20-14 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame went to the Fiesta Bowl, but lost to Oregon State.
* Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) beat arch-rival Nevada, 38-7 at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada.
* In a battle between service academies, Air Force beat Navy, 27-13 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* Army lost to New Mexico State, 42-23 at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
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