00:00The 1997 Mexican version of Esmeralda is the best-known one, but have you seen the many
00:08other versions of this soap opera?
00:10You've definitely seen at least one, right?
00:12Well, let's start at the beginning.
00:15In 1970, the first television version of Esmeralda premiered in Venezuela.
00:23Broadcast by Venevision, it starred Lupita Ferrer, whom some of you may remember as
00:28the villain Valeria Altamirano in the soap opera Rosalinda, opposite leading man Jose
00:34Bardina.
00:37Domenia was played by the great actress Esperanza Magas, who among many other roles appeared
00:43in the iconic soap opera Cassandra as the gypsy Dorinda.
00:48The cast also included the late Libertad Lamarck, who, before playing Mother Piedad in Little
00:54Angel Face, was Mother Piedad in Esmeralda.
01:03That version is really old, isn't it?
01:05But Venezuela still produced a second version before the story ever reached Mexican screens,
01:11only this time they changed the name of the jewel.
01:15Topacio, from 1985, was produced by RCTV, and is still remembered for having aired here
01:22in Brazil on SBT in 1992.
01:27It starred Gracia Colmenares and Victor Camara.
01:31Then it was Mexico's turn to make its version of Esmeralda, which premiered in 1997 on Televisa.
01:38Esmeralda, being the version most people know, it starred Leticia Calderon and the celebrated
01:44actor Fernando Calunga.
01:47Finally, it was Brazil's turn to produce its version of Esmeralda in 2004.
01:53This was a time when SBT had a contract to make several remakes of Mexican soap operas,
01:59and Esmeralda made the list.
02:03Starring Bianca Castaño and Claudio Lins, this version is basically more of the same
02:09that we had already seen in the others.
02:11A lot of people here in Brazil prefer it.
02:14And finally, in 2017, an era when women were already tired of making excuses for toxic leading
02:21men, came a version that dared to change the ending of the story.
02:26Back in the days of the first Mexican version, Leticia Calderon had already expressed her
02:32dissatisfaction with her character's ending, in which she went back to Jose Armando.
02:38But it was only in the version Sightless Love, Sin to Mirada, produced by Televisa 20 years
02:44later, that the heroine Marina decided to stay with the doctor who had always treated her well,
02:50and devoted herself to her studies, instead of forgiving the questionable leading man of
02:55the story, starring Claudia Martín and Oswaldo de León, I would say this is the version
03:01that was the least successful, but I applaud it for its different ending.
03:06And you, which versions of this story have you seen?
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