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[[Maggy Chan]]|premier_network = [[BBC Four]]|typical_episode_length = 13x45 minute episodes |
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2x65 minute episodes|image1 =POL(Eng) Main Title Card S2.jpg |previous_season = |prev =[[Season 2 (Through Time and Space)|Season 2]]|next =[[Season 4 (Through Time and Space)|Season 4]]|companions = [[Pola Pisarek]] |
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[[Emma Legato]]|staff_writers = |start_date = [[25 December (releases)|25 December]] [[2021]] (Xmas) |
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Latest revision as of 03:45, 16 February 2024
| The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective. |
Season 3 of Doctor Who: Through Time and Space, broadcast as Doktor – Przez Czas i Przestrzeń in Poland premiered in the autumn of 2022. It featured Hanna Śleszyńska as the Doktor, Paulina Walendziak as Pola Pisarek and Kamila Bujalska as Emma Legato.
Overview
Renewal for Season 3
The third season of Doctor Who: Through Time and Space had been in TVN’s plans at least since Tomasz Szafrański was hired as showrunner, if not longer, however the actual, early works on it began in November 2021, when Szafrański got his well-deserved break after finishing work on Receptura and Eve.
Behind the Scenes Complications
Despite not facing logistical difficulties similar to those from Season 2, it ended up being involved with even more drama, both external and behind the scenes.
The first of it was “Lex TVN”, the media bill passed by the Polish legislature, Sejm, in December 2021. The bill forbade any business entity not based in the European Economic Area from owning majority share in any Polish media outlet, which according to its proponents was a means to prevent capital from Russia or other undemocratic regimes to influence Polish public opinion. However, in practice the only business affected would be TVN, owned by the American company Discovery and well-known to be in heavy ideological opposition to the incumbent Polish government. Under the new law, Discovery would have to sell TVN, and the opposition suspected that a government affiliate or company financed from state budget may buy it out. This in turn could have influenced the shape of Season 3 or even prevented it from happening, which briefly brought the subject to the attention of foreign Through Time And Space fanbase. After almost a month of high tension and vocal protest from American business and administration, the bill was vetoed by President Andrzej Duda in early January 2022, leaving TVN as property of Discovery.
This whole controversy ended up having no impact on the actual show, unlike its Christmas Special, Eve, which was aired on 25th December 2022, on both TVN and BBC Two. The reception of Eve in Poland was overwhelmingly positive, even earning the show some new fans; however abroad, the episode attracted only mediocre attention, gathering disappointing viewing figures and mixed reviews. Because of that, Maggy Chan decided to permanently discontinue the bilingual format of the show. This upset both the fans and the crew working on it, but they understood that this is a logical business move and not a showcase of ill intent or a commentary on the quality of the show, so everyone moved on. Everyone, that is, except for TVN.
TVN's Input with Season 3
Most of TVN Discovery Group executives in charge of programming were Poles, working for this broadcaster since its inception in 1997. TVN’s aim was always living up to the standards of Western media, including BBC, and so they saw the rejection of their content by foreign markets as personal failure. Having come across opinions criticizing Eve for too much emphasis on Polish culture and references completely alien to foreign viewers, they took them to heart. And so, around January 2022, while scripts for Season 3 were still in development, Tomasz Szafrański and production team at ATM Group received letters from TVN Discovery group’s programming department, discussing creative accomplishments of Eve and featuring numerous “recommendations” regarding development of Season 3.
TVN argued that on-the-nose references to properties like Mr Blot and Matołek The Billy-Goat ended up as mostly pointless additions that only confused non-Polish audiences and harmed the episode’s performance. While not opposed to featuring pop-culture references, which proved beneficial to many works in the sci-fi genre, they suggested that these should come from either TVN-owned properties, to strengthen the brand, or the internationally recognized works, so they’re familiar to both Polish and foreign audiences. The “most welcome” would be references to Warner Bros. content due to its ongoing merger with Discovery.
The more subtle references, like plot patterns from the play Wesele, were deemed „unhelpful and potentially harmful for storytelling”. Once again, the programming department was of the mind that it would help the show to draw more inspiration from global mainstream, which previous seasons completely neglected in favour of promotion of Polish culture – this was quite likely detrimental to its popularity not just abroad, but also among more cosmopolitan younger audiences. TVN pointed out that, as an adaptation of Doctor Who, Through Time and Space should have this show as its primary inspiration, and praised the clever usage of Zygons in Eve, encouraging the creators to lean on the show’s rich legacy whenever it benefits their stories.
The heavy exposition of Roman Catholic symbols and imagery in Eve was severely criticized; according to the execs, TVN’s audience “supports separation of Church from public life” and “celebrates Christmas as a secular event”.
TVN singled out the tackling of Generation Z’s mental health issues and feelings of abandonment as Eve’s biggest strength. They noted that TVN’s mission is “highlighting serious social problems and helping people that are excluded or in need” and praised how Szafrański was able to implement these aims in his writing. They asserted that this is a great direction for Through Time and Space that should be continued, and encouraged the creators to speak up about values such as “self-esteem, pride, tolerance, acceptance, empathy, body positivity and freedom of choice”.
It was recommended that some, and preferably most of future historical episodes should tackle events from world history. TVN claimed that by covering only Polish history, the show presents Poland abroad as “self-obsessed and unwelcoming to other cultures”, as well as narrows the horizons of the Polish audience.
At the end, TVN reaffirmed that all those points are “only tips” and that ”TVN values, protects and supports creative freedom of the talents it works with”, as well as “sees as its duty to ensure the high quality of the content it broadcasts and produces” and to that end “assists and supports creatives in their endeavours”.
Additional Episodes
While Szafrański and ATM Group were less than thrilled with TVN essentially handing them a list of criteria to meet, they decided that they can work with that. In February, Szafrański pitched to TVN the scripts for a thirteen episode long season. While it was positively received, the execs felt that it lacked something that would really appeal to foreign audience and so, they decided to add one more, and commission what was originally meant to be the season finale as another Christmas special. They proposed several ideas for an extra episode, out of which Szafrański picked the most workable one.
Pola and Emma
In addition to that, another problem turned out to be the companion. Paulina Walendziak still had one more season on her contract, and with Eve basically having wrapped up Pola’s arc, Szafrański wanted to make this her final season and introduce a new companion, Emma Legato, played by his frequent collaborator Kamila Bujalska. However, he was alone in this intent; Walendziak didn’t want to leave the show until she landed another prestigious role, and the castings did not go her way. TVN also wanted her to stay on board for as long as possible, since Pola was now the only member of the original main cast left and they weren’t sure how the audience would react to her exit. Both parties asked Szafrański not to give a conclusive ending to Pola’s story in Season 3. This complicated his plans, but on his request Bujalska was signed anyway. The writers’ room attempted to rewrite the Season 3 scripts in order to include both companions – and failed. Even though Walendziak and Bujalska actually had gotten along quite well, no version of their characters’ long-term dynamic satisfied the creatives. Ultimately, Szafrański decided to split the stories between them.
Release
TVN kept Through Time And Space on its Sunday spot, premiering the first episode on 4th September 2022, but now at 9:30 pm, meaning that each episode aired 90 minutes earlier in the United Kingdom on BBC Four. This meant, that for the first time, a foreign adaptation was exclusively premiering outside of it's original country and technically made the show original to BBC Four and not TVN.
Cast
Regular
Recurring
- To be added.
Guest
- To be added.
Television Stories
Main Season
Production
Crew
To be added.
Shooting Blocks
To be added.
Filming
To be added.
Aliens and Enemies
Viewing Figures
To be added.
Physical Media
To be added.