
At the beginning was the Slovak television series Lekár umierajúceho czasu (Doctor of Dying Time), dedicated to the Rudolphine-era scientist Jan Jesenius. He ended up on the scaffold along with other gentlemen after losing the anti-Habsburg uprising. When director Miloslav Luther conceived the idea of making an abridged version of the footage for cinema, he had to not only rebuild the storyline but also dub it into Czech. However, the result was only an illustrative puzzle, describing the various stages of the hero's turbulent life.
Jan Jesenius

Maria

Rudolf II.

Fels

Johannes Kepler

Jan Mydlář

Pavel Michna z Vacínova

Floro

Jáchym Ondřej Šlik

Kryštof Harant z Polžic a Bezdružic

Bohuslav z Michalovic
Václav Budovec z Budova

Jindřich Matyáš Thurn

Ferdinand II.

Franz Melchiar

Zdeněk Vojtěch Popel z Lobkovic

Fridrich Falcký

Vilém Slavata z Chlumu a Košumberka

Jaroslav Bořita z Martinic

Filip Fabricius

Albrecht Jan Smiřický

Beata

Kašpar Kaplíř ze Sulevic
Elfrieda

Jacob Hoefnagel

Pia

Jakub

Gregorius

Ambrosius

Ostrštok

Přibík Jeníšek z Újezda

Unknown Role
Priest

Unknown Role

Unknown Role

Unknown Role
Tycho de Brahe

Vavřinec Benedikt z Nudožer

don Baltasar de Zúñiga

David Lippach
Filip Lang z Langenfelsu
Dorotka

Unknown Role

Seppl

Unknown Role

Unknown Role
Unknown Role

Unknown Role
Unknown Role
Unknown Role
Unknown Role

Unknown Role
Unknown Role

Unknown Role
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Matouš Děpolt Popel z Lobkovic

Jan Daniel Kapr z Kaprštejna
Announcer
Kristián I. Anhaltský

Bohunka

Sabinus
Old Fisher
Tobias
Zoltán

Unknown Role

Narrator (voice)

Fels (voice)
Johannes Kepler (voice)

Bohuslav z Michalovic (voice)

Beata (voice)
Kašpar Kaplíř ze Sulevic (voice)
Priest (voice)

Seppl (voice)
Matouš Děpolt Popel z Lobkovic (voice)
Jan Daniel Kapr z Kaprštejna (voice)

Announcer (voice)
Old Fisher (voice)