Evolution The Time Meddler Love and War |
BBC The Brain of Morbius |
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| Episodes | 4 |  |
| Story No# | 84 | |
| Production Code | 4K | |
| Season | 13 | |
| Dates | Jan. 3, 1976 - Jan. 24, 1976 |
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With Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen.
Written by Robin Bland (Terrance Dicks and Robert Holmes). Script-edited by Robert Holmes. Directed by Christopher Barry. Produced by Philip Hinchcliffe. |
| Synopsis: The Time Lords send the Doctor to the planet Karn where he discovers an odd scientist and a sisterhood guarding a powerful resource. |
So There's Another Evil Time Lord? by Adrian Loder 6/10/97
Tom Baker has perhaps the most unenviable role of all the actors that have played the Doctor in this respect: that over his 8-year tenure as the fourth doctor, he was guaranteed to be handed a number of truly lousy scripts, in addition to some of the gems such as Genesis of the Daleks and Logopolis. But if there's one thing that gems and duds share it's that they both get lots and lots of attention.
What, then, happens to a story such as The Brain of Morbius, which has it's flaws (a pretty simple plot), but is also highly entertaining; in short, one of the many, many, many fair-to middling storylines that the Tom Baker years brought to us.
In this fan's opinion, what should happen with The Brain of Morbius is approximately what seems to have happened with episodes such as The Five Doctors; forget about any kind of extreme complexity, forget about lots of sci-fi tech jargon, just sit back and enjoy the mayhem. For this is where The Brain of Morbius' strengths lie. Watch the brain pulsate. Watch the Doctor get chased around by Morbius in some crazy insect body. Even watch some bug-creature get killed within the opening minutes of the first episode of this storyline.
And we might as well mention that all the characterizations are done superbly. Sarah Jane is perfect at being...well, what she always is, nosy, explorative, easily frightened but curious, and quite intelligent, all done within the frame of trying to convince these wacky women to help you out because this psychopath has taken an evil Time Lord's brain and done gone and stuck it in a crazy insect shell. As for the Doctor, he is, well, Tom Baker doing what he does best. Suffice to say, he's like that here, too. The Sisterhood is, well, solemn, and convincingly so; they make their anger felt very well, and everything, even their generosity, is tempered with.....sulleness. And as for Morbius, whoever played him does a good job being the typical power-hungry, eager-for-revenge psycho.
Not an extremely clever or emotionally revealing story, but certainly an episode that, in its upfrontness, is stronger than it is weak.
A Review by Michael Hickerson 20/5/98
For years fans complained about the shoddy treatment this "classic" of the Tom Baker years had received when the BBC released it on video. Thirty minutes were cut from this story, making the total running time just under an hour. A few years ago the BBC saw the error of their ways (and a potential for making the fans purchase the same story twice!) and released the complete "collector's edition" onto video.
But why all the hoopla and noise surrounding this story?
To be honest, I'm not quite sure I see it. Don't get me wrong, The Brain of Morbius is straight-forward, four-part adventure that is enjoyable to watch on a stormy evening. But the biggest problem may be that it's simply too straight forward. Once the Doctor and Sarah arrive on Karn and discover Solon's plan, it's pretty much as predictable as the old monster movies it's based on. You know that in the end, the Doctor and Sarah must stop Solon from completing the body for Morbius or all hell is going to break loose. Along the way, there are some major padding moments such as the Doctor's capture by the sisterhood, Sarah's blindness, the subplot involving Condo's arm (which is one of the more interesting plots in the story!). I can easily see how thirty minutes could be cut out of the story and it wouldn't suffer too much.
Does that mean the BBC should have done it? Absolutely not. I think The Brain of Morbius stands up rather well as four fun, turn your brain off and just enjoy it, episodes in their entirity. I think any cuts from the story would be too glaring since most of the side-plots depend on each other to keep going.
Overall, The Brain of Morbius is not one of Tom Baker's finest episodes, but it's not his worst either. It's four episodes of the fourth Doctor's zaniest best. Even if it does raise all those fan disucssions about the final mind battle with Moribus and if some of those faces could possibly be pre-Hartnell Doctors.
Don't even get me started on that....
I don't think you're in the first rank any more by Will Jones 16/6/99
Well, it seems like the contributors to this review page aren't overly impressed with The Brain of Morbius. Damning with faint praise is the term, I believe. As far as I'm concerned, this is not a story for faint praise. This is a damn fine adventure.
I'll not deny that it's not Baker's best story, but then it would have to be pretty good if it were to be better than the likes of Genesis of the Daleks, Deadly Assassin, Robots of Death, etc, etc. But it isn't the switch-your-brain-off stuff the other reviewers seem to believe. OK, the scripts aren't the most complex ever written for Doctor Who, but what do you expect? After all, Terrance Dicks wrote them. Not every story can be Ghost Light, you know.
I also disagree that Philip Madoc makes Solon into just another run of the mill megalomaniac. He gives one of the most perfectly acted portrayals of any villain over the twenty-six years of the series. This isn't just a fanatic without any background or character; he's believable and a really strong character. I detect the hand of Robert Holmes (the god of characterisation) in his lines. Personally, I'd have liked to have seen Madoc rather than Anthony Ainley as the Master. (Not to say Ainley was weak - it's just that Madoc was exceptionally strong).
Lots of padding? No! Just because a story is full of subplots doesn't necessarily make it padding – in this case it gives it more depth and keeps it entertaining. For down-and-out entertainment value, Doctor Who never got better than this. For a tale originated by Terrance Dicks (not my all-time favourite writer) this is exceptionally good stuff. OK so it's not imaginative, stealing from Frankenstein, Hammer Horror, and a million other things, but I like it. Tom gives a good performance too, making great use of the angry/shocked whisper technique he had perfected by this time (as in his line 'Why did I get that impression?').
Morbius too is really cool. You get a strong sense of his personality despite being just a brain in a jar or a bizarre monster. I should have liked to see more of the monster stuff after he got his intelligence back. The effects are great, in particular the shot where the brain falls onto the floor – gruesome but it looks excellent.
I think this is more than simply an enjoyable adventure. I think it's a true classic, a story that narrowly misses out on my Top Ten. It's a runaround, yes, but it's got far more depth than the typical story of that type. Never dull, always involving, thought-provoking and with some really great lines (Solon's speech about the Sisterhood at the beginning of Part Two is a classic), The Brain of Morbius is up there with the best of Tom.
A Review by Richard Radcliffe 28/3/01
This story forms one of the most abiding images of my childhood. As a fascinated 7 year old I watched, with my Grandad, as this horrific, monstrous creation of Solon stood poised to attack the blind Sarah-Jane. The credits rolled, and I had to wait a week to find out whether or not Sarah-Jane was okay.
So is the power of the cliffhanger! Watching the story again recently brings lots of good memories from my childhood. Brain of Morbius was also one of the first TARGET books I bought and read, and became a firm favourite. It remains so to this day.
It's gothic interiors - formed a strong, lasting image in my mind, when I was 7. I was unfamiliar with such "Adult" stories as Dracula or Frankenstein. It was the first time I had experienced that kind of dark, gothic horror. I remember seeing Frankenstein a few years later and thinking - "They've pinched this from Brain of Morbius!" - the innocence of childhood is a wonderful thing. I love a good Gothic Horror adventure - it's my favorite backdrop on which to tell a tale. Most of my favorite books, including Who Books, are of that kind. It all stems from Brain of Morbius.
So how does it hold up for a more experienced 32 year old? Actually very well indeed. From the moment the Doctor and Sarah-Jane arrive on Karn, we are flung into a wonderfully rich setting. Lightning streaks across the sky. They gaze up and spy a dark, huge, ramshackle house at the tops of the cliffs. Nearby the Sisterhood of Karn perfom their strange rituals. Their whispered chants echo throughout the caverns - Sacred Flame, Sacred Fire! If DW is about creating evocative atmosphere, then Brain of Morbius has it in spades.
This is a story rich in characters and atmosphere. Solon is terrific - one of the great DW villains. Morbius is fantastic, that almost Dalek voice matching the mismatch of a body he now has. It's a story rich with scenes that live in the memory. The aforementioned blind Sarah-Jane with Morbius towering behind her. The sisterhood dancing round the Funeral pyre that contains the Doctor. Solon betraying his servant. Sarah-Jane stumbling blindly over the Karn landscape, with the cliff nearby.
Brain of Morbius is a story that has not aged in 25 years. It stands up just as well now as it did back in 1975. We have the best Doctor, the best Companion, great villains, a wonderfully imaginative setting. I still like it as much now, as I did when I was 7. 9/10.
A Review by Rob Matthews 7/5/01
Not great but not bad, Brain of Morbius is perhaps the story most representative of the show's gothic era. And outright winner of the award for Doctor Who Story Most Blatantly Ripped-Off From a Well-Known Classic. Rewatching it on UK Gold, two things occured to me. The first, of course, was - 'Which one did Paul Magrs have in mind for Iris Wildthyme?' The second was how much this oft-beloved story, harked back to as an example of the good old days of the show, reminded me of the much-criticised adventures of later years.
This was arguably the first time the Time Lords were a significant presence in the plot. They turned up in The War Games, and were slightly demystified by their appearance in The Three Doctors, but those were both special occasions. One of their rank turned up to prompt the Doctor's actions at the beginning of Genesis of the Daleks, but came across like something arbitrarily tossed into the script to give the Doctor some reason for going back to Skaro.
Here, a couple of stories ahead of The Deadly Assassin, we get the first hint of their corruption, the suggestion that, if it suits their purposes, they might harm or destroy the Sisterhood of Karn. In retrospect, it's paving the way for the darker view of the Time Lords to come. It's never entirely clear whether the Doctor's Tardis is brought to Karn by the sisterhood's radiation belt or - as the Doctor believes at the beginning - by their interference.
More importantly, we learn that the Sisterhood have good reason for their suspicions - the High Council once had Morbius as its evil president, so is not entirely impervious to lunatics. And, as the Doctor mentions, the desolation of Karn was in effect caused by the Time Lords (in facts, he speaks as though Morbius alone was responsible, but obviously he couldn't have done much damage without all those presidential powers at his disposal).
So for the first time we have both the suggestion of the Time Lords influencing events from afar, and evidence that they're not all a bunch of good eggs, no matter how high they rank.
Add to that a scene of surprisingly graphic violence (ususally in Doctor Who, gunshots somehow leave no marks - thats' not the case here!) and a less-than-seamless mixture of two different plots, and you have a story in the vein of the better parts of seasons 22 and 23.
An interesting case of foreshadowing, although slightly disappointing in itself. The plot is too Frankenstein for its own good, and seems a bit lazy. Phillip Madoc is always good value for money, mind you, and the head honcho sister of Karn (is it 'Marn'? 'Maran'?) gives a good, embittered performance.
Morbius, alas, is a wasted opportunity. He has the voice of a Dalek, and not much more personality. It doesn't help that he goes demented as soon as he gets his brain housed. And Morbius' Igor-like assistant is a dismally predictable charcter (he's meant to kill Sarah, but he can't because he fancies her. What a surprise).
Oh, and those blokes in the mind-battle scene are pre-Hartnell Doctors. As Morbius says, he's taking the Doctor's mind "Right back to the beginning". Just one of those things that were effaced by later developments, I suppose. Still, they're a godsend for anyone who wants to take the suggestion up.
Rehashed traditions and radical departures by Tim Roll-Pickering 2/9/02
Okay let's get the big one out of the way first. There's a famous scene in The Brain of Morbius in which we see that the Doctor had at least eight incarnations prior to the one played by William Hartnell. "But it's always been clear that Hartnell played the original Doctor! This is wrong, wrong wrong! The production team didn't pay attention to continuity enough!" I hear various people cry. Yet like many of the so-called "facts established since it all started" this one isn't on particularly strong ground. In 1976 the only evidence in the series itself that the incarnation played by Hartnell was the original was one ambiguous reference to "earliest Doctor" in The Three Doctors. Nothing concrete had ever been really established by other stories, whilst many other details about the Doctor had been contradicted over the years - his age being only one such example going from 450 in The Tomb of the Cybermen to "thousands of years" in Doctor Who and the Silurians to 749 in The Android Invasion and other stories from this very season. Amidst such confusion and ambiguity it seems entirely reasonable to accept The Brain of Morbius' assertion that there were previous incarnations. If anything, it should be the later stories such as Mawdryn Undead and The Five Doctors which should be criticised for going against this when they established that Hartnell was the first incarnation and Davison the fifth. But that's one for a review of those stories.
Leaving aside the great continuity debate, there is a lot to commend The Brain of Morbius for. It uses no prefilming whatsoever and yet still manages to offer a convincing alien world completely within a television studio. The acting is strong, with Philip Madoc stealing the show as Solon and Cynthia Grenville giving a highly dignified performance as Maren. The production values are just as strong, with the camera work providing for much suspense in the tale.
It is the story that stands out the most. There's no real attempt made to hide the story's Frankenstein roots and much is lifted straight out of the many movies of the same genre. We see a mad scientist living in a castle in an isolated environment, his hunchback servant who doesn't entirely approve of his master's experiments, a group of superstitious locals who fear the scientist's work, a raging monster that seeks to destroy much about it and a screaming heroine. But The Brain of Morbius manages to take all these elements and add the story of Morbius, a being desperate to be released from the prison he has been trapped in in order to survive. Morbius is one of the most chilling Time Lords yet encountered in the series, surviving by an immense force of will and determined to become mobile again so that he can once more set out to conquer the universe.
Equally strong is the subplot about the Sisterhood's dependency upon the Elixir of Life and the question of whether or not immortality should be sought or if it would be better for there to be an ending to things. Maren's death at the end of the story is spectacular even though it isn't entirely clear how she has become one with the Flame of Life. The Doctor emerges as the key figure in this story, challenging both Solon and the Sisterhood as they each seek to cheat the normal processes of death and provide immortality. The result is a challenging tale. Sarah is unfortunately reduced to screaming a lot in order to fit the stereotypes of the story but she also shows determination at times such as sneaking in to the shrine to save the Doctor. There are some scenes which go against the Doctor's traditional character, such as his willingness to cut up Morbius and later his willingness to use cyanide to kill Solon and lure Morbius down to open the cellar door. This portrayal of the Doctor as a more desperate individual, willing to kill in cold blood is a little too radical a departure from the norms of the series (even Colin Baker's incarnation only used violence when in more direct danger) and is ultimately the story's main weakness. Otherwise it is a good tale but not the best casual example of the series. 8/10
How To Get A Head By Advertising by Andrew Wixon 24/5/03
There's a fun game you can play the next time you watch The Brain of Morbius. It's called 'spot the intrusive plot device'. you can get quite a high score if you pay attention closely enough. Here are a few just to get you started:
But for all this - and for all the faintly ropey sets, especially of the exterior of Karn - Brain of Morbius remains quite watchable. This is mainly down to the performances of Tom Baker and Philip Madoc, who both give it absolutely everything they've got. But even so the story still comes across as ever-so-slightly camp, the gothic pastiche concentrated on at the expense of the plot.
A Review by Terrence Keenan 18/8/03
There are times where you can look a Who story and find deeper meanings about life, art, behind the scenes issues, politics... and then there's The Brain of Morbius, Terrance Dicks' homage to Frankenstein, with a little rewrite help from Robert Holmes.
There are no deeper meanings in this serial. Trust me, I tried to come up with one, and failed. (There might be others out there who can. Good luck.)
But what The Brain of Morbius is, is another fun little gothic horror/sci-fi hybrid that the Hinchcliffe/Holmes team did so well. The story bounces along quickly, and although some of the plot points are a bit weak, you can tell the cast is putting all their effort into it.
Philip Madoc has gotten much praise for Solon. But, my favorite in the cast is Cynthia Grenville's Maren. Part of it is the voice. The rest of it is that face. She looks like she ate lemons daily. (That and some good aging makeup.) Also, Gilly Brown's Ohica is so over the top that it becomes a natural performance by the end. You wait for her to wink and say "I'm really not this anal" but she doesn't. Colin Fay's Condo is all right. That's one helluva unibrow he's sporting. He's doing Igor, and does it well.
Tom and Lis? They rocked. Nuff said.
Okay, let's get to the one bit of controversy. You know, the eight faces on the mind bending screen thing. If you go by what's in this story and no others, then the only plausible argument is that they are previous Doctors. Morbius is whupping the Doc in the mind bending fight and only backs off when his fishbowl skull pops and fills with smoke. And then there's Morbius's lines: "Back, back. How long have you lived, Doctor?" Says it all methinks. But, hey, it's another continutity controversy in a show infamous for them. (If this bugs you, try dating UNIT stories. That'll really drive you batshit).
The Brain of Morbius is what it is. Four well-acted, fast-paced episodes of Horror/Sci-fi/Who fun. "Buy the ticket. Take the ride."
Body horror! by Joe Ford 16/10/03
This story is a timeless classic, one that is long remembered by fans and those with only a casual interest in the show. The title (melodramatic as it is) sticks in the mind and images of the Morbius creature with his glass brain case and huge, crushing claw remain extremely memorable. The fact is this story lives up to the hype and more. Not only is it an honest to God horror with some of the sickest images the show ever produced it is also a visually striking tale which pushes beyond its studio limitations and becomes something very special.
That same title kind of ruins things though. I cannot think of a cliff-hanger I love more than the end of episode two. The build up to actually seeing Morbius' brain is astounding, the ominous scene with the camera panning down the shadowy stairwell whilst Solon talks to somebody who is expertly kept out of shot. Compounding this appetite whetting you have Sarah, blinded by Maran's ring, hearing the malevolent voice and tripping down the stairs to discover its source. She stumbles into a room, reaching out for whoever is speaking to her and the camera moves backward to let us see what she cannot, a huge glowing brain encased in green fluid. It's absolute genius and I punch the air with joy every time I watch it! The brain, powerfully voiced by Michael Spice, looks fabulous and I love the way it breathes air bubbles just before the cliff-hanging music begins.
I think a lot of the credit for this story belongs to Chris Barry, director extrordinaire! He did not have an easy task assembling this story, a gothic horror with a million and one steals and stuck in the cramped BBC studios... but he manages to overcome his limitations and create a highly atmospheric piece with enough Who trappings to give it a unique, individual identity.
Give that man Barry Newberry a pat on the back for his excellent sets that capture the mood of the story perfectly. The ultimate expression of Goth horror comes with Solon's castle, a lightning streaked house of horrors, all period furniture, tilted pillars and twisted scientific equipment. An extremely cramped set, thick with shadows, it provides an ideal location to tell this grotesque body horror. But the 'exterior' sets deserve much praise only betraying their studio limitations on the rarest of occasions. I love the way the fog rolls across the ground, disguising the studio floor and the misshapen, hexagonal rock faces only add to the distorted, unreal feel of the show. If that wasn't enough the shrine of the Sisterhood has its own charms, the shocking reds of their robes and walls contrasting wildly with the duller colours elsewhere.
It's an ideal acting showcase for Phillip Madoc. I cannot decide what is my favourite of his four (I think) appearances of the show. Power of Kroll is certainly his weakest but The Krotons (an underrated but still desperately average story) and The War Games both see him imbuing the stories with a quiet menace, both the better for it as a hysterical performance would have let them down.
The Brain of Morbius shows Madoc at the height of his powers as the deranged Solon. It is this character that sets of all the events in the story driven by the insanity that only comes with worshipping a higher being. However instead of writing him as a complete loony Holmes gives him a charming edge that makes you question his motives. I love it when his manservant drools over Sarah and he casually says "Poor old Condo, perhaps I'll give him your hair as a memento." Some of the lines he is given ("There are those who would not agree with that assessment Doctor...", "Morbius was wrong...", "If he dies! You die!") could have been hopelessly overdone by a less experienced actor but Madoc keeps his cool, only losing it when things turn frighteningly bad (such as the bit where the brain splatters on the floor... "The greatest intellect ever known... destroyed by a mindless brute!!!"). There are too many stand out scenes for Solon but my all time favourite is his tense confrontation with Condo... the way he casually dismisses his hurting servant and is forced to suddenly beg for his life as Condo pulls a knife... it's a shocking scene but Madoc's desperate pleading "It was just a joke! Just a stupid joke!" is great.
That's not to say the other actors aren't pulling their weight. Oh no, Tom Baker is entranced in his season of violence and continues his disturbingly alien portrayal of the Time Lord. After they hunt down Morbius, he orders Solon to disconnect the brain "or I'll do it my way..." he says pulling out a pair of pliers! How cool is that? His scenes with the Sisters are loaded with wit and Baker plays it with a twinkle in his eye. Chemistry is an important factor in the Doctor/companion relationship (obviously) and Baker and Sladen make such a charming pair, she reacts hysterically to his sulks at the beginning and he rushes off after her as soon as she is in danger. The Doctor risks death to save Sarah's eyesight in this story, an incredible act of sacrifice. I adore the way they chat about the Morbius monster ("No head, oh no it look as though it was made out of butchers' left overs!", "Glass brain case? Could you read its thoughts?", "What's happened to Mr Allsorts?"). It's all topped off wonderfully with the scene where they are locked together in Solon's laboratory and he proceeds to tell her how long in seconds and minutes they will be there for if they're stuck there for a month.
There is a question of the show's violence which has been addressed ad nauseum. My opinion? Isn't it fabulous? Lets have blood leaking from wounds when people are shot! Let's have women strangled to death by huge claws! Let's have brains splattering to the floor in green slime and throbbing uncontrollably when it's picked up! For Christ's sakes this is a horror story! If you are going to do it you might as well do to the extreme... what's the point otherwise? There are a few questionably strong moments for little kiddies but as Barry Letts seems quite fond of pointing out kids LIKE to be frightened. Thoughts of Morbius monsters hiding under the bed and hunchback Condo stalking the shadowy hallways are healthy... I showed this to my niece a few years ago and she was scared shitless. I had to wait until she fell asleep before I could leave her bedroom. For the next month she was dancing around the garden like the Sisterhood and running away from Morbius monsters as she played... it fired up her imagination in all the best ways.
Trust me, this story is mercilessly graphic in a way the show could do with being more often.
Who can resist the thought that that interfering interloper Iris Wilthyme is actually one of the Sisters? I always try and spot which one she might every time I watch it. An example of a book that has enhanced the enjoyment of a TV story and not detracted from it, John Peel and Terrance Dicks take note.
The direction is quite intimate in places with some very effective camera angles and techniques. I love the shot through the fire as Sarah and the Doctor first enter Solon's castle. The overlapping scenes of the Sisters dancing give their rituals a sense of disorientation and magic. The Brain of Morbius isn't just filmed like a season 20 throwaway, it is carefully assembled into a flowing story with vivid images striking the right chord. The monster creeping up on Sarah as she regains her eyesight, the monster on the bed as she approaches thinking it's the Doctor only to sit up and discover it has no head, the sisters climbing the steps of the castle with their torches flickering in the wind... real care has been imbued to ensure the end result is as atmospheric as possible. And Dudley Simpson's score is perfect, laying on the Hammer Horror campness in style.
Who can resist a story where the Doctor cyanides the main bad guy to death? And with a sequence as gripping as the mind bending competition? Or with Sarah at her all time most useless/brilliant?
Robert Holmes was right to thieve the story from Terrance Dicks, he has created a masterpiece of television, a story that holds up superbly and can be enjoyed by all generations.
A terrific achievement.
A Review by Stuart Gutteridge 29/11/03
Despite the parallels that can be drawn with Frankenstein, The Brain of Morbius still manages to be entertaining and a strong piece of Doctor Who. Much of this is down to the atmosphere, created by the small cast who are uniformly excellent. Tom Baker is at ease in in the role of the Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen gets more to do as Sarah Jane, largely because as she is blind the cliffhangers revolve around her, Philip Madoc brings the right amount of devoted mania to Solon and Cynthia Grenville`s uneasy alliance as Maren, leader of the Sisterhood of Karn is well conveyed. Something else worth commenting on is Christopher Barry`s direction; given that the sets are relatively small and the story has no location work he does an admirable job. Recommended viewing.
A Review by Brian May 4/1/08
The Brain of Morbius is never less than entertaining, continuing the quality run of the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era of Doctor Who. True to these years, there's all the gothic mood and horror homage, this time fusing Frankenstein, She and They Saved Hitler's Brain in a satisfying way. It's resplendent with many an underlit room, creaking doors and moody music (the freaky, discordant score at the end of part three is very Psycho-like!). Of the many lasting images, the one ingrained in my memory is the brain spilling onto the floor. It's so wonderfully gruesome, if that's not a contradiction in terms, and more evidence of the boundaries Hinchcliffe and Holmes weren't afraid to push. It still looks disgusting and horrific for kids' TV even by today's standards.
It's well acted - mostly. Gilly Brown (Ohica) is an exception, overacting somewhat and subscribing to the "wide eyes = dramatic" school of thought, while the extras playing the Sisterhood are made to perform some ludicrous choreography what with all their "Sacred fire, sacred flame" silliness. Philip Madoc is the star turn, achieving what genre cliches usually make impossible - a credible mad scientist - conveying Solon's obsession with the right amount of restraint. It's not his best ever performance in Doctor Who - that accolade belongs to the War Lord in The War Games - but, for the reasons listed above, Solon is a far more difficult role in terms of precision.
The production values are mixed. The Morbius monster is an excellent design. The interiors are fine - Solon's residence in particular is made up of a great collection of sets. It's the mock exteriors that leave much to be desired. In a season when we were treated to a fantastic jungle set and a pretty good Antarctic blizzard, several piles of polystyrene rocks and fake plants are quite a disappointment. The rain and lightning are awful, and the story is pretty much an editing nightmare, with many awkward chops and changes in the shots - for example, after Sarah says "Pardon?" and the sequence following the first glimpse of Solon's domain. I've mentioned that I love the music that accompanies the end of part three, but the final image lingers for a considerable time. Morbius stands behind Elisabeth Sladen, waiting for the director to call "cut", very patiently if I may say so! But it's indicative of Christopher Barry's overall effort - rather flat, which is unusual for him.
The script reflects the difference between two of the classic series' most prolific writers. Terrance Dicks's original story regarded a robot servant trying to re-create its (presumably injured) master. It lacked the horror elements, which were later incorporated by Robert Holmes. It's sheer conjecture on my part, but I can envisage the Dicks version as being similar to his earlier Robot. The automaton would have been a figure of pathos, making a highly noble attempt to understand humanity, as did K-1. But I think I prefer the finished, spooked-up rewrite.
This said there are a couple of problems. The Doctor leaving Solon to disassemble Morbius unsupervised isn't very clever, and the Time Lord conveniently leaving the sonic screwdriver in the TARDIS is unlikely. Both incidents are obviously plot catalysts and they're glaringly awkward. But Morbius gets some great speeches, Solon delivers one of the most hilarious insults in TV history ("chicken-brained biological disaster") and it's a brave move to show the Doctor actually commit murder - and a human victim at that, not just some faceless monster. Holmes shows more daring by implying that the Doctor isn't in his fourth incarnation. It's an idea unanimously rejected by subsequent production teams (and fans), but you've got to admire the brazen boldness of such a concept, more than twenty years before the retcons of John Peel and Lawrence Miles.
At the end of the day The Brain of Morbius is an enjoyable story and a good representation of the series at the time of broadcast. 7.5/10