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| Solon (Philip Madoc) attempts to revive the evil Morbius! |
4 episodes. Approx. 99 minutes. Written by: Robin Bland (pseudonym), Terrance Dicks (uncredited), Robert Holmes (uncredited). Directed by: Christopher Barry. Produced by: Philip Hinchcliffe.
THE PLOT
The TARDIS is diverted to Karn, a planet that has been reduced to little more than a wasteland, a graveyard for starships pulled to their deaths by the Sisterhood of Karn. An ancient order, long allied with the Time Lords, the Sisterhood guards its "sacred flame" within the mountains of Karn. The flame provides the elixir of life, granting immortality to those who drink it. They guard this resource jealously and, when they recognize the Doctor as a Time Lord, they fear he has come to steal it.
Karn is also home to Solon (Philip Madoc), a skilled surgeon who has made this wasteland his home for the sake of experiments on living tissue. His experiments serve dark ends. Solon is a follower of the Time Lord tyrant Morbius (Michael Spice). After the Time Lords and the Sisterhood united against him, Morbius' body was executed. However, Solon saved the brain, plotting to transplant it into a new body so that Morbius can live again. The only piece he needs to complete his work is the head - and he believes the Doctor's will be a perfect fit!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Has become fed up with the Time Lords using him as their errand boy. When he realizes that he's been diverted to Karn through their intervention, his immediate inclination is to do nothing. Once he senses Morbius' mind, however, all hesitation vanishes. He becomes focused on stopping Solon from reviving the evil Time Lord, and is not above physical intimidation. As in Genesis of the Daleks and Pyramids of Mars, the Doctor's grim tone suits Tom Baker's strengths, bringing an extra dimension out in his performance - which still leaves plenty of room for clowning, particularly when taken captive by the Sisterhood, whose rituals he is pitiless in mocking.
Sarah Jane Smith: Notices that something's "off" about Solon instantly. While the Doctor drinks Solon's wine, she surreptitiously pours it out, feigning unconsciousness when the Doctor succumbs to the drug. She rescues the Doctor from the Sisterhood in Part Two when they prepare to sacrifice him to the flame. Even after she is blinded, when she hears a voice calling out in panic in Solon's lab, she follows it to try to help... Not realizing that the voice she hears is Morbius', just knowing that someone is in distress and wanting to help if she can.
THOUGHTS
As is quite well-known within Who fandom, The Brain of Morbius began life as a Terrance Dicks script, one which was given a Page One rewrite by Robert Holmes. An annoyed Dicks demanded his name be removed from the final product, and the "Robin Bland" pseudonym was born.
That this is, to all practical purposes, a Robert Holmes script shows, most vividly in the dialogue. With all due respect to Terrance Dicks, his words just don't have the richness, the poetry that Holmes can bring. Holmes has the ability to use language as a paintbrush, investing life into stock characters and resonance into standard scenes, as when Morbius bemoans his state to Solon:
[I]"I can see nothing, feel nothing. You have locked me into hell for eternity. If this is all there is, I would rather die now... Even a sponge has more life than i. Can you understand a thousandth of my agony? I, Morbius, who once led the High Council of the Time Lords, reduced to this - to the condition where I envy a vegetable!"[/I]
Holmes also gives every character or character group their own agenda. These aren't just servants of the plot. Everyone in this story wants something and acts to get it. Solon is a fervent devotee of Morbius, and of course he wants his lord restored to glory... but he also wants glory for himself. As Morbius observes, he is not content to be a servant; he wants to be acknowledged as Morbius' creator. The Sisterhood fears the Time Lords, believing that they have sent the Doctor to steal their "elixir of life," and everything they do within the story is to protect their elixir and their "sacred flame." Even Condo has his own personal goal, to recover his arm, something which makes him simultaneously a servant to Solon and a threat to him.
Alliances are formed and switched throughout the story. Solon attempts to save the Doctor from the Sisterhood in Episode Two, then later sends him into a trap. In both cases, he's serving his ends: If the Sisters sacrifice the Doctor, his head will not be usable; but both Solon and Sisters want the Doctor nullified as a threat. The Doctor helps the Sisters in Episode Three, hoping to gain them as an ally. He even teams up with Solon team in Episode Four, to track down the Morbius-creature. Again, both men's aims are served: The Doctor wants to stop a rampaging monster, Solon wants to subdue Morbius long enough to finish his work. This makes both Sisterhood and Solon temporary allies and enemies at multiple points in the story, keeping the pace alive and allowing the narrative to turn in some interesting directions.
PLOT HOLES: OR, WHY DID THEY DO THAT?
Not that Dicks isn't right that the redraft introduced some plot-holes. Even on my very first viewing of the story, I wondered why Solon was so keen to stick the Doctor's head on his mish-mash of mobile body parts. Surely it would be more efficient and have a more desirable end result to simply transplant Morbius' brain into the Doctor's head, on the Doctor's own body? A throwaway line to explain why the head has to go on the mongrel body, or a reference to the body being an experiment like the fishbowl that Solon doesn't really intend to use, would adequately cover this.
Episode Four then sees the Doctor becoming deeply stupid. Having intimidated Solon into agreeing to dismantle Morbius, he then... leaves Solon alone with Morbius, only to act surprised when his enemy double-crosses him. "I should never have left him alone," the Doctor grits when he realizes. No, he shouldn't have - and he's frankly far too smart to have done so, save that the plot demanded it.
Neither of these bumps stop this from being a very good serial. Minor plot issues and convenient character stupidity to advance the plot have been part and parcel of Doctor Who since 1963, and will likely continue to be a part of the series for as long as it survives. It's enough to keep me from giving this the "9" I had been leaning toward - but this is still wonderfully entertaining viewing.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
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