"The Brain of Morbius" (Spoilers)

[TedShatner10]

I've got the DVD for The Brain of Morbius and it is my second proper contact with the Golden Age Baker/Holmes era, after "Genesis of the Daleks". I'd give it a solid score of 8/10 and it seems a great example of very creative minds being severely limited by 1970s TV technology and a penny pinching BBC (but some thought and creativity went into the gothic sets and props, despite the embarrassing production limitations in places).

The acting is great, with Phillip Madoc (who played Solon) being the standout of these episodes and the fate of his character being unusual, even by NuWho standards (a human looking character being first degreed murdered by the Doctor). I found his rabid devotion to the equally rabid Morbius to be interesting and pathetic.

For something PG rated, it seems a bit too edgy for under twelves (with a badguy getting graphically shot in the stomach and an alien getting decapitated, it's head wired up to the mains). The backstory for Morbius and Solon is well written, and conviningly described by the characters in the present tense, leaving bags of room for creative fanfiction.

The best extras on the DVD is the concept and production sketches (with the more intriguing ones being a pre-debrained Morbius as a Hitlertarian warlord and a surgical robot searching through the ruins of spaceships).

 

[Chris227]

The backstory is actually expanded on in the novel Warmonger by Terrance Dicks. However it's a pretty bad novel.....

 

[StCoop]

The backstory is actually expanded on in the novel Warmonger by Terrance Dicks. However it's a pretty bad novel.....

The worst DW novel ever but completely gripping in a "I can't believe what I'm reading way".

It'll also make your head spin trying to fit it into continuity. Peri meets Sontarans and Cybermen while still with the 5th Doctor.

Do the Gallifrey scenes take place in the Doctor's part or prestent? Answer; both and on the same page!

And then there's Peri's drunken attempt to seduce the Doctor...

 

[Chris227]

Apparentally there's also some audio sequels to Brain of Morbius. Haven't heard them yet, though.

 

[StCoop]

Apparentally there's also some audio sequels to Brain of Morbius. Haven't heard them yet, though.

They're part of the second series of 8th Doctor Audios on BBC7, which start this Sunday, I believe.

 

[OmahaStar]

Terrance Dicks. *snip* pretty bad novel.....

Really, that's all you had to say. Terrance Dicks = pretty bad. Dude was fucked in the head.

 

[diankra]

Apparentally there's also some audio sequels to Brain of Morbius. Haven't heard them yet, though.

They're the conclusion to the second run of 8th Doctor/Lucie CDs/radio series. With Sam West, who was the Rani's assistant in Dimensions in Time, as Morbius.

 

[Chris3123]

It'll also make your head spin trying to fit it into continuity. Peri meets Sontarans and Cybermen while still with the 5th Doctor.

Uh, what? Seriously? So those stories must take place between the beginning and end of Caves of Androzani. That's a neat trick. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey indeed!

And then there's Peri's drunken attempt to seduce the Doctor...

Oh good lord.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It'll also make your head spin trying to fit it into continuity. Peri meets Sontarans and Cybermen while still with the 5th Doctor.

Uh, what? Seriously? So those stories must take place between the beginning and end of Caves of Androzani. That's a neat trick. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey indeed!

Well, more like they take place in-between Planet of Fire and Caves of Androzani.

Thanks to Big Finish and the novels, there's nearly a decade for Peri in between those two stories.

No, I'm not kidding.

Warmonger, cited above, spans about five years on its own. The Kingmaker, from Peri's perspective, spans two.

It's best not to think about it. No, really, don't think about it.

 

[Chris3123]

Uh, what? Seriously? So those stories must take place between the beginning and end of Caves of Androzani. That's a neat trick. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey indeed!

Well, more like they take place in-between Planet of Fire and Caves of Androzani.

Doh! I can't believe I forgot that Peri was in a story before Caves. and I just watched those two a month ago.

Thanks to Big Finish and the novels, there's nearly a decade for Peri in between those two stories.

No, I'm not kidding.

Holy. Crap. She sure aged well, didn't she.

It's best not to think about it. No, really, don't think about it.

Yeah, I'm getting a headache already.

 

[TedShatner10]

Terrance Dicks didn't really write "The Brain of Morbius" anyway if Holmes rewritten so much of it. I can think up of a better backstory than Warlord with Solon not being born when Morbius was at his height as a Time Lord (since there was supposedly a secret society that Solon joined and they somehow retrived Morbius' brain).

 

[Chris227]

Yeah, the gap between Planet of Fire and Caves doesn't really seem that big. It's mainly an excuse for more Fifth Doctor/Peri stories. The best gap for Peri to appear in is the Revelation/Trial era, because she has obviously aged between those stories.


Even making more Nyssa stories is a bit far-fetched, considering that they're repairing the console from the Cybermen's attack in "Arc of Infinity".

 

[DWF]

I always like The Brain Of Morbius, it's a bit graphic though with his brain falling on the foor and Condo getting shot in the stomach but it was a moody Hammer style horror story which is what they were going for in the first place.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Holy. Crap. She sure aged well, didn't she.

She did, actually, didn't she?

 

[danjamesb]

Apparentally there's also some audio sequels to Brain of Morbius. Haven't heard them yet, though.

They're part of the second series of 8th Doctor Audios on BBC7, which start this Sunday, I believe.

Sisters of the Flame and Vengeance of Morbius won't be part of the second series as broadcast on BBC7. They've only purchased six of the eight episodes.

 

[ClayinCA]

Well, that sucks. Those stories are pretty good (though perhaps not all-time classics), and apart from everything else, contain a nice guest-star part for Alexander Siddig.

 

[Samson88B]

I always like The Brain Of Morbius, it's a bit graphic though with his brain falling on the foor and Condo getting shot in the stomach but it was a moody Hammer style horror story which is what they were going for in the first place.

QFT. I have always liked The Brain of Morbius. I personally preferred the darker side of Who with a few light humorous episodes as opposed to the reverse. I would love to see a story in the new Who series addressing what the sisterhood is now up to.