Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius

The Brain of Morbius is the fifth serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 January 1976.

On the planet Karn, an insect-like alien is killed by Condo who takes its head to a castle and his master Solon. However, the head is unsuitable — Solon needs a head from a warm-blooded humanoid.

The TARDIS materialises and the Fourth Doctor rushes out, the Time Lords having diverted him to this planet. Sarah Jane Smith finds a valley filled with wrecked spacecraft, as well as the headless body of the alien which is identified as a Mutt. She and the Doctor make for the castle that she spots. The travellers are welcomed by Solon who compliments the Doctor on his “magnificent” head.

Meanwhile, the Sisterhood of Karn discover the TARDIS and teleport it to their temple. Their elderly leader, Maren, identifies it as a Time Lord vessel, and believes that the Doctor has come to steal their Elixir of Life.

The Doctor knows of Solon as an authority on microsurgical techniques and tissue transplant. The Doctor recognises a clay bust as that of Morbius, one of the Time Lords’ greatest criminals. Before he can say anything further, a drug takes effect, and the Doctor passes out. Sarah Jane pretends that she has succumbed. In the laboratory, Solon’s examination of the Doctor confirms that he is a Time Lord.

As he and Condo leave the room, the Doctor vanishes. Sarah Jane keeps hidden and enters the lab. She draws back the curtain on a bed, thinking it is the Doctor, but as the lights come up, she sees a headless, patchwork creature made from various body parts.

The Doctor regains consciousness to find himself surrounded by members of the Sisterhood. The Doctor realises that just before he passed out, he felt the mind of Morbius. Maren refuses to believe him.

Sarah Jane follows Solon and Condo as they make their way towards the temple. Solon asks the Sisters to spare the Doctor, or at least give him the Doctor’s head. A disguised Sarah frees the Doctor, but she is blinded by the energy from Maren’s ring. They return to the castle, where the Doctor asks Solon to examine Sarah Jane’s eyes.

Solon tells him that Sarah’s retinas have been almost completely destroyed, but there is one chance: the Elixir of Life. The Doctor goes to the Sisterhood, unaware that Solon has lied about Sarah Jane’s condition and has notified the Sisterhood that the Doctor is coming back.

Sarah Jane hears a voice calling for Solon. Following the sound, she enters a hidden laboratory and stumbles blindly towards a glowing brain in a tank, which accuses her of being sent by the Sisterhood to destroy it. Solon enters and drags her away. As he closes the door, she hears Solon address the voice as “Morbius” and hears how Solon has sent the Doctor into a trap. She locks Solon in the laboratory and, still blind, makes her way out of the castle.

The Doctor is captured by the Sisterhood. When he explains why he came back, Maren tells him that the ray’s effect is not permanent, and Solon knows that. The Doctor believes that something evil related to Morbius is happening. Maren affirms that she saw Morbius dispersed. The Doctor asks if Solon was present. Morbius had led an army of mercenaries, promising them the Elixir and immortality and revealing its existence to the cosmos. The Doctor reignites the flame with a “Little Demon.”

Sarah Jane is captured and taken back to the castle. Learning that the Doctor is a Time Lord, Morbius fears the Time Lords have tracked him down and will return in force. Morbius insists that he be transferred into the patchwork body now, with an artificial brain casing that Solon constructed. Solon protests, as there may be severe pain and seizures, but Morbius insists.

Back in the castle, Solon prepares to operate, but Condo is enraged when he recognises his lost arm attached to the patchwork body. He attacks Solon before being shot in the stomach, their struggle knocking Morbius’ brain to the floor. Not knowing what damage has been done, Solon places the fallen brain in the casing, releasing Sarah Jane so she can assist in the operation. He threatens her into doing so, saying that if Morbius dies, then so does she.

The wounded Condo crawls into the hallway as outside, the Sisters carry the Doctor through the lightning storm. In the meantime, the operation is finished — within minutes Morbius will live again. Solon goes to answer the doorbell, and sees the Sisters leaving the Doctor’s body in the parlour. In the laboratory, Sarah Jane’s eyesight starts to clear, but the monstrous body of Morbius gets off the operating table and lumbers towards her.

Sarah Jane screams as she sees the Morbius creature, and dodges out of the way. She warns Solon that the creature is loose and he runs back to the lab. Sarah Jane notices the Doctor’s body, but as she approaches, the Doctor wakes up and smiles at her. He is here to stop Solon, but Sarah Jane tells him it is too late. But Morbius is revealed to not be in his right mind as he knocks Solon out and then the Doctor.

Morbius chases Sarah Jane, but Condo intervenes, knocking Sarah Jane down the stairs into the cellar while he grapples with Morbius. Morbius kills Condo then wanders out of the castle as the Doctor regains consciousness. He carries Sarah Jane into the secret lab to let her recover.

Solon has awakened and assembles a tranquilliser gun. He tells the Doctor that the operation was not complete, only the motor functions are working, the rest on an instinctual level. Knowing Morbius’ hatred, he will seek out the Sisterhood. Morbius finds one of the Sisters in some ruins nearby and kills her. The Doctor and Solon find the body and they search the ruins. Morbius attacks the Doctor, but is knocked out by Solon’s tranquilliser. As they carry the creature back to the castle, the Doctor tells Solon that Morbius’s brain will be detached and returned to the Time Lords.

The body of the dead Sister is brought back to Maren. Ohica reports that witnesses saw a creature and then the Doctor and Solon hunting for it. Maren realises that Solon has succeeded in his experiments and resurrected their ancient enemy. But Maren is too old and weak to leave the shrine, and she gives Ohica permission to lead the Sisters to the castle.

The Doctor gives Solon five minutes to disconnect the brain as he goes and checks on Sarah Jane. However, Solon locks them in the secret lab instead and begins to repair Morbius. Using materials from the secret lab, the Doctor makes cyanogen gas, which he then pipes through a vent that leads to the operating room above, reaching Solon and killing him, but Morbius survives, as his lungs filter out the poison.

Morbius confronts Sarah Jane and the Doctor, claiming that when the knowledge of his resurrection spreads, his followers will rise in their millions. The Doctor and Sarah Jane mock Morbius in an attempt to overheat his brain, and the Doctor challenges him to a mindbending contest.

They grab hold of the appropriate apparatus in the laboratory and begin. The machine’s display shows Morbius’ brain casing head, then his previous face, then the Doctor, then the Doctor’s previous incarnation. After going through the Doctor’s previous incarnations, eight other faces are shown before Morbius’ brain case shorts out. The Doctor collapses, as Morbius stumbles out in a daze. The Sisterhood arrive and chase Morbius over a cliff, apparently to his death. Then Ohica finds Sarah Jane crying over the Doctor.

Taking the Doctor back to the shrine, Maren says only the Elixir of Life can save him, but there is none left. However, the revived Flame has gathered enough Elixir. There is enough for the Doctor, but not for Maren, who accepts that the Doctor was right: there should be an end. The Elixir is given to the Doctor, who revives almost immediately. Maren steps into the Flame of Life, becoming younger, and then vanishes.

Ohica starts to thank the Doctor, but he stops her, saying that he and Sarah Jane have another engagement. He gives her a pair of curious objects in case they need to relight the Flame again. When Ohica asks what they are, the Doctor answers, “A mighty atom and a thunderflash.” He explains that the writing on the cardboard tubes reads: “Light the blue touch paper and stand clear.” This time, the TARDIS vanishes in a puff of light and smoke.

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To view the list of other Doctor Who serials, please click this link

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