Season 13: The Brain of Morbius

 

`Brain of Morbius` should not work. Studio bound yet including such locations as a cliff edge and the exterior of a stormy planet and populated by characters whose larger-than-life personas fill up the screen it would surely be a mess? Yet it’s like a glorious, bonkers stage play that should really have transferred to the West End and run for years. It has that melodramatic edge to it which is what happens when you get a cast that is willing to hurl themselves into something as mad as this. In any other season this would be the pinnacle, here it has to make do with sharing the acclaim with others. Whatever the disagreements about the script that led to the credited `Bland` pseudonym this is a story that proves that classic Doctor Who is always more about the story than it is about the effects.

 

It would probably be insulting to the Mary Shelley estate to even claim that Frankenstein is the inspiration for this idea; it seems to draw more from copies of that famous novel in some of its constituent parts. It is true though that it’s a story where suspension of disbelief is paramount. Show this to a non-fan and it will likely confirm all their prejudices about the cheapness of the series whether in its ideas or their execution. In no particular order it offers dry ice swirling around cardboard rocks, a backdrop which sometimes doesn’t even bother with a sky, storms depicted by nothing more than sound effects and a flashing light. We have complex medical operations concluded in mere minutes, a mystical wise sisterhood whose intellect doesn’t extend to knowledge of soot in a chimney and a creature walking around with its brain in a plastic salad bowl after that brain has fallen onto the floor. Of course the script plays fast and loose not just with medical matters but also geographic ones. How far is it from Solon’s castle to the Sisterhood? 

So why is it so good? It may be because of those things. Sometimes a story, even a classic one, has one aspect that is a bit less convincing but when almost everything is unconvincing you just go with it. Like `Kinda`, another too obviously studio bound tale, this is a production that seems made for the stage and nobody goes to see a stage play and complains about realism.

The first thing you notice is a Mutt from `The Mutants` which was exciting for fans in 1976 but probably there because they still had the costume. Then you realise how mardy Tom is in part one. Ignoring the dry ice and indeed everything else the Doctor is sulking because the Time Lords have sent him here to do their dirty work and once again this provides Sarah with a proactive opportunity. The poor girl does go through it over the ensuing four episodes; shocked, thrown about, temporarily blinded, thrown down stairs and attacked by both Condo and the Morbius monster Lis Sladen has a plateful of material that she consumes with ease. As is noticeable throughout her tenure, she acts even when observing and if you think that’s easy then check out the differing expressions on the Sisterhood as they watch what is going on. Tom remains largely taciturn throughout; this was the period when he approached the role with a mostly grim countenance allowing just the occasional more outwardly eccentric moment.

Despite the theatrical set design and performances there is a fair amount of brutality in this story of the type that would probably not be permitted these days. It’s no coincidence that most modern fantasy shows feature lots of laser gun battles rather than the more visceral type of violence here. There’s no guts but some blood and entrails plus a decapitated head or two; images that no doubt incurred the wrath of Mary Whitehouse and company peaking as Morbius’ gooey green brain slides onto the floor.  Condo is shot several times after being shown earlier threatening Sarah with a nasty metal hook. Solon’s death occurs by asphyxiation and there’s some throttling as well.

What got me more concerned was the proximity of the real flames to the Doctor’s scarf when the Sisterhood try to burn him at the stake. Even the imagery of the brain in the tank of green liquid, its shock effect somewhat softened nowadays by those Voxi adverts, was creepy in the 70s especially as Michael Spice’s treated vocals made it sound so angry. The story works better when lower lighting is used. In Solon’s castle there are some really atmospheric scenes.

When this was first shown the viewers knew little of the Time Lords and I suppose this is the story that can be credited / blamed for the start of the unfurling of their myths and legends, a process that continued in the modern series. `Robin` goes easy on the exposition which, as much as it can, flows from natural conversation and paints an interesting thought not too rigidly defined picture. I like the way we don’t learn everything about Morbius’ time on Karn. Years later I wondered if the Elixir of Life might be used when the Doctor’s regeneration cycle came to an end but the show went in different directions. 

Yet when it sticks to the characters it is rich. Philip Madoc gets his best role in the show as the obsessed, brilliant Solon eating up plenty of screen time as the character obsesses with resurrecting Morbius. Maybe a little more background on why he’s so fanatical about it would be good. Colin Fay manages to lean into the sympathetic yet simple Condo’s qualities despite a terrible wig and outfit while the Sisterhood’s choreographic tendencies seem to be inspired by Pan’s People from those old Top of the Pops. Cynthia Grenville as the aged Maren gives the Sisters some dignity determinedly ignoring the peculiar eye movements of her second in command Ohica. The Sisters twirl around whispering “sacred flame, sacred fire” but are quite powerful managing to telekinetically transport both the Doctor and the Tardis though later seem to have to carry the former when taking him back to the castle. And why don’t they just transport Morbius over the cliff edge the same way they move the Doctor? I can hear a Tom Baker voice answering: “Weell because the director wanted to copy the villagers with pitchforks idea didn’t he?”

The best remembered scene now is the mind-bending contest which seems more in keeping with the series than when the Doctor has to engage in physical combat – I excuse `Curse of Peladon` as that was the custom of the planet. Ignoring quite why the mind-bending machine would be there at all, it’s a great dramatic scene; one thing Tom was always able to pull off especially well is that not easy acting trick of appearing to be in severe pain. Michael Spice’s compressed voice sounding like its coming from an old fashioned radio spits venom and anger.

What was probably soon forgotten by the then production team has become something of a talking point decades later eventually inspiring a whole new slice of lore courtesy of Chris Chibnall. The display in the mind-bending contest shows two images of Morbius, then the familiar previous Doctors followed by other incarnations we’ve never seen. In the immediate years after there was much debate in Doctor Who fanzines about this though it always seemed implicit to me what was being presented.

It does somewhat contradict the same production team’s reveal later that year in `The Deadly Assassin` that Time Lords are limited to twelve regenerations because this makes Tom’s Doctor the twelfth so that big regeneration crisis that Matt Smith endured should have been for Peter Davison.  I suppose it’s never defined in Sixties episodes that William Hartnell was the first incarnation, he was dubbed the first Doctor because he was first one we saw and the one who took the Tardis. All those other incarnations maybe sneaked off and came back! In truth Robert Holmes probably didn’t stop to consider how this might be interpreted or developed in the future. It’s one of those things that probably seemed like an interesting idea at the time even if using the likeness of people who were not actors precluded using them again.

We all know `Brian of Morbius` so well that its power is surprising. Despite conceptual and production weaknesses, it comes together to create a hugely involving whole, a story that would probably not work in any other period of the show’s history but which fits this season perfectly.

 A review of this story from 1976: