Doctor Who: Classic 13x5: "The Brain of Morbius" Parts 1-4 | Reaction!

Imma bout to Morb all over the place on Season 13 Serial 5 of Classic Doctor Who - The Brain of Morbius Parts 1-4!
Like this video? Then consider supporting 7HF on Patreon:
/ 7thhourfilms
Social Stuff:
Twitter - / 7thhourfilms
Instagram - / 7thhourfilms
Discord - / discord
Playlists and such:
Doctor Who Reactions - • Doctor Who | Reactions!
Doctor Who: Classic Reactions - • Doctor Who: Classic | ...
Reactions - • Reactions
New to the Channel? Try the 7HF Starter Pack - • 7HF Starter Pack
#ClassicDoctorWho #TheBrainOfMorbius #Reaction

[@bananasaregood8655]

Before the timeless children i think the fandom depicted that morbius was trying to beat the doctor but the other faces were actually morbius and thats why his brain blew up in smoke haha. And thats the way i still look at it

[@ftumschk]

Robert Holmes and Philip Hinchcliffe unambiguously said the other faces were earlier incarnations of the Doctor. It's even made obvious in the script - as the faces appear on screen, Morbius says: "How long have you lived, Doctor?.... Back, back, to YOUR beginning!", so Morbius is clearly driving the Doctor back through his prior incarnations.

[@Darren79]

@@ftumschk The Doctor loses the Mindbending game which is why he needs the elixir but it means that Morbius blows a fuse in order to win.

[@conscienceaginBlackadder]

Your beginning can imply your family, who begin you. Idea that they are the Doctor's dad and grandad

[@kierenevans2521]

5:25 It's actually one of the Mutant costumes from The Mutants 44:55 Morbius's brain case is stated by Solon to be prone to static build up. Effectively the Doctor holds out long enough for the static to build up and partially fry his brain.

[@TheZodiacz]

Dad says Cynthia Grenville playing Maren looks like a 1000 years old. She was 45 when this was filmed. She passed away last December aged 90.

[@RoundTheArchives]

'The Brain Of Morbius' notes : Part One: Viewing figures = 9.5 million. Chart position = 30. Part Two: Viewing figures = 9.3 million. Chart position = 32. Part Three: Viewing figures = 10.1 million. Chart position = 23. Part Four: Viewing figures = 10.2 million. Chart position = 28. Transmission dates : 3, 10, 17, 24 January 1976. Studio sessions : October 1975. Studios : TC1 & TC3. The original idea was for Morbius to have a robot servant who rebuilt his body after crashing his spaceship on the planet Karn. The robot would not care about appearances, which explains the patchwork nature of the body. However, it soon became a worry that the robot could not be realised in a convincing manner, so Robert Holmes did another top-to-tail rewrite, introducing the characters of Solon and Condo. Terrance Dicks was not particularly happy with this decision and suggested that the story be broadcast under some 'bland pseudonym'. Robert Holmes took this suggestion literally... ;-) The faces following William Hartnell are all members of the production teams for 'The Brain Of Morbius' and 'The Seeds Of Doom'. In order, they are: George Gallaccio (Production Unit Manager), Robert Holmes (Script Editor), Graeme Harper (Production Assistant), Douglas Camfield (Director), Philip Hinchcliffe (Producer), Christopher Baker (Production Assistant), Robert Banks Stewart (Writer) and Christopher Barry (Director). The photo of Graeme Harper had previously been used as the picture for the Adjudicator in 'Colony In Space', but the rest were specially shot, allowing everyone to try on a variety of silly hats and costumes. 'The Brain Of Morbius' saw Mary Whitehouse again complain of the horrific content in 'Doctor Who', writing to the Chairman of the BBC, demanding that the show be scheduled later in the evening.

[@ftumschk]

_"the rest were specially shot, allowing everyone to try on a variety of silly hats and costumes"_ -- Indeed, and they're notably hats and costumes from periods of _Earth_ history. As if Hinchcliffe/Holmes' affirmations weren't clear enough, this fact makes it more likely that these were incarnations of the Earth-loving Doctor, not Morbius. We're not told that Morbius had any dealings with Earth, nor that he'd ever changed his appearance... which might explain why the Doctor so easily recognised Solon's clay sculpture of Morbius's head.

[@clairewatts330]

Just in case anyone is wondering, I checked and Clare Higgins, the only Sister of Karn in Night of The Doctor, was definitely not in this, her first credit is 1980.

[@MrPaulMorris]

The writer has said he intended the faces to represent previous incarnations of the Doctor. It had not been established at that point that Hartnell was the First Doctor so it was unremarkable to both the writer and the fans at the time (so far as I recall)

[@ericjette2435]

In "The Three Doctors," the First Doctor is referred to as "the earliest Doctor." I suppose the Doctor could have had several incarnations before they became "The Doctor," but I doubt that was the intent of the writer, producer, etc. Although I find it intriguing that the Doctor had several incarnations before the "First Doctor," it's my understanding that many of the fans didn't like the idea that the First Doctor wasn't really the First Doctor, so they chose to interpret the faces as being incarnations of Morbius. I was always under the impression that the fans had reached something of a consensus on this, regardless of the intentions of the writer, producer, etc., and that it was practically canon that most of the faces shown were incarnations of Morbius.

[@electricmastro]

@@ericjette2435 It's simple, those faces were from before the Doctor was reborn.

[@MuchWhittering]

John Levene, Benton's actor, has done a few Big Finish stories, as well as one of those semi-official straight to VHS 90s fan movies. He does conventions too I think, so yeah, I agree it'd be nice to get him. Sadly Ian Marter, Harry's actor, died in 1986 of a heart attack, apparently related to type 1 diabetes. Sarah-Jane does reference him in the past tense when she talks about old companions in Death of the Doctor, implying the character is dead too. The writer of this episode is another one who doesn't exist. It was written by Terrance Dicks, co-writer of The War Games, and script editor for the Pertwee era. It was then MASSIVELY re-written by current script editor Robert Holmes, to the point Dicks didn't want his name on it any more. They couldn't credit Holmes either though, because he was already credited as script editor, and you weren't allowed to have the script editor be the main writer because the unions didn't like the idea of this potentially putting writers out of work. So they came up with the Robin Bland pseudonym. Another one you'll see in future stories is David Agnew. The original intention of the Morbius "Doctors" is that they were the previous Doctors, but as it became clear over the years Hartnell was the 1st, then the idea they're Morbius' past bodies became accepted, and I don't see anything wrong with that. They're also all members of the production team. George Gallaccio (production unit manager), Robert Holmes (script editor), Graeme Harper (production assistant), Douglas Camfield (director), Philip Hinchcliffe (producer), Christopher Baker (production assistant), Robert Banks Stewart (writer of Terror of the Zygons and next week's Seeds of Doom), and Christopher Barry (director). Edit a few days later: I've been thinking, and in The Three Doctors, the Time Lords refer to Hartnell as "the earliest Doctor". So even in 1976 the Morbius Doctors didn't make sense. 49:28 I believe Moffat was asked if he'd ever bring back the Rani, who's another rogue Time Lord from the 80s. And his response was basically that no-one remembers her.

[@barriehull7076]

Rip 9 December 2022 : Ruth Madoc, (born Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker; 16 April 1943 - 9 December 2022) she was a British actress who had a career on stage and screen spanning over 60 years. She was married for a time to Philip Madoc. "Don't tell him Pike"​ ​(m. 1961; div. 1981)

[@billthewhovian]

I've always looked at the other faces as Morbius' own previous incarnations not the Doctor's. Or the Doctor made the others up.

[@tokublwhovian]

Well, they are the Doctor’s previous faces. Writer and producer of this story, confirmed they are. Also, Chris Chibnall with Series 12.

[@conscienceaginBlackadder]

Yes but they can't confirm direct contradictions of what has been directly shown before

[@bythebreach]

45:03 In Tomb of the Cybermen, the Second Doctor specifically says he's 450 years old in Earth years. When he casually refers to being 740 in this story, maybe he's counting in Gallifreyan years. I'd imagine Timelord and Human measurements of a year would be different.

[@easty74]

As for an elixir of eternal life, you should watch a movie called The Night Strangler. It was the second of the made for tv movies with Darren McGavin playing Carl Kolchak before the Night Stalker series in the 70's.

[@GamingYes]

I like to think that the doctor subconsciously chooses how he'll look with every regeneration. The war doctor fixating about the ears and he gets big ears as the 9th. The 10th doctor saying that he doesn't want to go and becomes 11th, who is very similar to 10. Then we have the 12th who probably thought about Missy and bill and then turned into 13.

[@chrisbrooker7260]

Another high point in the midst of Who’s greatest ever era. A gothic horror classic. Phillip Madoc is as wonderful as always

[@JudgeJosephDredd1989]

In the scene were they show all The Doctors faces while battling Morbius there was a flub where Sarah calls The Doctor "Tom" instead of Doctor.

[@jch13213]

It makes sense that they wouldnt know who the doctor is. At this point in the fiction, the doctor was not the uber important time lord he has become. Modern doctor who has infused fandom into the fiction

[@DonnaLang42rockglobally]

When I first watched this story on PBS in the early 80s, I just thought the "Morbius Doctors" were earlier incarnations and the Doctor had been traveling far longer than I'd imagined. As for the whole thing about First Doctor, Second Doctor, etc... I figured it was because they only started calling themselves the Doctor after meeting Ian and Barbara. Then after the whole "the First Doctor was the first Doctor" happened, I just decided to shrug "off the "Morbius Doctors" dilemma rather than start tossing around whataboutisms in the fandom. Also those eight "earlier faces" are by and large portrayed by members of the "Doctor Who" crew who were working on this serial or the one that followed "The Brain of Morbius": George Gallaccio (production unit manager ), Robert Holmes (script editor), Graeme Harper (production assistant), Douglas Camfield (director), Philip Hinchcliffe (producer), Christopher Baker (the exception because he's a production assistant with no "Doctor Who" credits), Robert Banks Stewart (writer), and Christopher Barry (director). According to Hinchcliffe, they'd tried to get famous actors for the earlier faces of the Doctor; since no one would volunteer, "we had to use the backroom boys."

[@kaledmasterme]

I love this story so much. I always thought Philip Madoc, who plays Solon here, should have played The Master. A missed opportunity!

[@derrenlodge6502]

The elixir was only used by Time Lords in rare cases,but they don't use it continually otherwise they would fall into the trap that The Sisterhood of The Flame has fallen into: Immortality (that is nothing ever changes and ultimately stagnates)as The Doctor says

[@derrenlodge6502]

Terry Nation's two non Dalek stories are The Keys of Marinus and The Android Invasion. Love Maren's cake hat in this story!😄

[@michaellevenson2200]

As a fan who watched it originally I can say the thought that the pre Hartnell faces shown were earlier Doctors wasn't problematic. It wasn't definitely stated at this point that Hartnell was the first. That comes actually later when the 12 regeneration limit is established and the Doctor states how many times he's regenerated. It was then postulated that the pre Hartnell faces were actually earlier incarnations of Morbius, as he was losing the mind wrestle and the Doctor was pushing him mentally back, this makes much more sense than Chibnall's retcon nonsense.

[@stormhawk3319]

Agreed, and Chibnall can’t ignore the obvious those previous faces were all white men too! Lol

[@fandelapin2971]

@@stormhawk3319 yeah but it doesn't matters, they were white men because at the time people weren't as open minded as we are now. The doctor being a woman or a black man is not a problem, and it's not incoherent neither. He is literally an alien who can change his face. If hé was only able to change his face into white men faces, that would be incoherent. So please stop living in the past and let doctor who be as it has always been : progressive PS : english isn't my native language, if I wrote wrong words or sentences please tell me so I can fix it, thanks !

[@stormhawk3319]

@@fandelapin2971 no it was all white men because Britain was overwhelmingly white back than. And it will fall on its arse this show by casting a black man like it already as done casting a woman. Go woke go broke.

[@fandelapin2971]

@@stormhawk3319 Chibnall era wasn't bad because of the doctor being a woman, but because the writing wasn't as good as the previous eras. With the return of rtd i'm sure Ncuti Gatwa will be a great doctor, i believe he can renewed the character. The color of the skin doesn't matters, why do you care so much about that ?

[@bjgandalf69]

So who were these eight faces? Though some fans have argued that they might actually depict past incarnations of Morbius, the intention of the Doctor Who production team at the time was absolutely that these were pre-Hartnell incarnations of the Doctor. "It is true to say that I attempted to imply that William Hartnell was not the first Doctor," producer Philip Hinchcliffe told Lance Parkin, author of 1996 reference book Doctor Who: A History of the Universe. "We tried to get famous actors for the faces of the Doctor, but because no one would volunteer, we had to use backroom boys. The eight faces actually belonged to script editor (and Brain of Morbius co-writer) Robert Holmes, Doctor Who's production unit manager George Gallaccio, production assistant Graeme Harper, director Douglas Camfield, production assistant Christopher Baker, writer Robert Banks Stewart, director Christopher Barry, and Philip Hinchcliffe himself (the producer). I don't mind the hodgepodge Morbius costume. The Doctor stated in Pyramids of Mars that he was 750 at that time. Source of face info: www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-morbius-doctors-explained/

[@whobp8]

This story was written by Terrance Dicks. In his original script, a robot was ransacking the crashed spaceships for body parts for Morbius, the production team decided to change that, partially to save money and partially because they had done a lot of robots recently. Terrance Dicks wasn't available to do rewrites as he had gone on vacation, so the scripts were rewritten by script editor Robert Holmes. Dicks was annoyed when he returned to discover that the scripts had been rewritten without his input and asked that his name be taken off the credits. He told Robert Holmes, "You can just put it out under some bland pseudonym." Subsequently, as a joke, Holmes used the pseudonym Robin Bland for the writer credit. Back in the day, I assumed that the faces other than Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee and Baker were the faces of Morbius' past incarnations. We do see the glass brain case version of Morbius and the same face as the bust Solon sculpted of Morbius, so logically we would see others, particularly since the Doctor and Morbius are "wrestling" for control. This would also be consistent with the fact that Morbius loses the wrestling match. It was years later that producer Phillip Hinchcliffe revealed that he had intended for people to speculate that at least some of the faces were of hitherto unknown earlier Doctors. Hinchcliffe's off screen revelation leading to Chris Chibnall retconning the Doctor's personal history of course, casts the scene in a different light. The faces are portrayed by Phillip Hinchcliffe (producer), Robert Holmes (writer, script editor) George Gallacio (production unit manager) Robert Banks Stewart (writer), Christopher Barry and Douglas Camfield (directors) and Graeme Harper (production assistant, future Doctor Who director).

[@bananasaregood8655]

The next story, the seeds of doom, was the last to feature the original police box prop used from the very beginning. At the end it actually fell on lis sladen, so they thought it was about time the made a new one for season 14. Have you heard of the british sci fi comedy series ‘red dwarf’? I think you and you’re dad would love it!

[@brucesimmons5517]

Didn't they change the prop before Season 4?

[@bananasaregood8655]

@@brucesimmons5517 nope, same one. It just got painted from time to time haha. And in season 14 you can rele tell its a different prop, much shorter and wider

[@JudgeJosephDredd1989]

No it was from Season 4 until Season 13. The final time they used The original Hartnell TARDIS prop was The War Machines.

[@bananasaregood8655]

@@JudgeJosephDredd1989 weird, says on seeds of doom wiki page that it was the prop used since 1963 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@ItsShaz1]

That opening Alex lol, you mad lad! I really like this story.

[@kemmdog4444]

The original script was written by Terrance Dicks. to a requirement from Hinchcliffe for a story about a human/robot relationship. However, after delivery Dicks was out of the country when it was decided that the robot, could not be realised under the budget constraints. In excising the character, script editor Robert Holmes had to undertake the substantial rewrites without informing Dicks, who could not be contacted. The robot character was replaced with Solon who required a different motivation-that of a mad scientist. Dicks later said of the decision that it was not original but it was the "only one available". Upon his return to the United Kingdom, Dicks learnt of the changes and angrily phoned Holmes. Since the work was more Holmes than his own, Dicks demanded the removal of his name from the credits saying it could go out under a "bland pseudonym".This ended up being the name Robin Bland.

[@easty74]

This was the only Doctor Who story to scare the crap out of me when I was a kid. I thought the Sisterhood were creepy. And the Morbius monster well it was 1982 I was 8. lol

[@domsquared9878]

Terry Nation wrote The Keys of Marinus

[@andrewbowman4611]

You're half right with the Timeless Child. Yes, Tecteun discovered her whilst on her travels, and experimented on her, until she became - not for the first time - a he, where Tecteun prompted the Child's enlistment into Division. At some point, the Child (Jessie Deyi) regenerates - either immediately after or some time later - into the first of the so-called "Morbius" Doctors, with the final one of those (the first one we see) being represented by the older Brendan in Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children. We learn that the young Doctor and Master grew up together, as she always believed. We also know that the young Doctor would hide in a barn from time to time, usually out of fear, as seen in Listen. The fact that Time Lords are granted a regeneration cycle limited to twelve tells us that the Doctor himself was awarded this cap to his, presumably unknown to him, ability to perpetually regenerate. After all, Time Lord is rank, not a species. Furthermore, the Fugitive Doctor was secretly re-enlisted to Division just before the sentence seen in The War Games was completed. In fact, it's entirely possible the Second Doctor didn't regenerate for a good while after The War Games. So, the Fugitive Doctor is - and the onscreen clues seem to point in this direction - between Troughton and Pertwee. We may find out in October, or it may not be completely explained, but the Timeless Child expands the mythology rather than breaks it.

[@tokublwhovian]

If you’ve read the free comic book day comic, the Fugitive Doctor is pre-Hartnell.

[@andrewbowman4611]

@@tokublwhovian I haven't, but I am basing my opinion purely on the TV series. Does it explicitly state that she's before the 'First' Doctor, or is it more along the lines of 'during the time before the Time Lords' or something like that. If the former, it's surprising they'd be allow to make such a cataclysmic revelation in the pages of a comic book. If the latter, seeing as how Division can be anywhere at any time, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that she could be post-Hartnell, but in a story set in a time pre-Hartnell, if you follow my gist. As I say though, for reasons of sanity if nothing else, until it's explicitly stated on screen, I'm happy to die on my own peculiar hill at this point.

[@tokublwhovian]

@@andrewbowman4611 From screenshots I’ve seen, she’s defo before Hartnell. Go to a Bleeding Cool article - “FCBD Doctor Who Finally Explains Why The Doctor Always Visits Earth” it was posted on May the 7th of this year.

[@andrewbowman4611]

@@tokublwhovian I've just read it; aside from some horrible typos in the article itself ("fufitive", really?), it's an interpretation of the events of the comic. I can certainly see why people might think it's conclusive but, as I said, it would be really weird for a comic - a US one at that - to be the only place that confirms the Fugitive Doctor's placement so firmly. Personally, I think that it's still ambiguous enough to not really matter. Of course, it's not the full comic, so it's possible further context could clarify the issue. I'll reserve judgement until October, at least. By then, a clearer explanation might very well be offered. Time will tell, it always does.

[@conscienceaginBlackadder]

Everyone who states authoritatively that she is pre-Hartnell has got to explain how she has the tardis, that the Doctor did not yet steal until he was Hartnell, and in police box form, that did not happen until he was living at Foreman's Yard

[@Darren79]

As they couldn't afford to hire proper actors to use as the faces for the old Doctors, production crew members were used. The production team got into trouble with the Actors Union for denying real actors work and had to pay a penalty. The non-TV past Doctor faces in order: 0 = George Gallaccio - Production Unit Manager of next story -1 = Robert Holmes - script editor and rewriter of this episode. -2 = Graeme Harper - Production Assistant on next story, went on to direct the show & returned for NuWho -3 = Douglas Camfield - Director of next story (Crusade, Time Meddler, Daleks Masterplan, Web of Fear, Invasion, Inferno, Terror of the Zygons) -4 = Philip Hinchcliffe - the current producer -5 = Christopher Baker - production assistant -6 = Robert Banks Stewart - writer of Terror of the Zygons & next story) -7 = Christopher Barry - the director (he directed The Daleks, Rescue, Romans, Savages, Power of the Daleks, Mutants, Robot) Fans mostly just decided to say these faces were Morbius so they didn't have to deal with the seeming continuity issue.

[@tokublwhovian]

Doctor Who has never had concrete canon/continuity. If you’re bogged down in that, this show isn’t for you.

[@JudgeJosephDredd1989]

No there was another earlier non-dalek Terry Nation story "The Keys of Marinus".

[@tokublwhovian]

In the Target Novelisation of The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat, the potion McGann drinks is said to be lemonade mixed with something else

[@derrenlodge6502]

The director for this story was Christopher Barry,who was one of the faces you saw in the mind wrestling scene.

[@domsquared9878]

The Doctor doesn’t quite have the reputation in his home system he will one day have outside the High Council and CIA

[@alexthehunted]

That opening

[@jamessilvester4911]

I'm almost certain that those time lord faces are definitely Morbius, as while they are shown on screen Morbius shouts "you are powerless against the strength or Morbius" indicating he has loads more regenerations and therefore more powerful. Others may disagree with this!

[@electricmastro]

Tell that to the Timeless Child. lol

[@domsquared9878]

The Elixir was used by the Time Lords in cases of problematic regenerations, it is never really posited as the cause of regeneration

[@Mrazmatmahmood]

We even see an example of this, albeit years and years later. It's what the Eighth Doctor used to trigger his regeneration in The Night of the Doctor.

[@domsquared9878]

I don’t believe any sisterhood actresses returned but the matriarch in NuWho is named Ohila in reference to Ohica in this story

[@robvanriot]

"They have all this information on the Time Lords but they don't know the Doctor." Hmmm. The Doctor is not yet what he will be. He hasn't become the Oncoming Storm yet, he's not a legend. Intergalactic nuisance, certainly, but not the man who makes whole armies turn around at the mention of his name.

[@booradley8895]

The doctor has been back in history and the future so surely the doctor has always been a "legend"

[@chrisbrooker7260]

And the show was so much better when he was ‘merely’ an intergalactic nuisance and a rogue time Lord. As soon as they turned him into some galactic superhero it started getting ridiculous

[@josefschiltz2192]

Ah, but Alex, you're forgetting one of the main tenets of evolution, that is variation within a species. Some Time Lords are just better at some aspects of the biology than others. So naturally it follows that some Time Lords - and it may be even down to certain lineages - may be able to derandomize the regenerative process to a certain extent. The Prydonian Chapter's members may very well be one of those that have a better degree of control, which would make sense given their rank within the society. The women seem to be particularly good at it, which gives them a little edge, as well as an enviable playfulness with the process. There also seems to be variation between incarnations, just to cheery along the variables a bit, also a jumbled up memory storage between them. The telepathy helps interrelational recognition, but I suspect that the contact is initiated from the Time Lord that wishes to be recognized by his fellows. The Master has obviously practised mind blocking techniques and, as with his mesmerism, not always to perfection. Of course, if the concentration wanders, the Gallifreyan cat is out of the bag. Knowing the imperfectitude of these techniques would have lead to the disguises and, in the end, he's enjoyed them.

[@easty74]

Sacred Flame.... Eternal Flame is a Bangles song lol

[@7thHourFilms]

Yeah. The Eternal Flame. It makes you Walk Like An Egyptian. Was that not the plot of this episode?

[@kierenevans2521]

While it's good, I prefer Terror of the Zygons and next time's story for this season, probably Pyramids of Mars as well.

[@alexthehunted]

This episode got the show into a lot of trouble for being to violent and when the guy gets shot and you see blood shoot out his gut yeah they may have crossed the line

[@domsquared9878]

Not quite, Rassilon being shady is seeded in the 80s, done a lot in the 90s and fully “canonized” if you only take TV material as such in the End of Time

[@Mrazmatmahmood]

The Brain of Morbius is an excellent story and imo, no story better encapsulates what Hinchcliffe and Holmes were trying to do with Doctor Who. One of my favourite things about it is how all the different plot threads and character motivations are perfectly balanced and intertwined with each other. Each has a knock-on effect on the other and it makes for a very satisfying viewing experience. What I also love and find fascinating is the perception of the Time Lords in the show at this point. From the Doctor's vicious condemnation of them at the start, the Sisterhood of Kahn's distrust and suspicions of them and the backstory of Morbius and what a monster he was, the Time Lords are far from the all-powerful Gods they were portrayed as in The War Games. Everything in this story makes it clear that that Time Lord society is far from perfect and there's a lot of skeletons in the closet that they would like to keep hidden. That's why the Doctor saying "there's something going on here, some dirty work they won't touch with their lily-white hands" is so biting and cuts to the heart of the contradiction and hypocrisy of the Time Lords. it's incredible how the writers managed to take the classic story of Frankenstein and weave into Time Lord lore and make it work and it feels totally fresh and unique. The set design, direction, costumes, acting and overall production values, pretty much everything is firing on all cylinders here. I also love how despite the horror and at times graphic content, this story is absolutely hilarious and filled to the brim with classic one liners. I don't think any story has balanced horror and humour quite as brilliantly as this story did. I don't even need to mention Tom Baker, he's operating at peak level at this point. He can go from silly to serious and vice versa in an instant and remain completely believable. However, Phillip Madoc, who last appeared in the show playing the War Lord in The War Games, almost threatens to steal the show from the main man, and that's no easy feat! He has a magnetic screen presence and makes you believe in every word he utters, whether that's proclaiming how great it'll be if he succeeds or hilariously hurling out insults at anyone who gets in his way. It's a perfectly pitched ott performance, never going over the line into farce and it's also a world away from the type of performance he gave as the War Lord, which was very intimidating, quiet and subtle. Phillip Madoc is regarded by many as one of, if not the best repeat guest actor in the show's history and performances like this make it easy to see why. The man had so much range. This is probably my favourite Hincliffe/Holmes era story (it's between this and Genesis of the Daleks) and considering the number of all-time classics there are in this era, that's saying a lot. As with Pyramids of Mars earlier in the season, this is another Robert Holmes rewrite (you can add it to the ever-growing list of Holmes classics) and this time the original scripts were written by none other than the legendary Terrance Dicks, former script editor throughout the third Doctor's era. There's actually a funny story behind how it got the Robin Bland pseudonym. Basically, Terrance Dicks' original idea involved a robot building a monster body, but producer Phillip Hinchcliffe didn't think they could make it work within the budget limitations and asked Holmes to rewrite the whole story since Dicks wasn't available. Once Dicks found out about the changes Holmes had made to his scripts, he didn't think his name should be on it anymore because the changes were so extensive it was no longer really his story. He was also really unhappy with the changes and felt they made the story a bland rip off of Frankenstein, so told Holmes over the phone to give it some sort of bland pseudonym and that's how Robin Bland came to be. Sums up who Robert Holmes was and his sense of humour, which is also littered throughout this story and so many others. In later interviews Terrance Dicks admitted he was wrong in his assessment and that the story was anything but bland. The Brain of Morbius is one of the all-time greats imo, I absolutely adore it.

[@JudgeJosephDredd1989]

You keep saying we should bring back this and this and such but you have to be careful how you go about and how its written and it has to be written right not just bring people back just for the sake of bringing people back i prefer Morbius as a one hit wonder i thought he was the perfect villain for this one story and was satisfied with the story that was told here he's more of a Classic Who villain more than a NuWho villain i dont think it would work in NuWho they do bring him back in the audios which is one of the Eighth Doctor stories i believe. All those other faces despite what Chibnall says in "The Timeless Children" those faces are Morbius and The First Doctor is The First Doctor.

[@JudgeJosephDredd1989]

Then how do you explain The Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin) who calls herself The Doctor and apparently she was before Hartnell.

[@chrisbrooker7260]

100% agree. This strange desire that fans have to ‘ bring things back’ is a bloody curse and why we’ve had so so many Dalek, Cybermen, Master episodes in New Who. A brilliant one off is fantastic

[@AmyWarriorPrincess]

The 13th doctor's era doesn't bother me. I completely discount it , especially to matters concerning the Time Lords.

[@7thHourFilms]

Well, it must bother you to an extent that you've completely discounted it. Not that you can't. Certainly many have. I discount the end of Game of Thrones but that's because it bothered me. I'm not really going anywhere with this. Just being pedantic.

[@TCash02]

Morbius Doctors are canon.