The Brain of Morbius - Classic Doctor Who Review

Taking a look at a classic 4th Doctor story that has become much more topical in the last year in a bit, for reasons I'll get into. But I'll also try to assess this Tom Baker story on its own merits.
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[@natsmith303]

"The Doctor does Frankenstein." >Peter Cushing has entered the chat

[@theshadowdirector]

The violence was often just to give a middle finger to Mary Whitehouse.

[@SGlitz]

The more she complained the better the ratings.

[@chrispalmer7893]

@@SGlitz Even if they lost ratings, still worth doing. Ridiculous that someone whose "National Viewers and Listeners Association" had a tiny number of members held so much sway.

[@SGlitz]

@@chrispalmer7893 enter The Woke....😏

[@ftumschk]

@@SGlitz I wouldn't exactly describe her as woke. Religious, ultra-conservative fuddy-duddy that she was, she was practically the opposite.

[@chrispalmer7893]

@@ftumschk I think he was saying that we are seeing similar censorship from “the woke” as we saw from Whitehouse and presumably he’s implying that the woke are also a small minority with disproportionate influence. At lease that’s what I assumed - it wasn’t super clear. Maybe I’m wrong. It would certainly reflect better on him if I was because it’s a ridiculous take if that is what he was saying.

[@stevetayler9518]

Did you know that WhoTuber ‘BabelColour’ is making a fan film called The Timeless Doctors. Incredibly he has single handedly tracked down the three surviving ‘Morbius Doctors’ and got them to record lines. These being Graeme Harper (the director), Phillip Hinchcliffe (producer and screenwriter) and George Gallaccio (production manager). So for the first time ever, the Morbius Doctors speak.

[@happysquirrel]

This is actually one of my favourite fourth Doctor stories, it is just so much fun. Solon is a great villain, he is so unsubtle, just stealing people's arms and greeting the Doctor by talking about how he has a magnificent head, which is such a normal thing to say to someone you just met, good job. And Karn is pretty darn neat too, with all the lightning and the crashed ships, and I love that they randomly reused a costume from The Mutants so I can always wonder what on earth someone in the midst of mutation was doing on that ship.

[@CapriUni]

I watched this as a teenager, (I believe) within a few years of when it originally broadcast in the U.K.. At the time, I remember being impressed by how they wrote Sarah Jane in this story. Yes, her "Blindness acting" was over the top, but that was how the majority of blindness was depicted in movies and TV at the time -- in the same way American actors will put on a fake R.P. British accent to signify someone as being "high class." Mostly, I was impressed at how they chose *not* to make Sarah Jane a helpless incompetent as soon as she became blind. Also, as for the Sisterhood of Karn: in later years -- during the novelizations of the Wilderness Years (When I first got involved in the fandom culture), when Rassilon started to be written as morally dubious, even as Founder of Gallifreyan culture -- the Sisterhood started to be written more sympathetically -- that maybe their reputation of being merely superstitious was propaganda on Rassilon's part.. And people started to suspect that their banishment from Gallifrey was unjust (and that's how you get the Sisters speaking as the Doctor's conscience in "Night of the Doctor," urging him to not turn his back on the Time War).

[@WiloPolis03]

It's Doctorin' Time *Doctors all over the place*

[@MovieMagic515]

It is a wild story but i think the set design was pretty good for the time and the thunderous flashes of lightning are creepy. I love how eery it is.

[@adampoll4977]

Philip Madoc (who played Solon) was pretty much the MVP character actor in a few Dr Who stories of the time.

[@ftumschk]

Indeed, and was a bit of a Solon (an old-fashioned term for a wise/intelligent man) in real life. He spoke several languages, including his native Welsh, Russian, Swedish, Albanian and German. He had language degrees from the universities of Cardiff and Vienna, and worked as an interpreter before giving it up to study acting at RADA.

[@M-E_123]

I like this one - Dr Who does Frankenstein but still manages enough of it's own unique spin (Morbius being a renegade Time Lord, the Sisterhood of Kahn & their history, lore about early Gallifrey & regeneration, hints at a secret past for the Doctor) - mix it all together and it works really well (even if the basic story is obviously Frankenstein I think there's still enough Dr Who "dressing" to let it stand as it's own thing).

[@Ben-vf5gk]

Apparently Terrence Dicks' original idea was a monster creating a normal looking human, a reversal of the traditional Frankenstein thing. Obviously the problem with that is it's hard to build anticipation around just revealing a human instead of a monster

[@glenmcculla6843]

Hammer kind of managed that in 'Revenge of Frankenstein' by having the creation start out as a perfectly normal looking guy and then degenerating into a monster, but I suppose that's harder to get away with on TV. Plus Robert Holmes probably wanted to cut straight to the monster action.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Wasn't there a classic "Twilight Zone" episode that had this as a plot twist? I vaguely seem to remember something like that....

[@sparshjohri1109]

@@gozerthegozarian9500 I think you're thinking of "In The Eye of the Beholder" (the one where a horrific-looking woman is undergoing surgery to look "normal", only for the audience to find out that she actually looks normal already and everyone has pig faces)

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

@@sparshjohri1109 Yes! That's the one! Thank you!

[@amygreenberg4950]

It’s a fun classic story. I agree with practically all of your assessment, particularly the critique of Sladen’s ‘blind acting’. I thought the sister with the crazy eyes was awesome though.

[@professorbrainyspecs7366]

There is also the mention of "The Other" during the Seventh Doctor's era.

[@nyrobsivad1360]

This was actually my favourite DW story ever for a little while but it dropped down my ranks recently after I had a viewing that was just a bit underwhelming. I ultimately just didn’t find myself as enamoured with the subtext as I used to be but it still makes it into my top 5 Tom Baker stories. I love the moodiness and the flavour of this tale. Just quintessential Who of this era

[@loftus4453]

I didn’t know about this channel. So happy you mentioned it today during the Illuminaughtii video. So many things I love you’ve covered here. Have plenty to watch now! ❤

[@voltijuice8576]

That streaking effect with fire means that this was shot using video cameras based on tubes, aka "vidicons". Their smearing of the image is also what makes them fun for analog video feedback, like in the 1st through 4th Doctors howlaround and vortex intros. When I want that effect I use a crappy old Sears B&W tube video camera, makes everything look like an episode of Dark Shadows.

[@voltijuice8576]

Brain of Morbius was one of my very first stories watching Doctor Who! This was when I was around 6-7 years old. I used to watch after school in kindergarten and 1st grade while my mom cooked dinner. The tropes were still pretty new to me at the time, and I loved it. I still do love the story now, with a more critical eye. Partly I am hugely nostalgic for Tom Baker and especially the Hinchcliffe gothic space horror period, but also still just find it to be a solid stylistic match. I was proof that young kids could enjoy legit creepy and at times terrifying Who instead of having it watered down into something twee and condescending.

[@Ben-vf5gk]

The defence of the Dr leaving Solon is that the whole story is telling us that Morbius will return and there's nothing the Dr can do to stop it. Each cliffhanger is related to Morbius so in theory it builds Chekovian tension around it. So the Dr leaving Solon is him accepting that he has to face Morbius, he goes into the next room and makes sure he has his method of fighting him ready by the time Morbius arrives. That's not necessarily my take, I've not seen in it in a while, it's from another review

[@walkerineternity2334]

It wasn't completely forgotten until Chibnall, don't forget the Cartmell master plan which strongly implied that the Doctor was more than an ordinary timelord and brought in the concept of The Other. I also think that the 2nd Doctor implied that he'd regenerated before in Power of the Daleks, but I could be mistaken and maybe this was only in a novelisation.

[@BronyDanProductions]

I do think the Time Lords sent the Doctor there, because Morbius is horrified and angered when he finds out the Doctor is a Time Lord and how the Time Lords want to finish the job of executing him, so it can’t just be a coincidence.

[@SGlitz]

But Morbius is now The Timeless Child, The Doctor in essense.

[@chrispalmer7893]

The Doctor trying to shake the hand of the monster is a direct reference to Tom Baker's view of the character. He said the essence of the Doctor is that he cheerfully blunders into a situation, says "Hello" and sticks out his hand. You know he's going to get knocked to the ground, maybe the Doctor knows it to, but the Doctor is an eternal optimist.

[@Stephen-Fox]

The increased violence is what lead to Hinchcliffe being replaced by Williams as producer, who was under marching orders to tone down the violence and horror. Not a direct consequence of the gunshot you mentioned - Hinchcliffe and Holmes got a season together after this - but it's definitely part of the pattern. Not sure if that's them getting away with it or not, honestly, since there were consequences for the pattern this forms part of for the show, but those consequences wouldn't manifest until the season after this one. The faces, while not part of a master plan in terms of continuity, were intended as the first in a 1-2 punch - Hinchcliffe and Holmes, apparently, felt that regeneration was too powerful, too much of a get out of jail free card, and undermined the tension. The follow-up punch? 13 regeneration limit. "We don't know how many lives the Doctor has had" here, followed by "And there are only 13 of them, any Doctor could be the last one." in Deadly Assassin. Whether that was needed at all? Well, this story also firmly establishes that there are deaths - some of which not exactly uncommon, we're hardly talking kryptonite levels of obscurity here - that the Doctor cannot regenerate from, so I'm very firmly leaning on no there. Even if that's actually a problem for this era of Who, they're simultaneously offering a much simpler solution to it in the same script as they start to offer their actual solution.

[@tardisnet9487]

One of my favourite Fourth Doctor stories

[@TheGojiShay]

The next two 4th Doctor stories I'd really love to hear your take on are Terror of The Zygons and The Talons of Weng Chiang. Great video as always Councillor!

[@cindydott452]

I can never figure out why Solon didn't say "Oh look. a Time Lord! I'll just junk his brain and pop Morbious's in so he can have an intact Time Lord body!" It would have been way less work that cutting off the Doctor's head, grafting to his assembled monster, and then installing a brain.

[@insert-name-here3651]

I'm interested to know what your opinions of 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang' would be

[@chrispalmer7893]

Ooh, that’s a can of worms. I’m old enough to remember when it was considered possibly the best Classic story of all time. Watching it with modern eyes, yeah it’s tough. I’ve been meaning to re-watch and try and work out if the story is inherently racist or if more sensitive dialogue and casting choices could save it.

[@nyssaplum9732]

This is my favourite story.

[@Magnus1964]

When Netflix had modern-a-go-go Doctor Who, they also had “Classic Doctor Who,” which was simply one story arc per Doctor. It was interesting, although Colin Baker got short shrift. With respect to the earliest episodes I came away with two impressions. 1) Female companions were cast based on their ability to scream, and 2) villains were veteran RADA & RSC actors who, in the absence of strong direction, just added weird pauses and lots of volume. For example: “And now, Doctor, I… will destroy… YOU!!”

[@ftumschk]

True enough. Much of TV drama back then relied on stage actors trained at elite stage-schools (RADA etc) or on the Rep (repertory theatre) circuit. As a result, a lot of TV drama came across as "stagey" - both in the acting and in terms of how things were filmed.

[@maurinet2291]

I miss Doctor Who on Netflix. They also had some Confidentials and a bunch of specials around it too, especially those done for the 50th.

[@danielsleeper2307]

Funnily enough, a lot of the stories in the "Hinchcliffe Era" (basically just early Baker) took inspiration, either passively or intentionally, from existing classics. Terror of the Zygons with Creature from the Black Lagoon (I believe) Planet of Evil with Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde as well as Forbidden Planet Pyramids of Mars with The Mummy franchise The Android Invasion with Invasion of the Body Snatchers The Brain of Morbius with Frankenstein of course The Seeds of Doom with The Thing From Another World and other stories The Masque of Mandragora with The Masque of the Red Death (this one is very loose especially) The Hand of Fear with The Beast With Five Fingers The Robots of Death with Asimov stories, Dune, and And Then There Were None and The Talons of Weng-Chiang with (of course) Sherlock Holmes as well as The Phantom of the Opera

[@cindydott452]

Androids of Tara - The Prisoner of Zenda They practically stole the whole plot-line!

[@manewland1]

This is the one that hooked me! My friend talked me into buying it on VHS back in 1998. I didn't know what I was getting into ... but was a Doctor Who fan from that point on.

[@Gzeebo]

I hated this one when I was a teenager but mostly because of two things: The lightning strike revealing an obviously cardboard spaceship graveyard. And the over-the-top performances. But on re-watch I totally love it. It's so camp! They obviously had a lot of fun doing it. But it's also very tense. I loved the unexpected re-introduction of the Sisterhood in the 50th special and subsequently. It was delightfully nostalgic.

[@armoghetto]

In Classic Who, there are several times the Doctor implies the Time Lords have placed him in situations where they can claim no involvement. Mostly during 4th Doctor,s time. And they were k own to send him into situations. Lots of the former were never confirmed although there was a secret government agency within the Time Lord society.

[@pious83]

6th Doctor states as much in Attack of the Cybermen, too. It was always a bit of an odd claim. In light of The War Games and Genesis of the Daleks. As the Time Lords aren't afraid to make their presence known to the Doctor.

[@carrastealth]

It always surprises me that for some reason people have a hard time believing that The Time Lords would do something so cruel to The Doctor as to erase their memory of previous incarnations. But it really only takes about 5 seconds of thinking about the things the Time Lord's have done and you go "Yeah...they totally would." And when it came to the numbers, I always chalked it up as The Doctor either having their memory wiped, or the Doctor lying in order to not reveal all, because Rule Number 1, The Doctor lies. So either of those things I saw as legitimate, and it felt nice to have that confirmed after years of people in the fandom talking down to me whenever I'd draw or create earlier iterations of The Doctor because I was sure they had them and being that both 10 and 4 were my favorites at the time (10 still is) I always referenced that episode(s) and what Phillip Hinchcliffe said about it and confirmed. Always got shouted down, always got the side eyes, always got to deal with the gatekeepers or elitist 'fans' trying to make me feel stupid for thinking it. So when The Timeless Children happened, I felt vindicated by the show on a question I was near sure they weren't going to revisit and just keep as an "if you know, you know", thing. I'm beyond happy that it finally got confirmed, and maybe it's petty, but watching the people get mad about it whom were the same types of people whom made me feel less than a foot tall if I ever entertained the theory for years, did give me a sense of happiness I won't lie :3

[@kylejones8289]

From what I've heard Terrance Dicks didn't want his name on it for reasons that had nothing to do with the story or its quality. He simply thought that the final script was so far removed from what he had originally written that he didn't deserve credit, because he hadn't actually written the story in his own eyes.

[@Lohengrin1850]

Thanks for doing this review, I'm reminded why I liked this story when I first saw it! Also reminds me of the Eighth Doctor audio Mary's Story; "Frankenstein is the name of the monster, and not the name of the Doctor."

[@WiloPolis03]

I agree, it was definitely a big canonical shakeup to tie this into the same extended universe as one of the superhero movies of all time, Morbius

[@charlestownsend9280]

I've got and listened to the sequel to the brain of morbius but I don't think that clear up whether or not the 4th doctor was actually sent by the timelords to deal with morbius or was just using it as an excuse for not being where they were trying to go (which I can see the 4th doctor doing and yet ends up having to deal with timelord problems). It could have been mentioned but I don't remember as there's so much going on in that story.

[@Silver-rx1mh]

"Decent?" Well I adored this story. Phillip Madoc as Solon is superb as per. Love this as a kind of parody of horror movies, yes Frankenstein, but then when hasn't Who nicked from the classics? lol I really, really enjoyed this when I watched it at the time. Sometimes you just have to stop being overly critical and just relax. Maybe classic Who isn't for you, especially if you don't recognise It's a child of it's time, just a 'modern' Who will one day be.

[@BlueSparxLPs]

"Sometimes you just have to stop being overly critical and just relax. Maybe classic Who isn't for you..." It's a review, though. Its purpose is literally TO look at something with a critical eye and examine its flaws and successes. You can also be highly critical of something and still enjoy it--as they seem to have done overall. I don't think there's anything that should be excused from criticism on any basis.

[@Silver-rx1mh]

@@BlueSparxLPs ​ @Blue Sparx I'm all for having any crit set in the context of this time it was made , and I felt that wasn't done in sone of this. I worked on classic Who and know how different it was back then to TV production/writing now.

[@djc1402]

I saw this story when it first aired on BBC TV when I was 11 and it became, and still is, my all time favourite doctor who story. I've even got the Morbius figurine. I love it to bits, but I do recognise its flaws. Nothing is perfect, but I always enjoy watching it and reliving my childhood fascination of gothic horror. The 4th doctor Holmes and Hinchliffe era is my favourite.

[@Adventuregirl1985]

Wasn't there also the idea that the Doctor was one of the original Time Lords like Omega and Rasalon? I heard that somewhere and if there were previous incarnations at the time that we hadn't seen or known about yet I wonder if that was part of that idea that never got fleshed out?

[@MsZeeZed]

Memorable story, the recklessness of the Doctor, the independence of Sarah Jane on a very scary planet, Phillip Madoc always a villain with purpose. The Sisterhood of the Flame & Karn itself have more influence on the (dis)continuity, particularly through the audio adventures with McGann and Hurt and their echo in the Pyrovile cult in the Fires of Pompeii. Honestly the idea that Time Lords have just 12 regenerations was only invented for The Deadly Assassin to give the Master the jeopardy of final death (and he cheats that death anyway). I’ve never been that hung up where the Doctor starts & ends, but I enjoy the misdirection of this snark hunt.

[@kemmdog4444]

I have always enjoyed this story and have the dvd of it,too.One of my favorite parts of the dvd is the commentary because most of the actors are there in the it and is quite funny.

[@ftumschk]

It's a fun commentary in which, ISTR, both Philip Madoc and Tom Baker praise Lis Sladen's blind acting. Since Madoc and Baker were both fine actors in their own right, I guess her acting during those scenes was good by the standards of the time.

[@oldwebshooter]

They did flash the mind battle in The Timeless Children when they play the theme tune montage

[@MrPalp]

I really like this one. It is such a fun gothic story which is totally my bag.

[@Reprodestruxion]

There was the seer on Rassilon’s council

[@thegeek7430]

"Still wating on the fallout and presumably pay off for" actually hurts seeing this 2 years later

[@benbastianiartmusic1421]

I just have always felt there is no currency in establishing that pre-Hartnell doctors exist. Unless you're planning on doing spinoffs involving these doctors, it just adds NOTHING to the show. William Hartnell will always be the first Doctor to me.

[@jamieking4892]

This is my favourite doctor who story of all time

[@neilmcdonald9164]

Solon is "solid" is because this is the best of the late,great Philip Madoc's 4 appearances in the show🎩

[@scix8794]

I love this one.

[@Concreteowl]

Hammer Horror was Hugh at the time. Kids had trading cards and books etc. It's kind of a cross between Frankenstein and She with a bit of Dune.

[@Venemofthe888]

I do need to get into classic doctor who because im very interested to see what came before the revival and i have even gotten into big finish audios. Should i start classic who from the beginning or do people have a episode i should start with instead

[@kylejones8289]

I would just find some stories that look interesting to you. Most of Classic Who is continuity light, so the order isn't that important. You can try to watch them in order if you want, of course, but so much of the 1st and 2nd Doctor's stories being lost to time complicates doing that a bit.

[@tenmark7055]

Primitive, unchanging immortal witches become sophisticated space travelers - I love the Sisterhood, but dont get how they went from what they are in this story to what they become in the modern era. I mean they were unable to figure out how to strike a match!

[@kirstyshadowdancer5095]

Hoyo, so back in the 80s and 90s shed this ep first aid there was a theory going about that morbius was Omega. An anagram with some letters and personality worked. And that the other faces were Omega/morbius' past regenerations. Putting that on the table right now as a 40ish-yo whovian. Also I still like the theory that the other or the Timeless child is actually the master and that he's actually like 7000 regenerations in which would contribute to his insanity?

[@geekdetritus5503]

As I went through the 3rd 4th and 5th Doctors, I'd give short reviews on Facebook. I believe I said this felt like Doctor Who doing a Hammer production, and I very much enjoyed it. And yeah, that gun shot scene gave me a bit of a jump, simply because my mind wasn't prepared to see the actual blood spurt. I'm sure there were quite a few letters written to the BBC about that.

[@shallendor]

This is one of my favorite Classic Who stories. Sarah Jane was a great companion, but Elizabeth Sladen wasn't one of my favorite actresses, till New Who and The Sarah Jane Adventurers, where she really shined, imho!

[@Yan_Alkovic]

Yeah, this was a very neat Gothic-y story. Very cheesy and dumb at times, but then grittiness and the Frankenstein vibes make me just adore this story to bits. Not that good of a plot, but visually o-so-appealing! Glad that you found it decent, too!

[@neilmcdonald9164]

The pre Hartnells were production crew faces and caused trouble with Equity the acting union for not using actors 🎩

[@docskywalker51riftstudios58]

I think this song is a bit like the song under pressure, people think of under pressure for the bass lines use in ice ice babies and people often think of this great story in terms of the timeless children

[@k-majik]

The Brain of Morbius is in contention for my favourite Doctor Who episode ever, I often rank it number one :P I love the Gothic Fourth Doctor era.

[@bananasaregood8655]

Missed your classic who reviews so much! Very solid story in tom bakers finest season i think!

[@IronSalamander8]

I've liked this story quite a lot going back to when it was brought over here to PBS in the 70s/80s. Phillip Madoc is brilliant as Solon and I too noticed that Ohica did the huge eye thing a LOT! It is a bit nasty at times, the gun shot, the cyanide in the vent, etc. but I recommend this one as very good. I admit I own but haven't watched series 12 as I didn't like 11 much (for me it's more that I just don't find Chibnall's ideas very good, I have zero issue with Jodie), and when I heard about the timeless child I rolled my eyes. I'm pretty sure I've read that the extra faces in that mind battle were just people working on the show (I think one was the director even), just to add some tension to the scene, and honestly find it annoying that it's been taken that far!

[@katharinecalder7503]

I listened to the BBC radio plays and loved it.

[@arlequinelunaire418]

Huh, and not one "It's Morbin' time" or "Morbed all over the place" comment

[@lizzie8561]

The Brain of Morbius has always been my least favorite story of the Philip Hinchcliffe era of the program.

[@pokerpope1]

This was part of the bloody high gothic/horror stage, where some of the gore was VERY controversial.

[@kevin10001]

It is a decent serial and for me the faces in the mind battle are the doctor pre-hartnell and with the continuity being loose with the show anyway cause he wasn’t a timelord when the show started that was added in later along with him being alien from the planet gallifrey even the timelords were called timelords right away so the faces here are just another layer to his backstory we still in 2024 don’t know that much about we still don’t know exactly why the doctor left gallifrey there have been hints to it but no official explanation as to why doctor left

[@Reprodestruxion]

Nathan is a sister of Karn confirmed

[@pious83]

On the one hand, you have Brain of Morbius and on the other, you have Lungbarrow. Both are presumed to have influenced Timeless Child. If true, although they are weird and disparate sources of lore, to draw from. You would associate their concepts being incorporated into the show, with a fan from the Wilderness Years such as Chibnall.

[@josephryan362]

I hate the brain of morbius it is my least favourite four doctor story and probably my least favourite story with sear jane i don't like the four doctor era alot now because he's era is not for me and kids becaus they were making doctor who not for younger adults and younger people

[@JeronisLeror]

I have an idea as to the why....it's too crazy.

[@Silver-rx1mh]

Seriously?

[@Reprodestruxion]

Well the actress performing Ohila was coming off Hellraiser so Ohila > Ohica

[@slumdogjay]

Oneof my favourites.

[@kierenevans2521]

Whilst I like this one, Terror of the Zygons and Seeds of Doom are my season 13 jam.

[@matthewbolitho-jones]

I like The Brain of Morbius

[@joelakat]

I agree with your take on this story. It's good, but I've never understood why it's held up as a prime example of classic Doctor Who. It's only the 4th best out of 6 Season 13 stories to me. I think the Zygon story is better... and I'd much rather watch Pyramids of Mars, or especially Seeds Of Doom. I think the classic series had a few points like the mind battle that sort of moved the goalposts on what you thought you knew about The Doctor. It served to keep him shrouded in mystery... but was never something to dwell on. I thought that's what they were doing with the Timeless Child reference in S11 and was kind of disappointed they made the entire story arc about it. I thought... at least on THIS point, Chibnall knows better. No such luck! We'll see how it plays out, but I'm not sure it's adding mystery or opening up interesting storytelling possibilities.

[@peterthompson1989]

I've always preferred the idea that there could be possible doctors before 1 to the show actually exploring it. I mean having it as a possibility allowed for fan theories, fan fiction etc. As soon as it became a reality however the mystery went

[@seedhillbruisermusic7939]

great review but maybe you should write down the names of the characters you want to talk about so you have them to hand rather than saying "This character, I've forgotten the name it was something like so-and-so." That just makes it look like you don't actually care enough about the story to remember the names. 3 characters in this story you didn't know the names of. From a cast of 7 speaking roles including the Doctor and Sarah, and Morbius who's in the story title, that's pretty poor mate. Just write the names down.

[@BreakRoomofGeeks]

My friend, this is ADHD in action. Names are less likely to stick and I don’t like breaking flow to check notes if I can help it.

[@seedhillbruisermusic7939]

@@BreakRoomofGeeks no worries mate. I got schizophrenia and I compulsively remember names. Even minor characters with 2 lines I'll remember what they're called! lol.

[@Reprodestruxion]

But the Frankenstein being a fascist dictator

[@Reprodestruxion]

Abby normal Morbius >.>

[@Reprodestruxion]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3mcaJ9_otelZrM

[@DragonMama-yt3zs]

That lipstick is the wrong color for you. Makes you look really pasty.

[@SGlitz]

Chibnall's 40 years in the making of a Multi-Doctor story that was never a multi-doctor story, except for the imperceptible minions over the decades who can't seem to grasp a mental battle between TWO time Lords means that there will be TWO of them. The mind battle is stated VERY CLEARLY that it is Morbius vs. The Doctor, so logic dictates that some of the incarnations are Morbius (played by the production staff) and some are The Doctor. The minions of impreception though have claimed for decades, wrongly, that they were ALL The Doctor, thus Morbius is The Doctor. This on its face is patently silly. But, the need to their head canon to be true hangs on a production memo that NEVER HAPPENED. So Chibnall, being a disciple of this religion decided to canonize this misperception fantasy as reality. So now, nearly 45 years later a classic episode has its history butchered for "what we wanted to happen". It's so 2020. Rewriting facts so they fit what you want them to be. Chop Suey History 101.

[@ftumschk]

Never mind what logic (apparently) dictates. The writer and producer's intention was definitely to portray earlier versions of the Doctor, not Morbius, and the script and direction confirm this ("How far, Doctor? Back... back... to *your* beginning!").

[@SGlitz]

@@ftumschk have you met phillip hinchcliffe? I have. And so it was there intention to have Chris eccleston in The Day of the Doctor...so I guess he was, by your logic. So in a battle between TWO time Lords there is only 1? How is that logical???

[@darynvoss7883]

No. The published announcements and casting notes at the time indicated these were versions of the Doctor. There isn't any doubt that Hinchcliffe intended these to be versions of the Doctor. You could have argued that they were _alternative_ or future versions rather than past.

[@SGlitz]

Tell no show, oh... Chibnall raison d'etre

[@turjun]

This is childhood favorite. The Frankenstein, “It's Pronounced Fronkensteen”, influence is obvious but I would also suggest the movie They Saved Hitler's Brain (1968) played a part.

[@cindydott452]

"Donovan's Brain" too.