Search - Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius (Story 84) on DVD

Samuel K. (Solvanda)
Reviewed on 10/6/2018...

"Yet I am still here! I can see nothing! Feel nothing! You have locked me into hell for an eternity!...Trapped like this, like a sponge beneath the sea. Yet even a sponge has more life than I. Can you understand a thousandth of my agony?! I, Morbius, who once led the High Council of the Time Lords, reduced to this -- to the condition where I envy a vegetable."

Brain of Morbius is a four part serial aired by the BBC in 1976, and a treasure house of wit, such as when Dr. Solon refers to his servant Condo as a "chicken-brained biological disaster" or deems the Sisterhood of Karn a "squalid brood of harpies" or opines that Maren, the elderly leader of the Sisterhood be a "palsied harridan." You'll recognize many nods to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein here.

Upon this story's original broadcast, Mary Whitehouse (of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association) complained of the violence displayed; she was quoted saying that The Brain of Morbius "contained some of the sickest and most horrific material seen on children's television."

The Planet of the Modern Prometheus.

Armchair Pundit | Durham City, England. | 07/11/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Season Thirteen.

Much to the Doctors chagrin the Time Lords have taken control of the TARDIS, sending the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith into very dangerous ground upon the stormlashed spaceship graveyard planet of Karn.

Sheltering from the rain in a castle atop a mountain, the Doctor encounters the surgeon Mehendri Solon, and his simple minded slave/assistant Condo conducting gruesome experiments on living flesh, but for what reason?

And now as a storm approaches, great evil from the depths of Time Lord history plots its return to the land of the living.

But can even the Doctor's mind, be a match for The Brain of Morbius.

~~~~

Four episodes of sumptuous gothic filled suspense, suspense that will suspend your everyday worries and cares, well at least for ninety minutes anyway. Mr Baker and Ms Sladen are on sparkling form, as is Philip Madoc, marvellously getting his teeth into a role he can go gloriously over the top with. Welsh born Madoc was a; "Who" semi regular, featuring in stories like The War Games as The War Lord, The Krotons as Eelek, and The Power of Kroll as Fenner. As well as the second Peter Cushing Dalek film. And with the passing of time, even writer Terrance Dicks no longer feels so bland towards this story anymore. For people like myself who finds the extras a nice touch, I did feel the extras were a bit on the weak side compared to some other releases.

Warning to the parents of little ones, the scene where Solon shoots Condo reveals a bit of blood, so a bit of parental discretion may be called for there.

~~~~

DVD Extras

Commentary by Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Philip Madoc, Philip Hinchcliffe and Christopher Barry .

Getting a Head:~ A new documentary about the making of the programme featuring Christopher Barry, Philip Hinchcliffe,writer Terrance Dicks, designer Barry Newbery, composer Dudley Simpson, and actors Philip Madoc, Cynthia Grenville, Colin Fay and Gillian Brown, with narration by Paul McGann

Designs on Karn: How the planet Karn was created, with designer Barry Newbery

Set Tour Take a walk around the studio sets with this 3D CGI reconstruction

Radio Times Billings: Listings from Radio Times on Pdf DVD Rom

Photo Gallery

Sketch Gallery

Coming Soon Trailer

Production Information Subtitles

Digitally remastered picture and sound quality.

Originally broadcast:~ 3rd January 1976 - 24th January 1976.

(Region 2 version now on sale at amazon.uk)

"

"Morbius's brain... on the floor!"

Jason A. Miller | New York, New York USA | 11/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I out-and-out love this story. I've taken the typical "Doctor Who" fan's path to this point of view, however. I was riveted at age 11, embarrassed at age 16, and now celebrate it in all its campy glory. When the disembodied brain of Morbius fell onto the floor with an audible "splat!" late in Part Three, I actually cheered.



What's most impressive about the DVD release is the Restoration Team's attitude to the story. Now that the classic series DVDs have been coming out for almost ten years, and the greatest of the great stories have long since been released, and the available remaining stories come from deep in the third tier (and now, with the imminent release of Doctor Who: Four to Doomsday (Episode 118), the fourth tier), it is hard to predict what editorial slant the DVD extra features will take. I've been surprised, for example, by the coldness toward Doctor Who - Black Orchid (Episode 121), and I nodded along to the wistful revelation that Doctor Who: The Invisible Enemy/K9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend just hasn't aged that well at all.



Fortunately, the DVD producers appear to love Morbius, and for roughly the same reasons that I do. They're perhaps a little too enamored of Philip Madoc's Shatner-esque turn as this story's Dr. Frankenstein stand-in, Solon. But everyone loves the dimly heroic Condo, the one-armed manservant standing in for Igor. Even Terrance Dicks, who took his name off the final version of the story, seems to have warmed up to it considerably -- and we know from many other past DVD releases that Uncle Terry isn't shy about picking a fight with a 35 year-old bit of TV history.



All in all, "Brain of Morbius" blends two elements of "Doctor Who" greatness. First, a terrific script by Robert Holmes, full of memorable insults ("That palsied harridan!") and throw-away world building (the lone reference to "the silent gas dirigibles of the Hoothi", which 15 years later was resurrected for Love and War (The New Doctor Who Adventures). And second, there's that fearless 1970's mentality that "We're going to get away with putting a rubber brain in a fishbowl and mounting that on an ill-fitting costume with chicken feathers and an enormous lobster claw".



The only curiosity is that, while the text commentary accurately describes Terrance Dicks' novel-writing career as including the Past Doctor Adventure Warmonger (Doctor Who), the writer curiously fails to mention that it was in fact a prequel to this story. Just as well, however. Unlike this DVD, you might want to give that book a miss."

If I only had a brain

James L. Strachota | 02/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tom Baker is still the best Doctor in my eyes. This episode just shows his charm and wonder all over again. With faithful Sarah Jane at his side as always. Outside of Rose from the new show I think Sarah Jane was one if not the longest companion on the show. That's one thing I would love to see on the new show, a companion that last for four or five seasons with some other companions that come and go."