The Brain of Morbius

[sunshineboyuk]

This story is considered the highlight of the Hinchcliffe Gothic Horror years.

Thats all I have to say now as it remains unwatched ontop of my DVD player .

Get ON WITH IT !

[J. R.'s Piece]

Dunno about the highlight. I like it but then I also like The Ark In Space, The Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks, Terror of the Zygons, Pyramids of Mars, Planet of Evil, The Seeds of Doom, The Masque of Mandragora, The Deadly Assassin [with it's espcially-upsetting-to-Mary-Whitehouse episode three cliffhanger], The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death & The Talons of Weng-Chiang from Hinchcliffe's output, although I tend to think of him working in tandem with his script editor, Robert Holmes (who wrote stories for Doctors 2-6, his first tale being Philip Madoc's {Solon in The Brain of Morbius} first appearance in Doctor Who [of four, not counting his audio appearances...uh-oh...]. Madoc had returned three stories later as a dfferent character in Troughton's final regular story, The War Games....out v. soon on DVD ), who stayed on for the first half-season of Graham Williams' producership (and turned Doctor Who director David Maloney's offer of the role of script editor on Blakes7 but recommended Chris Boucher [who had written 3 Doctor Who stories] instead) and you had Horror of Fang Rock and Image of the Fendahl, which fitted into that Gothic horror style...

Colin Fay (Condo) was more known at the time for his opera singing.

[J. R.'s Piece]

Oops. Meant to say that Holmes turned down the offer.

[sunshineboyuk]

It's a classic ! I adore it !

There is nothing better than a Tom Baker story that starts with the Doctor and Sarah charging out of the TARDIS into a full on situation , he's fab when he's in a bad mood. T Bakers Doctor actually seems YOUNGER now that we have New Who and the new excitingness...which is thrilling.
It's a brilliantly simple take on Frankenstein , full of atmpmosphere , weird sisters and a haggy Old Woman Crone with scary Powers , a big castle on a dark desolate mountain top , huge dark sets tinted with green and fire lights , its everything we love about the Gothic Baker Years .
Liz Sladen is bonkers in this story , Sarah is blinded , which I rememebr from chldhood , and she cracks some really off key jokes about it ... Sladen is funny in this outing and Sarah is proactive in a Rose like way , love it !
The chemistry between Baker and Sladen is perfect, I mean it doesn't get better than this fascinatingly synergised chemistry , I love the Doctor and Sarah , she LOVES him and he loves her in his young off hand way , Bakers Doctor is such a teenager !

Philip Madoc is insane and gives a brilliantly meglomaniac reading , its sooo gothic its very wonderful. I want more scary Gothicness in New Who , in fact I LOVE the season 2 werewolf story , its my fave of the season ...

[Daniel Avery]

I love it when they open the door on The Doctor and Sarah, who are getting hammered by a rainstorm, and the Doc asks "Can you spare a glass of water?"

[J. R.'s Piece]

Terrance Dicks (who had been the show's script editor and previously assistant script editor spanning 1968-74 and writer of umpteen Doctor Who books) says after he submitted his script and went on holiday, Robert Holmes changed the story so much that Dicks told him to transmit the story under some bland pseudonym...and that's where Robin Bland came from.

[sunshineboyuk]

I love it that you watch the show , I still cant get my head around the fact that Americans watch Doctor Who , is it strange when I post about KNOTS LANDING with such knowledge ? Err... actually dont answer that .


The first ep ends with a scene i remember scaring me into a nightmarish sleep when Sarah pulls back a curtain thinking its the Doctor only to find its a hairy body creature thing without a head . It looks kinda ridiculous now but its still scary to me .

The second epsiode ends with a cliffhanger thats almost identical to ep 1 , I remember this just as well - God this story is really in my childhood consciousness - when Sarah reveals the actual Brain of Morbius sitting in a plastic bucket in pink water talking like Davros .

[J. R.'s Piece]

I love it that you watch the show , I still cant get my head around the fact that Americans watch Doctor Who

Some of the American Public Broadcasting Service television stations, such as KTEH and the New Jersey Network used to do special shows (cos they would screen stories, usually in two parts and pledge drive for the second part) and get Doctor Who cast members in for interviews. There's an extended KTEH interview with Patrick Troughton. NJN had some shows hosted by the beaming Eric Luskin, who did several with Patrick Troughton. Terry Nation (who was living in America) did the "Doctor Who - Then And Now" in 1987 (they had another interview with Patrick but he died before the programme was recorded) and they also interviewed Jon Pertwee, Sylvester McCoy and Carole Ann Ford. Terry also faced questions from American Doctor Who fans, one of whom looked just like the Roger Delgado Master. American writer, Patrick Daniel O'Neill was on hand to provide an analysis of what he thought the show needed to survive.

[J. R.'s Piece]

I

Philip Madoc is insane and gives a brilliantly meglomaniac reading , its sooo gothic its very wonderful.

Terrance Dicks' original storyline had a robot doing the...er...'building'.

Philip Madoc is fun though. He'd been in Patrick's final tale....and very effective he was too. His late 70s appearance in The Power of Kroll is a bit sad, because he has only a minor role. He put in several appearances on THE AVENGERS and worked with all four of Steed's female associates on that show (Venus Smith, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel & Tara King). He popped up in ITC shows, appearing in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Jason King, The Saint, Man In A Suitcase, The Zoo Gang, The Champions (horrendously dubbed by David Graham [who turned up in City of Death]), The Baron, UFO (two roles, three episodes) and SPACE:1999. He has also done work on the Doctor Who audio stories and was required to go insane in MASTER....which featured the disfigured Master having forgotten all about his previous life and has been a kindly gentleman for 10 years. Then the Seventh Doctor turns up.

[sunshineboyuk]

The seventh doctor turning up would drive anyone mad it sent me over the edge many times

[J. R.'s Piece]

You are not alone in this complaint. He even talked a Dalek into exploding itself.

[J. R.'s Piece]

Have you found THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS DVD Easter Egg?

[sunshineboyuk]

No. Is it a chocolate brain ?



ep 3 .... The Doctor goes to see the Sisters of Mercy who try to kil him again , he lights their fire which had gone out , he tries to set the night on fire , they know that he would be a liar , so they string him up much higher...
Sarah meanwhile is terrorized and stumbles around blind . Liz Salden is soo good at being in jeapordy , I love her squeeks and squeals , she's class ....God bless Sarah Jane Smith.
Brilliant line when the hunchback of the castle realises Philip Madoc has cut off his arm and attached it to Morbius ....he gets reallupset to which Madoc replies , " Now is not the time for trivialities"
Its all gloriously sick , as the hunt for a head goes on ....its also surprisingly violent when Madoc starts shooting his hunchback full on in a blood spatter worthy of Avon and Roj Blake in the now infamous series finale of Blakes 7.
It ends again with Sarah being terrorised. Its great , repetitive and bonkers but really great. Oh and theres some nice stuff about the Time Lords , its always brilliant when they get talked about , its better when we dont see them and its better when a lunatic like Morbius really slags them off.

[J. R.'s Piece]

Blake's 7 finale?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4a68Sv_r5Q

During The War Games, before they make their first appearance in episode 10, The Time Lords seem scary and powerful because they're unseen and being feared....and they cause the cliffhanger for the penultimate Troughton-era episode.

And yes. God bless Sarah Jane Smith.