Doctor Who/The Brain of Morbius

The Brain of Morbius
Season 13, Serial 5
Airdate	January 3, 1976
Production Number	4K
by	Robin Bland
Directed by	Christopher Barry
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Doctor Who — Season Thirteen

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The Brain of Morbius is the fifth serial of the thirteenth season of Doctor Who, and the eighty-fourth serial overall.

Part One: Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Philip Madoc (Solon), Cynthia Grenville (Maren), Gilly Brown (Ohica), Sue Bishop, Janie Kells, Gabrielle Mowbray, Veronica Ridge (Sisters), Colin Fay (Condo), John Scott Martin (Kriz)

Part Two: Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Philip Madoc (Solon), Cynthia Grenville (Maren), Gilly Brown (Ohica), Sue Bishop, Janie Kells, Gabrielle Mowbray, Veronica Ridge (Sisters), Colin Fay (Condo), Michael Spice (Voice of Morbius)

Part Three: Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Philip Madoc (Solon), Colin Fay (Condo), Cynthia Grenville (Maren), Gilly Brown (Ohica), Sue Bishop, Janie Kells, Gabrielle Mowbray, Veronica Ridge (Sisters), Michael Spice (Voice of Morbius), Stuart Fell (Monster)

Part Four: Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Philip Madoc (Solon), Colin Fay (Condo), Cynthia Grenville (Maren), Gilly Brown (Ohica), Sue Bishop, Janie Kells, Gabrielle Mowbray, Veronica Ridge (Sisters), Michael Spice (Voice of Morbius), Stuart Fell (Monster)

Trivia

The Show

• The long-lasting legacy of this serial comes in the fourth episode. When the Doctor is locked in his mental duel with Morbius, we see, in order, the faces of the Third, Second, and First Doctor. We then see an additional 8 unrecognisable faces that are not explained. The original intent was that they are earlier incarnations of the Doctor. Later stories contradict this by reaffirming that there were none prior to the First with other media trying to reconcile them with their connection to the Doctor until the revelations in "The Timeless Children", which would assert that they are indeed incarnations prior to the First.

Behind the Scenes

• The faces seen in the mental battle between Morbius and the Doctor were originally intended to be famous actors, but when there were no volunteers, they resorted to using those involved in the serial's production. 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 serial credits "Robin Bland" as writer. This is a pseudonym of Terrance Dicks and Robert Holmes. During the writing, Dicks was disappointed at Holmes's modifications to his original script in which Morbius's assistant is a robot, as he felt that changing the species to human removed the nuance of a being unable to perceive beauty attempting to construct a body for a being who can. The rewrites were to accommodate for the serial's budgetary restrictions, as production didn't feel there would be any way to properly create Morbius's robotic aide without overspending. Dicks was unwilling to put his name on the final product and so asked to be credited under "some bland pseudonym," at which point the story was passively-aggressively credited to "Robin Bland". Dicks would later state that while he detested Holmes's changes, he did understand that it was the only way to ensure that the serial could be produced.

Allusions and References

• This story has obvious parallels to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.