Season 13, Episode 5 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 3–24 January 1976 | Writer: “Robin Bland” (Terrance Dicks, extensively rewritten by Robert Holmes) | Director: Christopher Barry
Cast
- Tom Baker as the Doctor
- Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
- Philip Madoc as Mehendri Solon
- Michael Spice as the voice of Morbius
- Cynthia Grenville as Maren
Summary
Forced down on the fog-shrouded planet Karn, the Doctor and Sarah Jane stumble into the laboratory of the brilliant but deranged surgeon Solon, who is secretly assembling a grotesque new body from stolen parts to house the still-living brain of Morbius, an executed Time Lord criminal. As the ancient Sisterhood of Karn watch over their sacred Flame of Life and grow suspicious of the strangers in their midst, the Doctor becomes Solon’s next target for a replacement head, setting up a horrifying mental battle of wills once Morbius’s brain is finally given a monstrous new form.
Interesting Facts
- Original writer Terrance Dicks was so unhappy with script editor Robert Holmes’s extensive rewrites that he asked for his name to be removed, resulting in the show’s house pseudonym “Robin Bland” being used instead.
- The story is widely regarded as one of the most overt homages to Frankenstein in the series’ history, right down to Solon’s mad-scientist laboratory.
- A brief, disputed sequence during the Doctor and Morbius’s mental battle showed a series of faces controversially interpreted by some fans as pre-Hartnell incarnations of the Doctor, sparking decades of debate.
- Philip Madoc’s performance as Solon is frequently cited as one of the finest guest villain turns of the classic series.
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