The Brain of Morbius: Part Three

Philip Madoc plays his part to perfection, as Solon single mindedly gets to work on Morbius, his very own Frankenstein's monster. It's been a terrific story, packed with rich content and dark, in this part, it gets darker, and violent, Mary Whitehouse must have done her nut with one or two scenes here.

So well made, so well acted, I'm not sure if the classic series was ever as good as the Hinchcliffe era, not just the writing or tone, but the tightness of it, the fact that everyone takes it so seriously, nobody is sending it up, it's all serious, and on point.

It ends with one of the most iconic scenes from Doctor Who, the fact that Sarah is impaired, and the unknown surrounding Morbius, he's on his feet, but what sort of state is he in after the trauma?

It has done its job, and set up the concluding episode very well. 9/10

Review of all 4 episodes:

Correctly this is acclaimed as one of the true classics, it really is exceptional and fully deserving of classic status.

Famously the story is heavily influenced by Frankenstein. It has the Gothic horror feel that was common in this era of the series, being one of the most Gothic horror based stories of all in fact. As well as the style it also shares the idea from Frankenstein of a 'mad' scientist putting a being together from parts of other bodies.

The Doctor and Sarah are forced to land on Karn where scientist Solon is carrying out his experiments to try to create a body to house the mind of evil Time Lord criminal Morbius. The Sisters of Karn (who reappeared in the 2013 mini-episode The Night of the Doctor) are also on the planet and think The Doctor has come to steal the elixir of life that they worship and protect.

The story and all the dialogue is absolutely first class. Intelligent, entertaining, literate, exciting - everything you could want. Also the production as a whole is very well made and extremely atmospheric in its presentation. The incredibly good performances from Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen are taken for granted in this era. Unsurprisingly Philip Madoc who had already played characters in Doctor Who (such as in The War Games) to immensely impressive effect gives another awesome performance as Solon. There is very little to fault. The final episode goes into full Frankenstein's monster on a rampage mode which is perhaps less intelligent than the rest of the story but extremely entertaining.

One of the top 40 stories of all time easily and another great classic in the Hinchcliffe & Holmes era which is the peak of the show's history. Holmes takes a lot of credit for the quality here as does another of the greats of Doctor Who, writer Terrance Dicks.

All 4 parts 10/10.

The brain of Morbius finds a new home, it's not quite the desired or ideal grey matter dome, but be careful what you wish for, things could end up on a mucky floor, and you find your partnered with a beast, you dislike and abhor.