"Doctor Who" The Brain of Morbius: Part Two (TV Episode 1976) Poster

(TV Series)

(1976)

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9/10
There is some terrific content here.
Sleepin_Dragon10 October 2019
The second part builds on the first. When you watch it, you get the sense of true peril for The Doctor and Sarah, they have no safe space, no team of plucky allies to depend on, just one another. The pair bravely save one another, Sarah particularly tenacious as she rescues The Doctor from true danger. That scene in particular is incredibly well staged, you can't imagine the health and safety nuts would allow something like that now, an actor tied up, with real flames.

I love the dialogue between The Sisterhood, the history that exists between them and the Timelords, finally a race that seem on equal footing, and for once an all powerful race that is female.

One of the funniest moments, where Sarah blurts out fresh violets for sale guv, and one of the darkest most memorable, the cliffhanger, poor Sarah always got in a scrape.

Wonderful. 9/10
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8/10
"I can see that you chicken brained biological disaster." Good horror based Tom Baker story.
poolandrews22 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius: Part 2 starts as the Doctor (Tom Baker) wakes up from being drugged to find himself in the presence of the mystic Sisterhood who instantly condemn him to death & tie him to a stake where he will be burned alive. Meanwhile Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) has escaped Solon's (Philip Madoc) lab, Solon himself has discovered the Doctor has escaped & attempts to save him from the Sisterhood but fails. However Sarah manages to save the Doctor but is blinded in the process...

Episode 18 from season 13 this Doctor Who adventure was originally aired here in the UK during Januray 1976, directed by Christopher Barry I'm enjoying The Brain of Morbius a lot. The script by Terrence Dicks & Robert Holmes under the pseudonym Robin Bland has moved along at a fair pace, has been throughly entertaining while it has a nice dark edge to it as it resembles & lifts ideas from several Gothic horror sources particularly Frankenstein with which the similarities are more than apparent. This, for me, is undeniably a good thing as I've alway liked the Doctor Who stories which mix horror & sci-fi & actually try to be scary. I'm not that keen on the whole Sisterhood thing though, I don't think they were needed to be honest but having said that they fit into the story well enough. Then there's the decision to blind Sarah which was a brave one, I don't think I can remember a companion being in such a horrible situation with no apparent simplistic remedy & it gives her as a companion a real vulnerability here which is really lacking in many stories.

So far The Brain of Morbius has looked pretty good, it was the first Doctor Who story to be entirely studio bound & no location or model filming was permitted as they apparently needed to save some cash for the season finale the six parter The Seeds of Doom (1976). The sets are alright, Solon's castle interior is nice enough with dark corridors, arched doorways & stone staircases along with a suitably Frankenstein-esquire laboratory with bubbling test tubes & all manner of Victorian style chemistry equipment. The stitched together creature is only seen briefly but is rather effective & quite gross in concept, this episode also gives us our first look at the brain of Morbius itself suspended in green liquid in a jar although I'm not sure how it manages to talk...

The Brain of Morbius: Part 2 is a great continuation of a great story from a great era in the show, it's a sad fact that I can in all accuracy truly say they don't/can't/won't make them like this anymore.
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8/10
The Wrath of Karn...
Xstal30 June 2022
The Doctor takes the part, of the heroine Joan of Arc, all he needs to emulate, is the smallest of small sparks, but Sarah Jane provisions, to disrupt the supervisions, then finds herself locked in the dark, surrounded by collisions.
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10/10
Brains and brilliance!
A_Kind_Of_CineMagic28 November 2014
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.
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