The Vengeance of Morbius

"You're going to bring Morbius back to life."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: August 2008

Series: EDA 2.08

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Lucie

Synopsis

The universe is in grave danger.

The very fabric of time and space is being altered.

The Doctor and Lucie must race against time to prevent the destruction of everything they hold dear. They may have to sacrifice everything to save then universe.

Even themselves...

Verdict

The Vengeance of Morbius was an excellent conclusion to what has been a consistently great second series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures! I have definitely enjoyed this series more than the first with the Doctor and Lucie getting more familiar together and I think including a lot of returning elements was a positive move and it gives some depth to the range which is always good. This one followed on immediately where Sisters of the Flame left off and the Doctor and Lucie were temporarily spared from being dispersed. Orthena was willing to let the Doctor know why he had to die which was how they got out of the cliffhanger ending and what was revealed was hugely intriguing. This really was a continuation of The Brain of Morbius which I didn't quite expect, but I very much enjoyed it. I thought the cover was good as we got a new image of Morbius that wasn't something resembling Frankenstein, and all of the references to that Fourth Doctor tale were excellent. The Doctor couldn't quite believe that Morbius may be resurrected, but a fragment of the brain had survived the fall and was retrieved by Zarodnix, a worshipper and member of the Cult of Morbius. He had scoured the universe for any kind of object relating to Morbius and had them all. Now, he wanted to bring the man himself back to life and the Doctor was understandably horrified. I thought the inclusion of the Time Lords was a brilliant move and with them demanding that all of their 'errant children' return to Gallifrey to ensure that Morbius could not be reborn sold just how awful and terrifying he would be if he was resurrected. The idea of them all being accounted for was quite interesting as surely the likes of the Master, the Rani and the Monk would not run back home? Straxus was the problem though as he was on his way to Karn and ready to play his role in bringing back the tyrant to life. The analogy with Jurassic Park from Lucie was actually really helpful and without it I don't think I'd have bought that Morbius could be resurrected in the way he was. Using an existing Time Lord and the brain fragment and triggering a regeneration could bring Morbius back. I thought that was quite clever but also very interesting and it could feasibly see any Time Lord return in the future which is an exciting, and also problematic, prospect. Morbius was suffering though and constantly needed Straxus when his health started failing. That would obviously one day run out and the Doctor might be needed after him. The shift in time of a decade into the future was the only element of the audio that I thought was a little questionable as not much was actually made of his ten years ruling. Surely he would have caused chaos if the Time Lords were so scared? His effort, and partial success, in ridding Gallifrey of the power used from the Eye of Harmony was great and I love the idea of helpless Time Lords. Specifically the Doctor. But he was able to find a way to defeat Morbius once again, and it again involved a big fall on Karn. Except this time, the Doctor fell with him and became an established part of events in order to rewrite the timeline and ensure that the Cult of Morbius never existed in the first place. Lucie Miller was devastated and she was not impressed with the Time Lords. I'm intrigued to see how the Doctor can get around this one! What a way to end a series. I look forward to the next one very much so. Overall, a fantastic end!

Rating: 9/10