Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius

"I could sustain life in the organs of the dead."

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: June 1977

Series: Target 07

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis 

Why do so many spaceships crash land on Karn, a bleak, lonely and seemingly deserted planet?

Are they doomed by the mysterious powers of the strange, black-robed Sisterhood, jealously guarding their secret of eternal life? Or does the mad Dr Solon, for some evil purpose of his own, need the bodies of the victims? And more especially, the body of Doctor Who...

Verdict

Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius was an outstanding novelisation of the horror classic! This really is Doctor Who at its very best and ever since my first visiting I have absolutely loved the televised serial and I’m delighted to say that the novelisation did not disappoint! It lived up to its tv counterpart in style and I must admit that I was very confident this would be the case with the book. Terrance Dicks absolutely does not fail in bringing this classic to life and I really appreciate the little nuances he adds from on screen. We get a bit more of an exploration of Karn and it really makes for a superb setting. I love that it has now made a comeback in the modern era but this a sublime way to introduce it and the Elixir of Life. The Sisterhood of the Flame are just brilliant and the way their history is expanded and developed as we move through the book is terrific. The Doctor is on a rampage at the start arriving on Karn as he very much didn’t intend on going there. He was seemingly sent on a mission by the Time Lords and I appreciated the description of the Third Doctor’s exile and being freed with the caveat of just doing an occasional mission when needed. The Doctor never got any warning about these missions which was fun to hear him get outraged by, but I was a little surprised that the reader never actually got full confirmation that the Time Lords did actually send him! Of course, knowing what we do with what happened involving Morbius and his Time Lord history, it’s a safe bet that this was the situation. Solon was a superb character as a crazed scientist that was absolutely devoted to Morbius. It was good that the Doctor knew of him by reputation and he knew even more about Morbius which took the scientist by surprise. Condo was a good character as well and the entire journey he went on was very emotional. He was only helping Solon because he had been promised his arm back that had been replaced on his crash landing, and his reaction when he saw the Morbius creature Solon had created actually having his arm was torment. He couldn’t believe it and it would ultimately end his life. The entire basis surrounding the brain of Morbius was tremendous throughout and I just love the science behind it. Solon is so particular and whilst it’s clear he is so intelligent, his mindset is absolutely struck on bringing Morbius back to life outside of a brain tank. The desire he has to find a head was quite something and the complete lack of subtlety when he sees the Doctor and marvels about his head is just glorious. The Sisterhood tolerate Solon and his experiments but it’s clear the two parties are from being on the same page! Sarah Jane has a brilliant outing here and I love how she deals with being temporarily blinded. She does so well to save the Doctor from being sacrificed, not that he knew anything  about it despite his brash confidence and mockery when death was looming. The idea of the Flame going out and running low on Elixir was very good and the simplicity in which the Doctor restores it is almost unfair! He’s another level. He scared Solon simply by injecting the fear of the Time Lords in him from look and verbals alone. That was impressive. I thought the characterisation of the Fourth Doctor himself was tremendous and the plan to challenge Morbius to the mind bending game was really good stuff. Of course, the scene on screen where we see what are interpreted as past unseen incarnations of the Doctor prior to the First Doctor is now infamous, and even more so since the Thirteenth Doctor’s era seemingly legitimised them, but it wasn’t really given too much significance here. It was just described as confusion from Sarah which was neat and in 1977, it was probably a delicate issue! I know it was met with a lot of controversy. The ending with the Doctor being out and the Sisterhood using flames to push the Morbius monster to a gruesome demise off a cliff edge was pretty gory which fitted in well with the atmosphere of the story. I really appreciated that and what was as a whole a tremendous read!

Rating: 10/102