Morbius Part 3

"Never let it be said that Morbius isn't kind."

Writer: Tim Foley

Format: Audio

Released: June 2024

Series: Dark Gallifrey 1.03

Featuring: Fourth Doctor

Synopsis 

Morbius has been brought back to life on the Isle of the Dead. But a desperate Captain Argento has called for help and received an unlikely ally. Here is a stranger who knows the tyrant of old and is the only one who can put his plans on ice. But perhaps even the Doctor cannot stop the threat of Dark Gallifrey...

Verdict

Morbius concluded in strong style to round out this epic first story in the Dark Gallifrey range! This is such an exciting series and whilst we didn't get a huge amount of knowledge regarding just what Dark Gallifrey itself entails, there was enough drips and drabs of information to keep me wanting more. I mean, we've still got five more stories comprised of three releases to come so this was always going to start off small regarding the overarching reach of the series. For me, this was all about Morbius anyway and diving deep into Gallifreyan past. This wasn't quite the Dark Times but the Doctor mentioning that they were basically within its shadows was a fun anecdote of when this episode took place. The Doctor being the one dragged to answer the call of Captain Argento when she used the Horn of Rassilon was fun and I liked how he was momentarily disoriented. Of course he wasn't Rassilon! It makes sense to have the Fourth Doctor encounter Morbius once again but this is far from a rematch from The Brain of Morbius as for the tyrannical Time Lord, he had yet to encounter the Doctor. That by default meaning that the Doctor was here to exact his revenge for his defeat was a lot of fun and showed just how much Morbius thought of himself. It was good to get a bit more activity from Argento this time around and she showed just why she was worthy of being captain. Her relationship with the Doctor was lovely and it was really nice that he recognised her name straight away. She was something of a legend! Every Time Lord ought to know her name. That showed just how revered the Proteus was, although to the Doctor the tech was rather primitive which was amusing. It was good that Gilda knew of the Doctor being a future President of the Time Lords but she was almost as surprised as he was by the fact! I wonder if The Invasion of Time had happened for him yet? That was unclear but a fun thought. She was a brilliant character here though and the development she went through was quite extraordinary. The fact she got to live out the dream of Morbius was a fun play on events and having her exist in her own planet's past and see herself born was brilliant. That really is quite something and the twist with everything coming full circle as she was revealed to be the narrator all along was terrific. That was strong and a nice way to conclude her story. She stood up to Morbius well here. I thought the interaction the Doctor shared with Morbius could have been a little more tense and impactful, but it was a delight to hear them converse. The way the Doctor trapped Morbius with a distraction of simply talking was tremendous and he really did make the best use of only being a projection. That was handy when Morbius was intent on destruction! I thought it was quite clever really as a means of defeating Morbius and even having the deformed and amalgamated version projected to show him what fate awaited him was very well done. I really didn't expect that! It was a strong way though to send Morbius back packing and have him ready for the Doctor to take him on back on Karn where he belonged, and it was just a sheer joy for him to be resurrected at this point in time! I really hope we can explore more of this period in Gallifreyan history moving forward, but I get the sense that's not going to happen. However, I very much look forward to hearing what the War Master gets up to in the next instalment in this series. Overall, a fascinating and really enjoyable listen! The Doctor couldn't quite believe it. 

Rating: 8/10