THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS

BY: "ROBIN BLAND" (TERRANCE DICKS REWRITTEN BY ROBERT HOLMES)

Part One

Original Air Date: 3 January 1976
Running time: 25:25

SOLON: You were quick, Condo. Were there no survivors?

CONDO: One, an oxygen breather.

SOLON: Humanoid? Excellent. Let me see.

SOLON: No, that won't do. Even if the ganglia could be. No, the cranium's too narrow, the cerebrum undeveloped. That is an insect! Even a half-witted cannibal like you can see it won't do!

CONDO: But the big head's not come, master. Not to Karn.

SOLON: It must, Condo. One day, a true humanoid species, warm blooded, with a central nervous system. One such specimen, just one, and I can complete my work here.

DOCTOR: Come out, meddlesome, interfering idiots. I know you're up there so come on out and show yourselves!

DOCTOR: Messing about with my TARDIS. Dragging us a thousand parsecs off course.

SARAH: Oi, have you gone potty? Who are you shouting at?

DOCTOR: The Time Lords, who else? Now, you see? You see? They haven't even got the common decency to come out and show their ears.

SARAH: They're probably afraid of getting them boxed, the way you're carrying on.

DOCTOR: It's intolerable. I won't stand for any more of it.

SARAH: Oh look, why can't it have just gone wrong again?

DOCTOR: What?

SARAH: The TARDIS.

DOCTOR: What? Do you think I don't know the difference between an internal fault and an external influence? Oh, no, no, no. There's something going on here, some dirty work they won't touch with their lily white hands. Well, I won't do it, do you hear!

SARAH: There's something ominous. Where are we, do you think?

DOCTOR: I don't know and I don't really care.

SARAH: Oh, come on. Come on, stop being so childish.

DOCTOR: I'm just going to sit here and do nothing.

SARAH: So there.

DOCTOR: Yes.

SARAH: Look, Doctor. Oh, come on, have a look at it. I mean, you don't know what you might be missing. Well, do you know what it is?

DOCTOR: Yes. Ejection bubble.

SARAH: A what?

DOCTOR: A space parachute.

SARAH: Pardon?

SARAH: Hey, Doctor, quick. Come and look at this! There must be about a dozen wrecked spaceships out there. It's like the Sargasso Sea.

DOCTOR: Fancy.

SARAH: It's incredible. I mean, why should they all have crashed here?

DOCTOR: I've no idea.

SARAH: Well, I think you should take a look. Coming?

DOCTOR: No, thanks. I'm just going to sit here and practise my double loops.

SARAH: Well, please yourself. I'm going anyway. Are you sure?

DOCTOR: Yes.

SARAH: I suppose it was the crash?

DOCTOR: Not the crash. Afterwards.

SARAH: After? So it was deliberate?

DOCTOR: Looks as if he escaped in the ejection bubble, and while he was wandering around dazed someone or something att*cked him. Poor Mutt.

SARAH: Mutt?

DOCTOR: Yes, a mutant insect species. Widely established in the Nebula of Cyclops. I thought I recognised the stars.

SARAH: You've been here before?

DOCTOR: I was born in these parts.

SARAH: Near here?

DOCTOR: Well, within a couple of billion miles, yes.

SARAH: Hey, look!

SARAH: Come on. At least it's civilisation.

SARAH: Oh god. Come on.

SOLON: Motor reflexes seven tenths.

SOLON: Condo! Condo, fetch some lamps.

SOLON: Condo!

MAREN: Two of them?

OHICA: A male and a female, Maren, in the valley below.

MAREN: Our senses reach beyond the five planets. They were not

OHICA: They are here.

MAREN: No ship can approach Karn without detection. Even the silent gas dirigibles of the Hoothi are felt in our bones while still a million miles distant.

OHICA: There was no ship, Maren. The last was the cruiser of the Mutts.

MAREN: Then how? How, Ohica?

OHICA: I do not know. I say only what my eyes have seen.

MAREN: Is it as I feared? For months now I have had a dream that the Elixir of Life would be taken from us.

OHICA: Taken?

MAREN: Next to myself, Ohica, you are the oldest of our sisterhood. Come, let me show you.

OHICA: The Flame of Life! Maren, what is wrong? Why is it so low?

MAREN: The Flame dies, Ohica. Every month, every day, it sinks lower.

OHICA: How can this be? At our ceremonies the Flame has b*rned brightly, higher than my shoulder.

MAREN: A deception. For many months past, before each ceremony, I have secretly fed the Flame with powdered Rine Weed.

OHICA: But if the Flame dies, there will be no more Elixir.

MAREN: It has been low now for over a year. The vessel remains empty.

OHICA: Then we are doomed. Our sisterhood will perish.

MAREN: We are only servants of the Flame. If the Flame dies, then so must we.

OHICA: Maren, should not the others know?

MAREN: Not until the end is certain. As you know, Ohica, the secret of the Life Elixir is known only to our sisterhood and the High Council of the Time Lords. Since the time of the stones we have shared the Elixir with them. Now there is none to share.

MAREN: The few phials that are left I have kept for ourselves. But for months I have felt the Time Lords would come to rob us of these last precious drops.

OHICA: You think the two I saw have been sent to steal the Elixir?

MAREN: If that is so, we must deal with them. Summon our sisters. We will form a circle.

SOLON: Where have you been?

CONDO: Master.

SOLON: I asked you, you stupid ox, where have you been?

CONDO: I go find food, master.

SOLON: You're lying. You can't deceive me, Condo. You've been looking for that arm again, haven't you. I've told you before. You get the arm back when our task here is finished. You serve me well and I'll put it back as neatly as I took it off. But if you fail me, you'll keep this for the rest of your life. Do you understand?

CONDO: Yes, master.

CONDO: The door. Somebody ring.

SOLON: Answer it, you fool.

DOCTOR: Can you spare a glass of water?

SARAH: Can we come in?

SOLON: Humans. At last. Humans!

SOLON: My dear sir. My dear, dear sir. You have no idea what a pleasure this is. It's so long since we've. Condo, take their clothes.

SARAH: Well, if we could just shelter for a while, that would be fine.

SOLON: Great heavens, you can't go walking on a night like this. I wouldn't dream of letting you proceed one step further. Condo, stir yourself. Our guests are cold and tired and wet and. Let me take your hat, sir. There. Oh. What a magnificent head.

SARAH: What?

SOLON: Superb head.

DOCTOR: Well, I'm glad you like it. I have had several. I used to have an old grey model before this. Some people liked it.

SARAH: I did.

SOLON: What?

DOCTOR: I said, some people liked it, but I prefer this model.

SOLON: Forgive me. What a surly host you must think me. Please, come in, come in. Make yourselves at home. Warm yourselves and sit down. Condo, pour the wine.

SARAH: Oh, it's very kind of you. Thank you.

SOLON: Not at all, not at all. It's an honour to offer you whatever comforts my humble abode can provide. As you see, the amenities here are rather antiquated.

SARAH: Oh, no, I think it's very

DOCTOR: Interesting.

SARAH: Oh, yes, yes.

SOLON: Well then, tell me, tell me about your adventures.

SOLON: It's so rare that anyone arrives here on Karn.

DOCTOR: Karn, is it? I should have known.

SOLON: You mean you arrived here without knowing?

SARAH: Oh well, we often go on a sort of mystery tour, don't we, Doctor? Doctor?

DOCTOR: You seem very keen on heads, Mister er.

SOLON: Solon.

DOCTOR: Mister Solon.

SOLON: Mehendri Solon.

DOCTOR: It's very good.

SOLON: Yes, I. Modelling is one of my hobbies, you know, but unfortunately this is not a very good example.

DOCTOR: Oh no, I thought I recognised the face.

SOLON: No.

DOCTOR: No?

SOLON: You made a mistake.

DOCTOR: Talking of heads, or their absence, we found a headless body lower down the mountain.

SOLON: How distressing.

DOCTOR: Yes, it was.

SOLON: It must have been from one of those crashed spacecraft, no doubt.

DOCTOR: Yes, that's another thing. How many did we count, Sarah?

SARAH: Fifteen.

DOCTOR: Fifteen. The wreckage of fifteen ships all in this one area.

SOLON: There's a belt of magnetic radiation.

DOCTOR: Magnetic radiation?

SOLON: Oh, I don't know anything about it, but I believe that is the theory. In fact, Karn has become quite notorious.

SOLON: Ah, here we are. Now, let's hope that Condo has brought something special. Thank you. Condo, how many times have I told you the wine must be opened and allowed to breathe.

DOCTOR: Oh, please, please.

SOLON: No, no, no. So would you please do as you've been instructed? Hurry.

SOLON: He's an excellent fellow, very devoted to me, but his intelligence is not the highest.

SARAH: What happened to his arm?

SOLON: Oh I, er, many years ago I dragged him from the wreck of a Dravidian starship and his arm? Well, amputation was the only way of saving his life.

SISTERS: Flame. Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame. Sacred f*re.

SISTERS: Sacred.

MAREN: I see it.

SISTERS: Flame.

MAREN: I see the machine of our enemy.

SISTERS: Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame.

MAREN: Concentrate, sisters. More power!

SISTERS: Sacred f*re.

MAREN: Bring the machine here.

SISTERS: Sacred Flame. Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame. Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame. Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame. Sacred f*re. Sacred

MAREN: Enough. Enough. It is done.

MAREN: I was right, Ohica. It is a time machine.

OHICA: Of the kind

MAREN: A TARDIS. Only the Time Lords know the secret of such machines.

OHICA: Then the one I saw is a Time Lord.

MAREN: Sent here to steal the Elixir.

OHICA: Maren, what can we do? Alone among all the races in our galaxy, the Time Lords are our equals in mind power.

MAREN: That is true, Ohica. Other races we can destroy from within. We can place death in the centre of their beings, send them mad with false visions. But with this one such powers would have no effect. He would close his mind to us.

OHICA: Then we are lost!

MAREN: There are other ways. But first we must find him. Form a circle, sisters.

SISTERS: Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame.

SOLON: One never really overcomes the nostalgia for one's planet of origin. Sometimes at night I look up at the sky and I think, will I ever see Earth again?

SARAH: I know the feeling.

DOCTOR: What made you settle on Karn?

SOLON: Well, nobody lives here. Nobody bothers me. I can get on with my work.

SARAH: What kind of work is that?

DOCTOR: Microsurgical techniques into tissue transplant. It was the title of the book you published.

SOLON: You know something of my history, Doctor.

DOCTOR: One of the foremost neurosurgeons of your time. Considerably after your time, Sarah. Yes, your disappearance caused quite a stir. It was said by some you'd joined the followers of the cult of Morbius.

SOLON: Malice. Academic jealousy. I just had to get away.

SISTERS: Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame. Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame. Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame. Sacred f*re.

MAREN: So, our enemy thinks himself safe in Solon's castle.

SISTERS: Sacred f*re. Sacred Flame.

SOLON: You know, I always knew that one day I'd have a guest with a head for such a fine vintage.

SARAH: What was that?

SOLON: Oh, just a freak squall.

DOCTOR: Or a telekinetic visit.

SOLON: What?

DOCTOR: From the Sisterhood of Karn.

SOLON: What do you know of the Sisterhood?

DOCTOR: I know who that reminds me of now. One of the Time Lords. Morbius.

SARAH: Doctor, are you all right?

DOCTOR: One of the most despicable criminally minded wretches that ever lived.

SARAH: Doctor!

SOLON: There are some of us who would not agree with that, Doctor.

SOLON: It worked, Condo. He is ours!

CONDO: We take head now?

SOLON: You put that away. This will be no crude butchery. A head such as this, a head that will soon command the universe, must be taken with care and skill. Every step must be planned. Every suture, every small incision has to be perfect. This will be my great triumph, Condo. A thousand years from now, people will remember Solon's last and greatest operation.

CONDO: Not last, master. Me last.

SOLON: What?

CONDO: Arm. You made promise.

SOLON: Any third rate hack can fix an arm, but a head, the centre of the nervous system, that takes more than just skill. That takes genius.

CONDO: Girl.

SOLON: What girl?

CONDO: Her.

SOLON: k*ll her.

SOLON: Condo! I am anxious to get on. Now take him to the laboratory. I want to start my work.

SOLON: Mind his head.

SOLON: A secondary cardiovascular system. So he's a Time Lord. I thought as much. That's excellent, because we have no problem of tissue rejection.

CONDO: Time Lord dangerous.

SOLON: What?

CONDO: Much power, master.

SOLON: Rubbish! The Time Lords are spineless parasites. Morbius offered them greatness once but he was betrayed and rejected. They'll pay for that mistake, Condo. These pacifist degenerates will be the first to feel the power of his revenge.

SOLON: What's that for? Do you think I'm going to operate in this light? We need proper lighting and power for the instruments, so we have to repair the generators. Come.

SOLON: There is a lot to be done. I have to remove the Doctor's brain before I can start the operation. Hurry!

SARAH: (quietly) Doctor? Is that you?

SARAH: Oh, Doctor, wake up.
{"type": "series", "show": "Doctor Who", "episode": "13x17 - The Brain of Morbius - part 1"}