THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS

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

Part Four

Original Air Date: 24 January 1976
Running time: 24:18

SARAH: I can see. I can see again!

SARAH: You'd better do something. That monster of yours is on the loose.

SOLON: Oh, no, not yet. It's too soon. I've got to stop him.

SARAH: Doctor?

DOCTOR: Hello, Sarah. Nice to be seen again.

SARAH: Oh, Doctor.

DOCTOR: You thought I was d*ad, didn't you? You're always making that mistake. Come on, we've got to find Morbius' brain. Solon has to be stopped.

SARAH: Doctor, you're too late.

DOCTOR: I can't be.

SOLON: Morbius, stop it! This is Solon. Solon, your creator. Can you hear me? Now listen. Your brain may be damaged. Broca's area. The speech centre isn't functioning properly. Look, don't you recognise me? I made you.

DOCTOR: A glass braincase?

SARAH: Yes. Or plastic. I don't know. Anyway, you can actually see that brain inside it, like a goldfish bowl.

DOCTOR: Can you read his thoughts?

SARAH: No. Look, I'm serious, Doctor. It's horrible.

DOCTOR: And crude. It could lead to a brain malfunction and that spells danger.

DOCTOR: Keep calm, Sarah. Keep calm. Whatever you do keep. You are calm. Hello, Morbius. You remember me?

SARAH: Doctor! Doctor! Doctor, please get up. Please.

SARAH: No, no.

SARAH (OOV.): Argh! Get up, Doctor, please.

SARAH: Doctor, please. Please, Doctor, I need your help!

CONDO: You not k*ll girl.

CONDO: Condo k*ll you.

SARAH: Where are we going? Where are we going?

DOCTOR: Are you all right?

SARAH: What happened? Where is he?

DOCTOR: Gone for a lurch, I think. He k*lled Condo. Shush. You stay there.

SARAH: Yes.

DOCTOR: I'll be back soon.

DOCTOR: It's not your night, is it, Solon.

SOLON: I thought you were d*ad. Morbius has got to be stopped.

DOCTOR: He should never have been started.

SOLON: His brain is only functioning on the motor level. I hadn't finished the operation, and you've got to help me. If I don't find him soon then the consequences could be incalculable.

DOCTOR: Really?

SOLON: Yes. His hated for the Sisterhood is his deepest emotion at the instinctual level at which his mind's now working.

DOCTOR: Come on.

KELIA: No!

SOLON: d*ad?

DOCTOR: Yes. Is that a stun g*n?

SOLON: Yes.

DOCTOR: He can't have gone far. You go that way. We'll try and cut him off across these rocks.

SOLON: There's no damage as far as I can see.

DOCTOR: No damage?

SOLON: There might be a slight contusion of the corpus callosum. I don't know until I get it back.

DOCTOR: Solon, this thing you've made is an unspeakable abomination. It's just throttled the life out of someone.

SOLON: Simple animal instinct, Doctor. Morbius wouldn't want to aggravate the Sisterhood at this stage. Lift him up with me.

DOCTOR: What?

SOLON: I've got to get him back before the anaesthetic wears off.

DOCTOR: All right, Solon. But when we get him back, he's not going out again. Not ever.

SOLON: What do you mean?

DOCTOR: I mean this operation is going to end where it began, on the operating table. The brain can be detached and returned to the Time Lords.

MAREN: Who is responsible? Who k*lled Kelia, our sister?

OHICA: She was found near Solon's habitation, High One.

MAREN: Solon?

OHICA: The sister who found her saw a creature high among the rocks.

MAREN: What creature?

OHICA: She only saw it briefly, but then later she saw the Doctor and Solon hunting for it.

MAREN: So, Solon has succeeded in his vile experiments.

OHICA: And if the Doctor is right, High One, he will have given it the brain of our ancient enemy, Morbius.

DOCTOR: Five minutes, Solon. You've got five minutes.

SOLON: Doctor, I've spent my lifetime

DOCTOR: You've spent your whole life resurrecting evil. Now, either you disconnect the brain or I'll do it my way.

SOLON: Oh, no. I'll do it.

DOCTOR: Five minutes, Solon. I'll be back to count the pieces.

DOCTOR: Oi, oi, I've done it. Come on.

SARAH: Oh, I just had the most terrible dream.

DOCTOR: What?

SARAH: First of all, I was blinded. Then I was att*cked by a great claw thing looked like it was made from butcher's leftovers. And then I was

DOCTOR: Knocked down a flight of stairs.

SARAH: How did you know?

DOCTOR: I was there.

SARAH: You were? What happened to Mister Allsorts?

DOCTOR: Solon's dismantling him.

SARAH: That's a switch.

DOCTOR: Force majeure.

DOCTOR: We're lucky he botched the operation. The brain of Morbius and that body makes a terrifying combination. For the sake of the future of the universe, I had to make him destroy his handiwork.

SARAH: Was he really that dangerous?

DOCTOR: Who, Morbius?

SARAH: Uh huh.

DOCTOR: There was a civilisation here once. Now look at it. And there are other planets like it, all destroyed by Morbius. Nothing but ashes.

DOCTOR: Damn! I should have stayed with him.

SARAH: Sonic screwdriver.

DOCTOR: It's in the TARDIS.

SARAH: Oh.

SOLON: This time, Morbius, there'll be no mistakes.

OHICA: Is it right that we should let the Doctor fight our battles for us?

MAREN: What are you saying?

OHICA: Morbius is our enemy also.

MAREN: There is no proof. No proof, Ohica, that the brain of Morbius still survives. That was simply the Doctor's theory.

OHICA: One that makes meaning of Solon's meaningless work. And Solon himself is evil. The blood of our sister Kelia stains his hands.

MAREN: Away from the Flame our powers fade. Even if the Doctor is right, there is little we can do to help.

OHICA: We should do the little we can. If the Doctor faces both Solon and Morbius then

MAREN: Ohica, I am too old. Too old and weak to leave the Shrine. I could not lead you.

OHICA: Then let me, High One. Give the order and let me lead the Sisterhood.

SARAH: There must be something we can do. It's not like you to give up. I mean, Solon has got to be stopped, hasn't he?

DOCTOR: There's a thousand tons of reinforced concrete between us and Solon's laboratory. I know these places. Hydrogen plants are all built to the same basic design, the Scott Bailey principle. I've got an idea.

SARAH: I knew you would.

DOCTOR: Solon must've kept the brain alive in a colloidal nutrient. Hydrogen cyanide, Sarah. Hydrogen cyanide.

SARAH: Hydrogen cyanide.

DOCTOR: HCN.

SARAH: What?

DOCTOR: HCN.

SARAH: Ah ha! HCN.

DOCTOR: Prussic acid. Good girl.

SARAH: So what do we do now, drink ourselves to death? What are you looking for? If you tell me, I can help you. Is it big, is it small? What is it?

DOCTOR: I knew there'd be one.

SARAH: Oh, come on. We're not going to get out through there.

DOCTOR: That isn't the idea. That duct should lead to Solon's laboratory.

SARAH: Are you suggesting I crawl

DOCTOR: No, I'm not.

SARAH: Then what?

DOCTOR: We've got all we need to make cyanogen.

DOCTOR: Cyanogen. Just a drop, two, three.

DOCTOR: Stand back, Sarah. I mean well back.

SARAH: Okay.

DOCTOR: If we can create the right combustion conditions

DOCTOR: Something should happen.

SARAH: How do we tell if it's worked?

DOCTOR: Well, if we're still here in a month

SARAH: It hasn't worked.

DOCTOR: Correct.

SARAH: Hmm. How many hours in a month?

SOLON: I've done it. Morbius, I've done it. (coughs) You will live. You will (cough) You will live again.

MORBIUS: Cyanide.

MORBIUS: Ah.

SARAH: How many seconds in a month?

DOCTOR: Two million six hundred and seventy eight thousand four hundred.

SARAH: Short month.

MORBIUS: An ingenious idea, Doctor, but ineffectual. Your poison affected only Solon. I have the lungs of a birastropthe.

DOCTOR: With a methane filter. What does it feel like to be the biggest mongrel in the universe?

MORBIUS: Solon designed this body for efficiency, not for its appearance. To be free again is all that matters.

DOCTOR: Free to cause more havoc, more destruction?

MORBIUS: The Time Lords will not oppose me again, nor the Sisterhood. When it is learnt that I, Morbius, have returned from the grave, my followers will rise in their millions.

DOCTOR: You really can't go on calling yourself Morbius. There's very little of Morbius left. Why don't you think of another name? Potpourri would be appropriate.

SARAH: How about Chop Suey?

MORBIUS: What!

DOCTOR: Chop Suey, the galactic emperor.

MORBIUS: You will be the first to die.

DOCTOR: Brain getting a little overheated, is it? Careful, not as strong as it was.

MORBIUS: My brain functions perfectly.

DOCTOR: I doubt it, Morbius. All that time in a t*nk, it's gone soft. Do you dare put it to the test?

MORBIUS: What test?

DOCTOR: We have all the apparatus here. I challenge you to a mind-bending contest.

MORBIUS: I am a Time Lord of the first rank. What are you?

DOCTOR: Oh, nothing, nothing. A mere nobody, but I don't think you're in the first rank any more.

MORBIUS: Very well, Doctor. If that is how you want to die, I accept your challenge.

DOCTOR: There's sporting gentleman.

SARAH: What's mind-bending?

DOCTOR: Time Lord wrestling. It's usually a game but it can end in death lock.

MORBIUS: It will, Doctor. I, Morbius, do not play games.

DOCTOR: Neither do I. Are you ready?

DOCTOR: En garde, Morbius.

MORBIUS: Is your mind, Doctor, going?

SARAH: Doctor.

MORBIUS: How far, Doctor? How long have you lived?

MORBIUS: Your puny mind is powerless against the strength of Morbius.

MORBIUS: Back. To. The. Beginning!

SARAH: Doctor?

OHICA: What has happened?

SARAH: I think he's dying.

MAREN: The Time Lord dies. Only the Elixir of Life can save him.

OHICA: And we have none.

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

MAREN: Enough has formed, Ohica. Enough for the Doctor.

OHICA: But High One, your own need.

MAREN: Here, take it. Perhaps the Doctor was right. There should be an end.

DOCTOR: Nectar? Stewed apricots. No custard. Ah!

OHICA: Maren!

DOCTOR: Was that the last?

SARAH: Without it, you would have died.

OHICA: It was ordained.

DOCTOR: And Morbius?

OHICA: He is destroyed. We owe you thanks, Doctor,

DOCTOR: Oh please, Ohica, please, no speeches of gratitude. Sarah and I have an engagement.

SARAH: We have?

DOCTOR: Come along.

SARAH: Thank you, Ohica.

DOCTOR: Goodbye, Sisters. Oh, in case you have trouble with the chimney.

OHICA: What are they?

DOCTOR: A might atom and a thunder flash.

OHICA: There is some ancient writing here, Doctor. Is it a Time Lord spell? What does it say?

DOCTOR (OOV.): Light the blue touch paper and stand clear.
{"type": "series", "show": "Doctor Who", "episode": "13x20 - The Brain of Morbius - part 4"}