The Brain of Morbius

084 – The Brain of Morbius
Doctor Who serial
Sarah Jane's eyesight returns while Morbius lurks
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companion Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
Others Philip Madoc — Doctor Solon Colin Fay — Condo Michael Spice — Voice of Morbius Stuart Fell — Morbius Monster Cynthia Grenville — Maren Gilly Brown — Ohica Sue Bishop, Janie Kells, Gabrielle Mowbray, Veronica Ridge — Sisters John Scott Martin — Kriz
Production
Directed by	Christopher Barry
Written by	"Robin Bland" (Terrance Dicks rewritten by Robert Holmes)
Script editor	Robert Holmes
Produced by	Philip Hinchcliffe
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	4K
Series	Season 13
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Originally broadcast	3–24 January 1976
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Android Invasion The Seeds of Doom
List of Doctor Who serials

Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius

Author	Terrance Dicks
Cover artist	Mike Little
Series	Doctor Who book: Target novelisations
Release number	7
Publisher	Target Books
Publication date	23 June 1977
ISBN

The Brain of Morbius is the fifth serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1976. The on-screenwriter credit is given to Robin Bland, a pseudonym for script writer Terrance Dicks and then current Doctor Who script editor Robert Holmes. It is the first serial to feature the Sisterhood of Karn, who would return in the 2013 mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor".

On the planet Karn, an insect-like alien crawls away from an escape pod. It is ambushed and killed by Condo, a large man with a hook for a hand, who takes its head to a castle and his master Solon. However, the head is unsuitable — Solon needs a head from a warm-blooded humanoid.

The TARDIS materializes in the middle of a lightning storm, and the Fourth Doctor rushes out, ranting at the Time Lords for diverting him to this planet. Sarah suggests that perhaps the TARDIS malfunctioned again, but the Doctor is insistent there is something going on which the Time Lords do not want to sully their hands with.

Sarah finds the escape pod, and climbing to a higher point, sees a valley filled with wrecked spacecraft. She comes across the headless body of the alien which the Doctor identifies as a Mutt. Sarah spots the castle just as it starts to rain, and the two travellers make for it, observed by a girl in a strange headdress.

The girl, Ohica, reports to the elderly Maren, the leader of the Sisterhood of Karn. Maren does not believe Ohica at first, insisting that no ship could approach Karn without attracting their honed senses. Maren shows Ohica the Flame of Life, which is burning low. Without the Flame, there is no Elixir, and there has not been for over a year — the chalice stands empty. The secret of the Elixir is known only to the Sisterhood and the High Council of the Time Lords, with whom they shared the Elixir. Now, there is none left, except for the few vials they have kept for themselves. Maren fears that the Time Lords have sent agents to steal the Elixir. Maren tells Ohica to summon the other sisters to form a circle.