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DOCTOR WHO
THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS

Written by
As Robin Bland, Terrance Dicks (rewrite: Robert Holmes)

Part One

(Against a dusty sky, a slightly furry insectoid creature crawls with difficulty through the rocks in the vicinity of a wrecked spaceship with a bubble-style dome. From behind some reddish rocks, a man with a hook for a hand watches the large creature, then creeps toward it, drawing a knife from his belt. Out of shot, he attacks the creature, which squeals in pain.)

[INT. Solon's parlour]

(SOLON, a youngish bearded man, is completing a sculpture of a bust. He turns it and examines it. The man with the hook, CONDO, enters with a sack.)
SOLON: You were quick, Condo. Were there no survivors?
CONDO: One, an oxygen-breather.
SOLON: Humanoid? Excellent. Let me see.
(He opens the sack. The insectoid alien's head is within.)
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, but the big-heads not come, Master, not to Karn.
SOLON: They 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.

[EXT. Planet surface]

(The TARDIS materialises in the ruins we saw earlier. Rocks jut out, and some steps hewn from the rock rise in the distance. The sky is darker now. The DOCTOR rushes from the ship and looks about. We hear a peal of thunder.)
DOCTOR: Come out, meddlesome, interfering idiots. I know you're up there, so come on out and show yourselves!
(SARAH sneaks out with a torch.)
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. Hmm?
DOCTOR: Do you think I don't know the difference between an internal fault and (louder) an external influence? Oh, no, 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!
(There is more thunder.)
SARAH: Well, there is something ominous. Where are we, do you think?
DOCTOR: I don't know, and I don't really care.
SARAH: Aw, come on, come on. Stop being so childish.
DOCTOR: I'm just going to sit here and do nothing. (He squats on the ground.)
SARAH: So there.
DOCTOR: Yes.
(SARAH makes the requisite child's noise, then walks off and sees the bubble-domed spaceship.)
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: (using his yo-yo) Yes. Ejection bubble.
SARAH: A what?
DOCTOR: A space parachute.
SARAH: Pardon?
(She begins climbing the steps.)
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.
(Forks of lightning are seen against the sky.)
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. You sure?
DOCTOR: Yes.
(SARAH leaves, and the DOCTOR heads to the TARDIS. He has just wiped grime from its notice panel with his scarf when he hears SARAH cry out. He runs over to her. She is beside the decapitated ejectee's body.)
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 attacked 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: Um, 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!
(A castle-type structure stands not far away, half cathedral in appearance.)
SARAH: Come on. At least it's civilisation.
(It begins raining. SARAH covers her head with her jacket, which provides nearly as poor cover as the DOCTOR's broken umbrella.)
SARAH: Oh, God. Come on.
(A painted-faced woman in red robes and red headgear watches them leave. Arms crossed at the wrist, she holds her hands with palms spread facing her and thumbs together.)

[INT. Solon's laboratory]

(In Dr Frankenstein style, the Mutt's head has been attached to equipment that sends electrical current through it. The eyes move, and the mandibles go through their range of motion.)
SOLON: (taking notes at the other side of the table) Motor reflexes seven tenths.
(Lightning puts an end to his electrical supply, with a flash. He lights a candle.)
SOLON: Condo! Condo, fetch some lamps. (walking to the door and opening it) Condo!
(He leaves the room, and we see motion from behind a curtain.)

[INT. Shrine]

(A wizened woman with a more elaborate headdress than the other is listening to the younger woman we saw earlier.)
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 s-
OHICA: They are here.
(We see other red-robed women in the background, hands crossed over their chests.)
MAREN: No ship can approach Karn without detection. Even the silent gas dirigibles of the Hootai 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: (taking her hand and drawing her across the room) Next to myself, Ohica, you are the oldest of our sisterhood. Come, let me show you.
(There is a vertically oriented ellipse-shaped panel in the wall. MAREN unlocks it and pulls it open on its hinges. A crevice in the rock behind this has a flame flickering within. A goblet sits below it.)
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 burned brightly, higher than my shoulder.
MAREN: A deception. For many months past, before each ceremony, I have secretly fed the flame with powdered rhineweed.
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: (harshly) We are only servants of the flame. (more subdued) If the flame dies, then so must we. (She closes the panel.)
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.
(OHICA guides MAREN back to her seat.)
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.
(OHICA leaves.)

[INT. Solon's parlour]

(SOLON enters with a lamp.)
SOLON: Where have you been?
CONDO: (appearing from a balcony) Master.
SOLON: I asked you, you stupid ox, where have you been?
CONDO: (descending the stairs) 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 (grabbing the hook arm) for the rest of your life. Do you understand?
CONDO: Yes, Master.
(A bell rings.)
CONDO: The door. Somebody ring.
SOLON: Answer it, you fool.
(CONDO opens the door, behind which stand a drenched SARAH and DOCTOR.)
DOCTOR: Can you spare a glass of water?
SARAH: Can we come in?
SOLON: Humans. At last. Humans. (approaching them) 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: Ha. 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.
(They seat themselves at a round table next to the log fire.)
SOLON: Well then, tell me, tell me about your adventures. 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: (looking at the bust, now tucked into a dark corner) You seem very keen on heads, Mister, erm...
SOLON: Solon.
DOCTOR: Mister Solon.
SOLON: Mehendri Solon.
DOCTOR: It's very good.
(He rises to take a closer look at the bust. SOLON follows him.)
SOLON: Yes, I-. Modelling is one of my hobbies, you know, but, unfortunately, this is not a very good example.
(He pulls a cloth over the sculpture.)
DOCTOR: Oh, no, I thought I recognised the face.
SOLON: No.
DOCTOR: No?
SOLON: You made a mistake.
(They sit back down.)
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.
(CONDO comes in with a tray, on which are a jug, goblets, a stack of bowls, and a plate of food.)
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.
(CONDO nods and takes the jug away again.)
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.
(SOLON uses tongs to place the food in the bowls.)

[INT. Shrine]

(MAREN sits on a dais, around which the other members of the Sisterhood kneel. They whisper a chant and slowly make hand motions as if climbing through the air, then lower their bodies slowly as they shake their hands downward again. MAREN concentrates on the reddish stone of her ring.)
SISTERS: ...Flame. Sacred fire. Sacred Flame. Sacred fire...
(The TARDIS appears, fuzzily, in the stone.)
SISTERS: Sacred...
MAREN: I see it.
SISTERS: ...flame.
MAREN: I see the machine of our enemy.
SISTERS: Sacred fire. Sacred Flame.
MAREN: Concentrate, sisters. More power!
SISTERS: Sacred fire.
MAREN: Bring the machine here.
SISTERS: Sacred Flame. Sacred fire. Sacred Flame. Sacred fire. Sacred Flame.
(Smoke appears in the foreground.)
SISTERS: Sacred fire. Sacred Flame. Sacred fire. Sa-
(The TARDIS has slowly appeared in the shrine.)
MAREN: Enough.
SISTERS: -cred Flame.
MAREN: Enough. It is done.
(They all rise and gather round the TARDIS, holding their hands close enough to almost touch its surface, then shaking them.)
MAREN: I was right, Ohica. It is a time machine.
OHICA: Of the kind you-
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.
(They return to their previous positions.)
SISTERS: Sacred fire. Sacred Flame.

[INT. Solon's parlour]

(CONDO brings the open jug of which Solon had spoken so highly.)
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: (eating) 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: Oh, 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.
(We see CONDO return his knife to his belt.)

[INT. Shrine]

SISTERS: (more rapid than before in their chant and motions) Sacred fire, Sacred Flame, Sacred fire, Sacred Flame, Sacred fire, Sacred Flame, Sacred fire.
(The ring shows MAREN the DOCTOR finishing a goblet of wine.)
MAREN: So, our enemy thinks himself safe, in Solon's castle.
SISTERS: ...Sacred fire, Sacred Flame.

[INT. Solon's parlour]

(No-one is looking toward SARAH as she covertly pours her green wine into a bowl.)
SOLON: You know, I always knew that one day I'd have a guest with a head for such a fine vintage. (He laughs.)
(The doors are blown open, and the eight-candle wheel chandelier hits the floor. The cloth cover falls from the bust. Then the fire goes out, before the doors slam shut on their own.)
SARAH: (emerging from under the table) What was that?
SOLON: Oh, just a freak squall.
DOCTOR: (taking another sip of wine and leaning back) Or a telekinetic visit.
SOLON: What?
DOCTOR: From the Sisterhood of Karn?
SOLON: What do you know of the Sisterhood?
(The DOCTOR, looking woozy, taps the side of his nose twice. He then turns and considers the bust again.)
DOCTOR: (standing) I know who that reminds me of now - one of the Time Lords. Morbius.
(He staggers slightly.)
SARAH: Doctor, are you all right?
DOCTOR: One of the most despicable criminally minded wretches that ever lived.
(He starts to sit and collapses face-down onto the table.)
SARAH: Doctor!
SOLON: There are some of us who would not agree with that, Doctor.
(SARAH slumps back in her chair. After a moment, SOLON takes her head in his hands.)
SOLON: It worked, Condo. He is ours!
CONDO: (hand on knife) 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.
(He is measuring the DOCTOR's head from top to bottom.)
CONDO: Not last, Master. Me last.
SOLON: (distracted) 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: Kill her.
(CONDO approaches SARAH.)
SOLON: Condo! I am anxious to get on. Now take him to the laboratory. I want to start my work.
(CONDO goes around the table again and slings the DOCTOR over his shoulder, carrying him out.)
SOLON: Mind his head.
(As they leave, he takes a last glance back at SARAH. A few seconds later, she opens her eyes and follows.)

[INT. Solon's lab]

(Wooden stethoscope in hand, SOLON is listening to the DOCTOR's heartbeats.)
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. (holding a scalpel) These pacifist degenerates will be the first to feel the power of his revenge.
(He places the scalpel against the DOCTOR's throat. We cut to SARAH, who is checking each room in the corridor, then to CONDO, who wheels in a trolley of surgical implements.)
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.
(He leaves with the lamp. CONDO follows. The DOCTOR is not moving. However, a glowing mist appears over his body, and he fades away. The mist disperses.)

[INT. Corridor]

SOLON: There is a lot to be done. I have to remove the Doctor's brain before I can start the operation. Hurry!
(When he and CONDO have passed, SARAH creeps into the lab.)

[INT. Solon's lab]

(It is dark. Not seeing the Doctor, SARAH looks around. She passes tubing and equipment, then sees the curtain move slightly.)
SARAH: (sotto) Doctor? Is that you?
(She pulls back the curtain. Behind it is a figure on a bed.)
SARAH: Oh, Doctor, wake up.
(The lights come on, just as the figure sits up. It is a patchwork of all manner of species. Where a head would normally be, only a few curly wires are poking out.)

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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