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DOCTOR WHO
THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS

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

Part Three

(Overlap from Sarah reaching the bottom of the steps)

[INT. Basement lab]

SOLON [OC]: What are you doing here?
SARAH: (turning from her position almost at the vat) Oh! I heard a voice. Someone-
SOLON: You shouldn't be in here. Nobody's allowed in here. You could do untold damage. Now, get out!
(He shoves her from the room and shuts the door. She stumbles back to the foot of the stairs.)

[INT. Outside the basement lab]

(SARAH listens.)
MORBIUS [OC]: Solon, have you lied to me again?
SOLON [OC]: I, Morbius, lied?
SARAH: (sotto) Morbius.

[INT. Basement lab]

MORBIUS: You said we were alone here.
SOLON: The Doctor and the girl have only been here a few hours. Morbius, his head is perfect for the purpose. Once I have it, we can begin our final operation.
MORBIUS: If the head is suitable, why haven't you already started?
SOLON: I think he suspects-
MORBIUS: There are two of you! Your servant, Condo, has the strength of a giant.
SOLON: There might be a struggle, and the brain could suffer irreparable damage. It must be in perfect condition!
(We see vibration from a web of tissue extending between sets of electrodes.)
MORBIUS: Do you think I care about my ultimate appearance? Just to walk again, to feel, to see!
SOLON: Naturally, that is how you think now, my Lord, but when you are once more a physical entity, imagine how you will see yourself then. Think how it will be then.
MORBIUS: Solon, I think of nothing else, trapped like this, like a sponge beneath the sea. Yet even a sponge has more life than I. Can you understand a thousandth of my agony? I, Morbius, who once led the High Council of the Time Lords and dreamed the greatest dreams in history, now reduced to this, to a condition where I envy a vegetable.
SOLON: You must endure for only a little while longer. I swear it. I have sent the Doctor into a trap.

[INT. Outside the basement lab]

SOLON [OC]: He's gone back to the shrine of the Sisterhood, but they are warned and they are waiting, and by sunset he will be dead.
(SARAH closes the basement door. She turns the lock.)

[INT. Basement lab]

(SOLON hears a noise. He turns to the door and sees the lock turn.)
SOLON: Open this door! Do you hear me? Open this door, or you will die for this.

[INT. Outside the basement lab]

MORBIUS [OC]: What is it, Solon? What has happened?
SOLON [OC]: The girl has shut me in. What a senseless gesture. What can she hope to accomplish? Open this door! When Condo gets back, you will die!
(SARAH makes her way up the stairs.)

[INT. Solon's parlour]

SOLON [OC]: Do you hear me? You will die!
(SARAH feels her way to the main door. She leaves the castle.)

[INT. Shrine]

(A goblet is lowered.)
SISTERS: Sacred Flame, sacred fire.
(OHICA and MAREN offer the chalice to each of the four SISTERS kneeling in the room. Each drinks a small amount of the precious elixir within. OHICA kneels and takes her portion last.)
SISTERS: Sacred Flame, sacred fire. Sacred Flame, sacred fire. Sacred Flame, sacred fire.
MAREN: From the Sacred Flame, you have been granted the gift of eternal life. Cherish and serve the flame, my sisters.
(The others exit, leaving MAREN and OHICA.)
MAREN: Only you five will now survive, Ohica.
OHICA: You mean there is no more elixir?
MAREN: That was the last.
(She places the goblet in the panel behind which the flame resides, then closes it.)
MAREN: Now our sisterhood is surely doomed.
OHICA: But High One, you yourself should have been among those who drank of the elixir. It is your time.
MAREN: There was only enough for five of our sisters, not for more.
OHICA: Maren, you know what will happen.
MAREN: It is ordained.
(OHICA turns, and another SISTER hands her a letter.)
OHICA: A message, High One, brought by Solon's servant.
MAREN: (reading) The Doctor is returning.
OHICA: Already?
MAREN: Solon claims to have tricked him. He still bargains for the Time Lord's head.
OHICA: He is an insolent fool.
MAREN: No, they are both insolent, Ohica, yet the Doctor is not a fool. Has he no fear of the Sisterhood? Does he think death a trivial thing?
OHICA: What shall we do?
MAREN: Be ready. Warn the guards.

[EXT. Rocks]

(SARAH stumbles and realises that she has nearly fallen from the rocks. She holds her arms out and feels only air at ground level so crawls back the other way. She feels her way down the outcrop.)

[INT. Passage near the shrine]

(The DOCTOR reaches the shrine door.)
DOCTOR: Ding-dong.
(The response is a red net. The DOCTOR is instantly surrounded by SISTERS.)
DOCTOR: We can't go on meeting like this.

[INT. Solon's parlour]

CONDO: (stumbling in and looking about) Master? Master?
SOLON [OC]: Down here, Condo. Down here!

[INT. Shrine]

OHICA: Why have you returned?
DOCTOR: I need some of your elixir.
MAREN: At last you confess.
DOCTOR: No, not for myself. Sarah was blinded by the ray from your ring. I need the elixir to restore her sight.
MAREN: This is what Solon said?
DOCTOR: Yes.
MAREN: But he knows the effect of the ray is not permanent.
OHICA: The girl will recover.
DOCTOR: I see. A wasted journey. Well, thank you, ladies. That's really all I called about-
MAREN: You have been condemned to die.
DOCTOR: We're not going through all that again. If I wanted to steal from you, would I come in through the front door?
MAREN: Then why did you come to Karn if not to steal?
(The DOCTOR shrugs and pulls the net from over his head.)
DOCTOR: I can't answer that question, Maren, until I know what Solon intends, but I have a feeling something incredibly evil is brewing.
OHICA: Nothing happens on Karn without our knowledge.
DOCTOR: A Time Lord could live on Karn without your knowledge.
MAREN: What are you-
DOCTOR: He could place a barrier around his mind.
MAREN: What are you suggesting?
DOCTOR: Morbius was a Time Lord.
MAREN: Oh, that name again. I tell you, I saw his execution. I saw his body placed in the dispersal chamber. Nothing of Morbius, not the smallest atom, still exists.
DOCTOR: Was Solon living on Karn at the time?
MAREN: I believe so. There were many on Karn then. They came from all across the galaxy to attend the trial of Morbius.
DOCTOR: A war criminal. A ruthless dictator but with millions of fanatical followers and admirers.
MAREN: Riff-raff and mercenaries. The army he brought to Karn was the scum of the galaxy.
OHICA: He promised them the Elixir of Life and immortality.
MAREN: Morbius betrayed our secret. Until then, only the Time Lords knew of the elixir. Now we have to remain constantly on guard against the entire cosmos.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, that's something else I want to mention. You really can't go on dragging innocent space travellers to their deaths.
MAREN: Innocent?
DOCTOR: Until proved guilty. Those spaceships might just be passing. No, if I'm going to help you, I must insist upon one thing.
MAREN: What?
DOCTOR: Wrecking of spaceships has got to stop. Agreed?

[EXT. Rocks]

(SARAH takes a short fall down the very bottom of the outcrop. She feels her way onward until meeting a human leg.)
CONDO: (grabbing her hair and pulling her up) Come.
SARAH: Condo.
CONDO: Master order. Find girl. Maybe kill girl.
SARAH: No, no, Condo, please don't. No, please.
CONDO: Come.
SARAH: Let go, please, Condo. You're hurting me.
CONDO: Condo not kill.
SARAH: Please, Condo, let go.
CONDO: Girl nice.
SARAH: Yes. Please let me go, Condo.
CONDO: Master order! Find girl.
SARAH: No! Please, you're hurting me.
CONDO: Girl pretty? (releasing her hair) Condo like.
(She starts to walk off slowly, and he grabs her arm.)
SARAH: Ow! If you stop breaking my arm, I might like you a little bit.
CONDO: Not like. Condo ugly.
SARAH: Condo, please let me go. I must find the Doctor.
CONDO: Doctor dead.
SARAH: No, you're lying. He can't be! I know he can't.
(CONDO hefts SARAH into his arms.)
SARAH: Condo, please put me down!
CONDO: Better you come now. Master want.
SARAH: Please, put me down!
(He carries her off.)

[INT. Shrine]

MAREN: Your arrogance is limitless, Doctor. I've only to raise my finger for you to be put to death.
DOCTOR: But I'd be no use to you dead, Maren, and you do have a problem.
MAREN: The Flame of Life.
DOCTOR: No flame, no elixir. No elixir, pretty soon no Sisterhood.
MAREN: When the flame dies, our sisterhood dies. It is ordained.
DOCTOR: There's nothing mystical about that flame, Maren. It's a perfectly natural phenomenon. If it's dying, there must be a reason. A scientific, physical reason.
MAREN: I have served the flame for centuries. There is nothing to be done.
DOCTOR: Then you have nothing to lose by letting me see it.
OHICA: He is right, Maren. What harm is there?
MAREN: Send the guards to the outer chamber.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
MAREN: No eyes outside the Sisterhood have ever looked upon the Flame of Life.
(She opens the panel. We see the speakers from within.)
OHICA: It is even lower!
DOCTOR: Is it always this colour?
MAREN: Always.
DOCTOR: Fascinating. And the heat from the flame causes oxidation of the chemicals in the rocks and then, no doubt, a chemical reaction with rising superheated gases and you have your elixir - the impossible dream of a thousand alchemists dripping like tea from an urn.
MAREN: Do not try to understand mysteries beyond the reach of the mind.
DOCTOR: Oh, I wouldn't think they're beyond a decent spectrograph, Maren. One could probably synthesise that stuff by the gallon, though the consequences would be appalling.
OHICA: What do you mean?
DOCTOR: What? Everyone trying to live forever? Death is the price we pay for progress, you know.
MAREN: You speak in riddles, Doctor. The Time Lords were glad enough of the elixir.
DOCTOR: Only in rare cases - when, for instance, there's some difficulty in regenerating a body. We don't take it regularly like you. Otherwise, we'd fall into the same trap.
MAREN: And what trap are we in?
DOCTOR: Immortality. You must have been old when the elixir was discovered. How many centuries have passed while you have remained unchanged? How long since anything here changed?
MAREN: Nothing here ever changes.
DOCTOR: Exactly my point. No progress. Please, stand back.
(He pulls something from behind his ear.)
MAREN: What is that?
DOCTOR: A Little Demon.
(The DOCTOR lights the mini-pyrotechnic item in one of the torches carried by the SISTERS and drops it into the hole below the flame.)
MAREN: Stop! He must not touch-
(The flame vanishes.)
OHICA: The flame is dead.
MAREN: Take him. Guards! (they encircle him) You have defiled the magic of the mountain. Now you must die!
(He is pushed back against the stake, and MAREN holds up her ring. Then we hear a rumble and the room is bathed in light.)
OHICA: The Sacred Flame! We are saved, High One!
DOCTOR: Soot, that's all. There'll be no charge. Of course, you won't get any elixir for quite a while yet. This rock's got to warm right through.
MAREN: (as the DOCTOR warms his hands beside the Sacred Flame) And so now, Doctor, you expect us to show gratitude?

[INT. Solon's lab]

(SOLON is tying SARAH to the examination couch where the Doctor had been held earlier. There are more ropes this time.)
SOLON: I don't think our young guest is going to escape again, Condo.
CONDO: Master not hurt girl.
SOLON: Why, I've misjudged you all this time, Condo. Under that brutish exterior there lurks a tender, compassionate nature.
CONDO: Condo like girl.
SOLON: Oh, he's such a romantic.
SARAH: You think you're a bundle of laughs, don't you?
CONDO: Hair pretty. (She winces as he strokes it.)
SOLON: All right, that'll do. She doesn't like it. Now get out. Go on, get out.
(CONDO leaves.)
SOLON: Poor old Condo. Perhaps I'll give him your hair as a memento.
SARAH: You're insane, Solon. You're mad.
SOLON: Ah, no, I'm not. That's what they said, but they were jealous. They envied my achievements. When I said I could create life, they laughed at me, they mocked me. Only Morbius had the faith to believe in me. Only Morbius. They will laugh the other side of their faces.
(He contemplates the patchwork creature behind the curtain.)
SOLON: Every part of this, every organ is mine, with my own hands. They'll see. And it's functioning perfectly, exactly to the required standard. (we see the waveform) It only needs the head and I... It's getting dark already. Maren should have sent the Doctor's head by now. Nothing could have gone wrong. Condo saw him go into the shrine. I don't understand it. (He leaves.)

[INT. Basement lab]

(SOLON enters with the torch and sets it down.)
MORBIUS [OC]: Is it time, Solon?
SOLON: I do not yet have the Time Lord's head, Master.
MORBIUS: What do you mean 'Time Lord'?
SOLON: The Doctor.
MORBIUS: The Doctor is a Time Lord?
SOLON: That is why his head is so perfect. From one of your own race, from one of those who turned upon you and tried to destroy you, you get a new head for Morbius. The crowning irony.
MORBIUS: Fool!
SOLON: I'm sorry. The pun was irresistible.
MORBIUS: You fool, Solon. Don't you see what this means? The Time Lords have tracked me down.
SOLON: No, you're wrong.
MORBIUS: I am not wrong. I know the Time Lords. Pallid, devious worms. You had the Doctor here, and you let him go. You were tricked!
SOLON: You mean Maren and the Doctor plotted together?
MORBIUS: Of course they did! And now the Time Lords will return in force to finish their work. Find me helpless, defenceless. They'll destroy me, Solon. Because of you, they'll destroy me! All my suffering will have been for nothing.
SOLON: And all my work. All that terrible, lonely isolation. What can I do? How can I stop them?
MORBIUS: We have only one chance. You must get me away from here before they arrive.
SOLON: I can't. The support cell can't be moved, and without it your brain would die.
MORBIUS: The body can be my support system. You must get me into it, Solon.
SOLON: That is impossible. Without a head, it cannot be done.

[INT. Outside the basement lab]

(CONDO listens.)
MORBIUS [OC]: You have the girl. Use her head.
SOLON [OC]: The female braincase is too small. If I were to attempt it, you would die as surely as at the hands of the Time Lords.

[INT. Basement lab]

MORBIUS: I have to get out of this tank! Solon, you spoke once of constructing an artificial braincase.
SOLON: I abandoned that a long time ago.
MORBIUS: Why?
SOLON: Because there were too many problems. Formidable problems. There was no way of eliminating the build-up of static electricity within the cranial cavity. Periodically, it would have earthed through the brain, upsetting the delicate equilibrium, dislocating the neural centres.
MORBIUS: But you made a braincase.
SOLON: Yes! It's here somewhere.
(He pulls the top from a hat-box-shape container and pulls out a seamed perspex dome that has a metal base with a small hole in it, brass fittings for stalk eyes and ears, and some connectors for electronics at the back.)
SOLON: No! It can't be done, Morbius. There would be severe pain, there would be seizures, perhaps even madness.
MORBIUS: Whatever the risks are, I will take them rather than surrender to the Time Lords. There is no choice left to me, Solon.
SOLON: (carrying the braincase over to the vat) I will do my utmost, my Lord, with all the skill I have.
MORBIUS: Prepare me for the operation.
(SOLON removes a hose at the base of the tank, and the green liquid begins to drain out. The brain sags against the side of the tank.)

[INT. Shrine]

OHICA: Maren, is what we are doing right?
MAREN: It is out of our hands now, Ohica. Take him to Solon.
(Several SISTERS bear the DOCTOR out on a stretcher.)

[INT. Basement lab]

(SOLON and CONDO lift the vat.)
SOLON: Right, I want to start the operation. Careful, very careful. That's it, that's it.
(They leave the room with it.)

[INT. Solon's lab]

(SARAH is still struggling and whimpering.)
SOLON: Very good. Right, over here. That's it. Be very careful. Down. Down. That's it.
(In another part of the room lies the headless body.)
SOLON: Condo, I want you to work the pump.
(CONDO approaches the body. He recognises the hand and reaches out to it, then looks down at his hook.)
CONDO: (sotto) Condo's arm. (more loudly, turning) You take Condo's arm for this.
SOLON: Hurry up, man. This is no time for trivialities. The brain will deteriorate unless it's connected again soon.
CONDO: You take Condo's arm!
(He throws SOLON to the floor. SOLON shoots CONDO in the torso with a small projectile weapon. CONDO staggers but still approaches. In the ensuing struggle, Morbius's vat is tipped over, and the brain splats onto the floor.)
SOLON: You cretin! You stupid animal!
(SOLON shoots the cowering CONDO two more times.)
SARAH: What happened?
SOLON: You murderous animal!
SARAH: Don't shoot him, Solon. What happened?
SOLON: Morbius, Morbius. The greatest intellect there has ever been.
(He cradles the brain in his hands.)
SOLON: Destroyed by a mindless brute.
SARAH: What happened? Solon, where's Condo? What happened?
SOLON: There was an accident. Morbius's brain on the floor.
(SOLON positions the brain in the braincase he brought up from the basement.)
SOLON: I don't know what damage has been done. You must help me.
SARAH: What? Help you? No.
SOLON: (cutting through her ropes) I need an assistant. I can't do the operation on my own.
SARAH: Doctor, you can't leave me. Solon, I can't.
SOLON: You will do as I say.
SARAH: (struggling) I can't. You can't make me.
SOLON: You will do as I say!
SARAH: I don't really understand.
SOLON: (directing her over to the body) Put your hand on this pump. Now, once every three seconds, you-
SARAH: No, no, wait, wait, think. What if I made a mistake?
SOLON: (taking her head in his hands) If he dies, you die.
(SARAH takes the pump handle in both hands. She raises it. She pushes it down and does the count to 3. SOLON tends to the braincase.
In the corridor, CONDO crawls along.
The SISTERS carry the unmoving DOCTOR toward the castle. Another electrical storm is rising.
We return to SOLON, who is almost done attaching the braincase to the patchwork-flesh construction.)
SOLON: The pressure. I said every three seconds, girl. I've connected the casing to a neural harness. It's much safer than the old biomechanical links.
SARAH: Do I stop pumping now?
SOLON: Yes. All that's left is to disconnect the external power supply to the brain and test for neural feedback.
(When he does this, the arm with a claw on the end reacts.)
SOLON: There, did you see that? That was a positive response. Did you see that?
SARAH: I can't see anything. Anyway, that thing had the twitches since I first met it.
SOLON: Those were random nervous reflexes. That was a definite response to stimulation. Watch.
(The claw jerks again.)
SOLON: Did you see? You see, that was the first sign you'd expect.
SARAH: Success?
SOLON: The motor centres of the brain have taken over. If there was no cerebral damage, within a few minutes Morbius will live again.
(The bell for the door rings.)
SOLON: Go and answer.
(He leaves SARAH alone with the Morbius creature. Its head moves.)

[INT. Solon's parlour]

(SOLON enters just as the SISTERS are leaving. The DOCTOR lies on the floor. SOLON holds the DOCTOR's head in his hands.)
SOLON: (whispering to himself) Morbius was wrong.

[INT. Solon's lab]

(The creature sits up. SARAH's sight is starting to return as the creature approaches her from behind. The claw is extended toward her neck.)

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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