Talk:The Brain of Morbius (TV story)

The ongoing Morbius Doctors controversy.
Harrumph. The Morbius Doctors Controversy may need its own page. Monkey with a Gun 20:25, 9 March 2009 (UTC)


 * The information relating to it isn't too dense on the page as yet. --Tangerineduel 12:39, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

I think it's terribly POV to put that material under 'myths'. The episode itself is ambiguous, and any resolution to the question is a matter of fanon 68.49.32.68 04:09, December 23, 2009 (UTC)


 * The canon sources which document that all past incarnations of the Doctor have been accounted for is vast. Spreee 04:39, January 19, 2010 (UTC)Spreee

Unsourced
Moving paragraph here until it can be rewritten and/or supported with sources. As it is now, it's riddled with tags asking for clarification. Shambala108 ☎  14:06, July 26, 2016 (UTC)
 * An interesting controversy was born when this story's climax aired. It showed the Fourth Doctor having a mental battle with Morbius, and faces of the Doctor's past incarnations were adjoined with a brand new set of unfamiliar faces. At face value, it was an easter egg that allowed eight members of the Doctor Who production team to cameo in a single episode. However, others interpreted these uncharted faces in a different way, and suspected the Doctor had incarnations dating even further back than the First Doctor. Later developments in the series refuted this speculation by stories such as The Five Doctors confirming the First Doctor was indeed the first incarnation of the Doctor to exist, and the tele-movie Doctor Who referring to the Seventh Doctor as his "seventh life", and suggested these faces belonged to Morbius' incarnations or other unknown Time Lords.

"In Vision 012 : The Brain of Morbius" has interviews from both Hinchcliffe and Holmes confirming that these faces are incaranations dating further back that the first Doctor and that they tried to get famous actor to play them but could not do so. Coincidently this issue also has an interview of Dicks who states that he does not know who those faces belong to but that Holmes knows.

Strangely this magazine is not yet covered on this wiki, but Hinchcliffe also states the same thing in Classic Who: The Hinchcliffe Years which already has its own page.

The only official source of these faces being Morbius are found in Doctor Who the Handbook: The Fourth Doctor, stating that first appeared the Doctors' faces and then of Morbius even though it contradicts the story which showed Morbius' face from his clay bust, then the four Doctors and then the 8 debated ones.

The first Dicks' novelization confirms the events of the TV episode: Morbius' clay face appears, then the Doctor is losing and his 3 other faces appear, then Morbius continues to mock the Doctor while other faces appear. His children novelization does not mention those unknown faces at all.

We can also mention the 7th Doctor novel, Cold Fusion, which states these faces to be linked to the Doctor via a an unknown way. In particular the newly regenerated and bearded husband of Patience who is meant to be the Douglas Camfield incarnation (as confirmed by the author own reference book: AHistory).

As far as I know these are all the narrative sources or statements from the production team. The BBC website, which is currently used on this page as the source of who portrayed these faces, states these faces possibly but not definitely belong to Morbius but this website is already known to use mere fan theories such as Genesis of the Daleks changing the whole timeline of the Daleks.

I will wait for other people to put some sources before trying to make a rewrite of the concerned sections. Also, is there a reason for In Vision not to be covered by the wiki?RingoRoadagain ☎  08:26, August 11, 2016 (UTC)

Did anyone think about the possibility of these unknown 8 faces actually being the First Doctor at different stages of his incarnation rather than a different incarnation all together. That way it removes any inconsistencies by establishing how the First Doctor looked as a younger man, as well as making sense of what is said in 7th Doctor novel "Cold Fusion". This is of course not fact, just theory. --DCLM ☎  23:07, January 17, 2017 (UTC)

The right place for this discussion is probably The Doctor (The Brain of Morbius) rather than the middle of this page. I added a link to that page. Also, I think the reason for this page going back and forth for a decade is that the "Myths" section was misleading. I think it was intended to say that it's a myth that this story conclusively proves anything, but as written it sounded like it was saying it's a myth that the Morbius Doctors are even an issue. Stories contradict each other, and later stories meant to resolve that contradiction do so in a highly ambiguous way. Anyone who wants to know "the answer" will have to watch, read, and listen to all of those stories and decide for themselves. There's no one story—obviously including this one—that settles things conclusively once and for all. --157.131.170.189talk to me 22:40, October 2, 2018 (UTC)

Single episode
BBC Genome also has this as a 'a complete adventure in one programme', broadcast on Saturday 04 December 1976 (one hour long). link Has this been verified? --MemberD ☎  13:51, December 4, 2017 (UTC)


 * I can verify it, if you like, I saw it at the time. It was later used for the first video release.  There were three stories repeated from this season.  Planet of Evil was shown in the original episodic form, on a Monday night to a Thursday night (and on Friday we had an omnibus of Sontaran Experiment).  There was also an omnibus version of Pyramids of Mars.165.225.80.225talk to me 15:48, April 19, 2018 (UTC)

VHS Release
"As noted above, initial home-video releases of The Brain of Morbius used a heavily edited omnibus movie print, with a running time of less than an hour. This was apparently in an attempt to make the serial acceptable for young viewers..."

No it wasn't, as I've pointed out above, it was the repeat omnibus edition. As all the initial video releases were "feature length" versions, rumours at the time said they'd fished it off the shelf as it was already an omnibus, without releasing how edited it was. I've got nothing to back that up, it was just a rumour. But it was definitely the repeat omnibus version.165.225.80.225talk to me 15:57, April 19, 2018 (UTC)