|
Brain of Morbius is one of the great gothic classics of the 1970s. A mixture of Frankenstein and other horror genre classics, with the Sisterhood of Karn thrown in for good measure. It is one of the episodes I remember distinctly from the original broadcast, especially the scenes with the Sisterhood and Sarah Jane with the Morbius creature. The idea that there is another evil Time Lord as well as The Master and the possibility of Time Lords being deceptive to the Sisterhood were new ideas to us. 10/10
Commentary
10/10 Getting ahead is a documentary about the making of Brain of Morbius, narrated by Paul McGann. It includes Terrence Dicks explaining why he didn’t want to be named as author, leading to Robin Bland’s first and only screen credit, and other anecdotes about the making of the story and the team of Rovert Holmes and Phillip Hinchcliffe with their gothic sci fi style,. Some excellent and funny anecdotes from the cast members. 10/10 Designs on Karn is Barry Newbury, designer, a man with a very boring voice, talking about each of the sets. Interesting in some ways, but it could be better. Goes on just a bit too long. Or maybe it just seems that way because his voice is so boring. 8/10 Set tour is a computer animation with captions explaining how a set is built. Not bad, nice music with it. Seems a bit too short. 9/10 Photo Gallery isn’t very long, and pictures are a bit predictable. But not bad. 7/10 Sketch gallery is a series of drawings, black and white and colour by the designer before the sets were built. Interesting technical detail, if you are really into design. 9/10 Radio Times Listing!!! WHY! 0/10 Coming soon – Trial of a Timelord. Very nice promotion of the series. 8/10
Overall, a rather disappointing bunch of extras. But at least Blue Peter wasn’t on this one. The episode itself and the commentary make it value for money, though. 9½ out of 10
|
Commentary
is by Tom Baker, Elizabeth Sladen, Phillip Hinchcliffe (producer)
and Christopher Bary, (Director). All of them conduct themselves well,
although it gets a bit tiring hearing them complain about how it’s
so much easier now with modern computer graphics and how they had
to do it all with string and polystyrene. They start to sound just
a bit like a bunch of old fogies criticising the younger generation.
There is a good deal of technical detail about the story and some
lengthy discussion about the scare factors in this story, and of course,
Mary Whitehouse’s opinion of the episode!
 |