Day 420: The Brain of Morbius Part 3

The story of The Brain of Morbius is wonderful, as it delves into the past mythology of Doctor Who to produce something weird and new. There exists, on the planet Karn, a Sisterhood who have discovered the secret to eternal life. They only share this information with the Time Lords, who in return keep their secret from the rest of the Universe. That is, until Morbius, a renegade Time Lord, comes along and tells his followers about it. As they attempt to take over the Universe, the Sisterhood capture and execute him for his countless crimes. However, a surgeon, Solon, finds his brain and keeps it to resurrect the great Time Lord Morbius.

This backstory provides new insights into the pre-history of Doctor Who, something which is relatively rare for this time in the series. Previously Time Lords have been restricted to either putting the Doctor on trial and giving him odd jobs (with the obvious exceptions of the Master, Omega and K'anpo Rimpoche). Now we learn of the forces that once were, how they know the secrets of eternal life as well as some of the darker parts of their history. This all provides colour to the series, as well as rewarding the faithful viewer by beginning to answer some lingering questions about the society of the Time Lords. But this is only the beginning, and in a few weeks' time we'll encounter something far far more important. But for now, the important thing is dealing with trying to stop the Brain of Morbius...