BY: "ROBIN BLAND" (TERRANCE DICKS REWRITTEN BY ROBERT HOLMES)
Part Three
Original Air Date: 17 January 1976
Running time: 25:07
SOLON: What are you doing here?
SARAH: 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!
MORBIUS (OOV.): Solon, have you lied to me again?
SOLON (OOV.): I, Morbius, lied?
SARAH: (quietly) Morbius.
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!
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.
SOLON (OOV.): 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.
SOLON: Open this door! Do you hear me? Open this door or you will die for this.
MORBIUS (OOV.): What is it, Solon? What has happened?
SOLON (OOV.): The girl has shut me in. What a senseless gesture. What can she hope to accomplish.
SOLON (OOV.): Open this door! When Condo gets back, you will die!
SOLON (OOV.): Do you hear me? You will die!
SISTERS: Sacred Flame, sacred fire.
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.
MAREN: Only you five will now survive, Ohica.
OHICA: You mean there is no more Elixir?
MAREN: That was the last.
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: A message, High One, brought by Solon's servant.
MAREN: (reads) The Doctor is returning.
OHICA: Already?
MAREN: Solon claims to have tricked him. He still bargains for the Time Lord's head.
OHICA: He's 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.
DOCTOR: Ding dong.
DOCTOR: We can't go on meeting like this.
CONDO: Master? Master?
SOLON (OOV.): Down here, Condo. Down here!
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?
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. 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 w*r 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?
CONDO: Come.
SARAH: Condo.
CONDO: Master order. Find girl. Maybe k*ll girl.
SARAH: No, no, Condo, please don't. No, please.
CONDO: Come.
SARAH: Let go, please, Condo. You're hurting me.
CONDO: Condo not k*ll.
SARAH: Please, Condo, let me go.
CONDO: Girl nice.
SARAH: Yes. Please let me go, Condo.
CONDO: Master order!
SARAH: No! Please, you're hurting me.
CONDO: Find girl. Girl pretty.
CONDO: Condo like.
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.
SARAH: Condo, please put me down!
CONDO: Better you come now. Master want.
SARAH: Please, put me down!
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.
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? No. 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.
MAREN: What is that?
DOCTOR: A little demon.
MAREN: Stop! He must not touch
OHICA: The Flame is dead.
MAREN: Take him. Guards! You have defiled the magic of the mountain. Now you must die!
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: And so now, Doctor, you expect us to show gratitude?
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.
SOLON: All right, that'll do. She doesn't like it. Now get out. Go on, get out.
SOLON: Poor old Condo. Perhaps I'll give him your hair as a memento.
SARAH: You're insane, Solon. You're mad.
SOLON: Oh, 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.
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. It only needs the head and I (pause) 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.
MORBIUS: 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 up on 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.
MORBIUS (OOV.): You have the girl. Use her head.
SOLON (OOV.): 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.
MORBIUS: I have to get out of this t*nk! 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.
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: I will do my utmost, my lord, with all the skill I have.
MORBIUS: Prepare me for the operation.
OHICA: Maren, is what we are doing right?
MAREN: It is out of our hands now, Ohica. Take him to Solon.
SOLON: Right, I want to start the operation. Careful, very careful. That's it, that's it.
SOLON: Very good. Right, over here. That's it. Be very careful. Down. Down. That's it.
SOLON: Condo, I want you to work the pump.
CONDO: (quietly) Condo's arm. 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!
SOLON: You cretin! You stupid animal!
SARAH: What happened?
SOLON: You murderous animal!
SARAH: Don't sh**t him, Solon. What happened?
SOLON: Morbius, Morbius. The greatest intellect there has ever been.
SOLON: Destroyed by a mindless brute.
SARAH: What happened? Solon, where's Condo? What happened?
SOLON: There was an accident. Morbius' brain on the floor.
SOLON: I don't know what damage has been done. You must help me.
SARAH: What? Help you? No.
SOLON: 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: I can't. You can't make me.
SOLON: You will do as I say!
SARAH: I don't really understand.
SOLON: Put your hand on this pump. Now, once every three second you
SARAH: No, no, wait, wait, think. What if I make a mistake?
SOLON: If he dies, you die.
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.
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.
SOLON: Did you see? You see, that was the first sign you'd expect.
SARAH: Successful?
SOLON: The motor centres of the brain have taken over. If there was no cerebral damage, within a few minutes Morbius will live again.
SOLON: Go and answer.
SOLON: Morbius was wrong.
`
The Doctor
Tom Baker
Sarah Jane Smith
Elisabeth Sladen
Voice of Morbius
Michael Spice
Solon
Philip Madoc
Maren
Cynthia Grenville
Condo
Colin Fay
Ohica
Gilly Brown
Sisters
Sue Bishop
Janie Kells
Gabrielle Mowbray
Veronica Ridge
Kriz
John Scott Martin
Morbius Monster
Stuart Fell
Assistant Floor Manager
Felicity Trew
Costumes
L. Rowland Warne
Designer
Barry Newbury
Incidental Music
Dudley Simpson
Make-Up
Jean McMillan
Movement
Geraldine Stephenson
Producer
Philip Hinchcliffe
Production Assistant
Carol Wiseman
Production Unit Manager
Janet Radenkovic
Script Editor
Robert Holmes
Special Sounds
d*ck Mills
Studio Lighting
Peter Catlett
Studio Sound
Tony Millier
Theme Arrangement
Delia Derbyshire
Title Music
Ron Grainer
Visual Effects
John Horton
Tom Baker
Sarah Jane Smith
Elisabeth Sladen
Voice of Morbius
Michael Spice
Solon
Philip Madoc
Maren
Cynthia Grenville
Condo
Colin Fay
Ohica
Gilly Brown
Sisters
Sue Bishop
Janie Kells
Gabrielle Mowbray
Veronica Ridge
Kriz
John Scott Martin
Morbius Monster
Stuart Fell
Assistant Floor Manager
Felicity Trew
Costumes
L. Rowland Warne
Designer
Barry Newbury
Incidental Music
Dudley Simpson
Make-Up
Jean McMillan
Movement
Geraldine Stephenson
Producer
Philip Hinchcliffe
Production Assistant
Carol Wiseman
Production Unit Manager
Janet Radenkovic
Script Editor
Robert Holmes
Special Sounds
d*ck Mills
Studio Lighting
Peter Catlett
Studio Sound
Tony Millier
Theme Arrangement
Delia Derbyshire
Title Music
Ron Grainer
Visual Effects
John Horton