History Recap / DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius

* TimeTravelersAreSpies: ''Everyone'', even the Doctor himself, assumed the Doctor is there on behalf of the Time Lords and is there to steal their stuff/ruin their day. He doesn't even know where ''he is.''

* CreatorCameo: Aside from the Doctors, the faces seen during the mind-bending contest are production unit manager George Gallaccio, Creator/RobertHolmes, production assistant Creator/GraemeHarper, director Douglas Camfield, producer Philip Hinchcliffe, production assistant Christopher Baker, writer Robert Banks Stewart, and director Christopher Barry.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The line about silent gasses is a subtle fart joke from Creator/RobertHolmes.

The one with the passive-aggressive pseudonym. Also the one that created a stir with the suggestion that past lives of the Doctor existed before [[Creator/WilliamHartnell the First]].

* BatmanGambit: The Time Lords divert the TARDIS to Karn without consulting the Doctor, trusting him to sort out the problem in his usual manner.

** And then they were explicitly un-retconned on screen to be previous faces of the Doctor in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]''.

The one with the passive-aggressive pseudonym. Also the one that created a stir with the rumour that past lives of the Doctor existed before [[Creator/WilliamHartnell the First]].

* TheFlameOfLife: A sacred flame which is a neccessary part of the Elixer of Life is dying, and the Doctor gets it working again.

** Amusingly, this retcon would ''itself'' get retconned in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren "The Timeless Children"]], which reveals that there were indeed numerous incarnations of the Doctor before the First Doctor, with the ones shown here being explicitly shown as belonging to that group.

* TemporaryBlindness: Sarah Jane gets this after taking a blast from Maren's ring. It doesn't do much to slow her down, as she still manages to lock Solon in his labratory and escape the castle on her own.

* ExpositionOfImmortality: This episode contains a sequence in which the three previous incarnations of the Doctor are shown, and eight additional faces beyond that. This lead to suspicions that the Doctor had incarnations dating even further back than the First Doctor. Later developments in the series refuted this speculation by confirming the First Doctor was indeed the first incarnation of the Doctor to exist, plus, the scene is so trippy, that those could just as easily have been Morbius' old faces or just some random moustachio'd Time Lord (which were the most given explanations until Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren, which establishes that while [[spoiler: the First Doctor is the first incarnation of the Doctor, that doesn't mean that they haven't had bodies before that]]). Morbius asks ''"How far back Doctor, how long have you lived?"'' -- suggesting that even by Time Lord standards, the Doctor has been around for a while.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: This was intended as a {{Filler}} BottleEpisode, but several of the Doctor's throwaway lines in the story imply that the Time Lords aren't as godlike and advanced as they had previously been portrayed. This could easily be brushed off by the fact that the Doctor hates the Time Lords and (in that incarnation at least) has an unreliable grasp on reality, but Creator/RobertHolmes picked up on it and used it as {{Foreshadowing}} for his WhamEpisode, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]". This serial also introduces the Sisterhood of Karn, and the idea that the Doctor has more incarnations than we've seen, which was picked up decades later in the 13th Doctor's series.

* ExpositionOfImmortality: This episode contains a sequence in which the three previous incarnations of the Doctor are shown, and eight additional faces beyond that. This lead to suspicions that the Doctor had incarnations dating even further back than the First Doctor. Later developments in the series refuted this speculation by confirming the First Doctor was indeed the first incarnation of the Doctor to exist, plus, the scene is so trippy, that those could just as easily have been Morbius' old faces or just some random moustachio'd Time Lord (which are the most given explanations now). Morbius asks ''"How far back Doctor, how long have you lived?"'' -- suggesting that even by Time Lord standards, the Doctor has been around for a while.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: This was intended as a {{Filler}} BottleEpisode, but several of the Doctor's throwaway lines in the story imply that the Time Lords aren't as godlike and advanced as they had previously been portrayed. This could easily be brushed off by the fact that the Doctor hates the Time Lords and (in that incarnation at least) has an unreliable grasp on reality, but Creator/RobertHolmes picked up on it and used it as {{Foreshadowing}} for his WhamEpisode, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]". This serial also introduces the Sisterhood of Karn, and the idea that the Doctor has more incarnations than we've seen.

* MyBrainIsBig: Morbius' brain would have a hard time fitting in a chest cavity, never mind a human (or Time Lord) braincase.

%% ZCE * SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Sisterhood of Karn.

** Then (many years later) we learned the doctor is the timeless child.

** Then (many years later) we learned the doctor is the Timeless child.

* DarkerAndEdgier: With the bleak, creepy atmosphere and graphic gore one can only wonder how this got rated PG and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead The Unquiet Dead]]" got a 12.

* ExpositionOfImmortality: This episode contains a sequence in which the three previous incarnations of the Doctor are shown, and eight additional faces beyond that. This lead to suspicions that the Doctor had incarnations dating even further back than the First Doctor. Later developments in the series refuted this speculation by confirming the First Doctor was indeed the first incarnation of the Doctor to exist, plus, the scene is so trippy, that those could just as easily have been Morbius' old faces or just some random moustachio'd Time Lord (which are the most given explanations now). Morbius asks ''"How far back Doctor, how long have you lived?"'' -- it seems that even by Time Lord standards, the Doctor has been around for a while. [[spoiler:"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren The Timeless Children]]" suggests that those faces ''really are'' "The Doctor", before he became "The Doctor"... and at least one memory wipe.]]

* GentleGiant: Condo, more or less.

* HulkSpeak: Condo again.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: This was intended as a {{Filler}} BottleEpisode, but several of the Doctor's throwaway lines in the story imply that the Time Lords aren't as godlike and advanced as they had previously been portrayed. This could easily be brushed off by the fact that the Doctor hates the Time Lords and (in that incarnation at least) has an unreliable grasp on reality, but Creator/RobertHolmes picked up on it and used it as {{Foreshadowing}} for his WhamEpisode, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]". The revived series will also bring back the Sisterhood of Karn, and later still, the idea that the Doctor has more incarnations than we've seen.

* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Sisterhood of Karn.

* WholePlotReference: To ''Film/{{Frankenstein 1931}}''.
* WorkingForABodyUpgrade: Condo.
* TheXOfY

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: This was intended as a {{Filler}} BottleEpisode, but several of the Doctor's throwaway lines in the story imply that the Time Lords aren't as godlike and advanced as they had previously been portrayed. This could easily be brushed off by the fact that the Doctor hates the Time Lords and (in that incarnation at least) has an unreliable grasp on reality, but Creator/RobertHolmes picked up on it and used it as {{Foreshadowing}} for his WhamEpisode, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]".

* ExpositionOfImmortality: This episode contains a sequence in which the three previous incarnations of the Doctor are shown, and eight additional faces beyond that. This lead to suspicions that the Doctor had incarnations dating even further back than the First Doctor. Later developments in the series refuted this speculation by confirming the First Doctor was indeed the first incarnation of the Doctor to exist, plus, the scene is so trippy, that those could just as easily have been Morbius' old faces or just some random moustachio'd Time Lord (which are the most given explanations now). Morbius asks ''"How far back Doctor, how long have you lived?"'' -- it seems that even by Time Lord standards, the Doctor has been around for a while.

The one with the passive-aggressive pseudonym.

Also the one that created a stir with the rumor that past lives of the Doctor existed before [[Creator/WilliamHartnell One.]]

** [[spoiler:And even later episodes would reveal that [[DoubleSubversion they actually WERE past incarnations of the Doctor]]...]]

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: This was intended as a {{Filler}} BottleEpisode, but several of the Doctor's throwaway lines in the story imply that the Time Lords aren't as godlike and advanced as they had previously been portrayed. This could easily be brushed off by the fact that the Doctor hates the Time Lords and (in that incarnation at least) has an unreliable grasp on reality, but Creator/RobertHolmes picked up on it and used it as {{Foreshadowing}} for his WhamEpisode, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]", which revealed the Time Lords were a bunch of stagnant old politicians with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder.
** And many, many years later, the Sisterhood of Karn would return [[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor to help a fatally-wounded Doctor regenerate]].
** But the biggest one of all would come [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren more than 30 years]] after the episode first aired: [[spoiler:those faces seen before William Hartnell? Turns out they were ''exactly'' what they seemed to be: prior incarnations of the Doctor, erased from their memory to hide their past as the Timeless Child.]]

* {{Retcon}}: The faces seen during the Doctor's mind duel with Morbius after the First Doctor's image disappears were originally meant to be the secret incarnations of the Doctor who had come before the First Doctor. These faces were later retconned to be Morbius' incarnations from back when he still had a body. Admittedly, it's a more elegant retcon than most, since the idea that the faces used to belong to the Doctor was never stated out loud, but was rather kept as an implication. [[spoiler:[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren Except...]]]]

** But the biggest one of all would come [[Recap/DoctorWhoSeries38E10TheTimelessChildren more than 30 years]] after the episode first aired: [[spoiler:those faces seen before William Hartnell? Turns out they were ''exactly'' what they seemed to be: prior incarnations of the Doctor, erased from their memory to hide their past as the Timeless Child.]]

* {{Retcon}}: The faces seen during the Doctor's mind duel with Morbius after the First Doctor's image disappears were originally meant to be the secret incarnations of the Doctor who had come before the First Doctor. These faces were later retconned to be Morbius' incarnations from back when he still had a body. Admittedly, it's a more elegant retcon than most, since the idea that the faces used to belong to the Doctor was never stated out loud, but was rather kept as an implication. [[spoiler:[[Recap/DoctorWhoSeries38E10TheTimelessChildren Except...]]]]

* {{Retcon}}: The faces seen during the Doctor's mind duel with Morbius after the First Doctor's image disappears were originally meant to be the secret incarnations of the Doctor who had come before the First Doctor. These faces were later retconned to be Morbius' incarnations from back when he still had a body. Admittedly, it's a more elegant retcon than most, since the idea that the faces used to belong to the Doctor was never stated out loud, but was rather kept as an implication.

Also the one that created a stir with the [[{{Jossed}} hoax]] that past lives of the Doctor existed before [[Creator/WilliamHartnell One.]]

* AffectionateParody: Tachyon TV used this episode as the basis for a ''spot-on'' AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120613180736/http://tachyon-tv.co.uk/bitfannish/ parody]].
* AlanSmithee: The script was altered so much that Creator/TerranceDicks asked that it be credited to "some bland pseudonym". Creator/RobertHolmes (who wrote the finished version) complied spectacularly, by crediting the serial to "Robin Bland".

* {{Retcon}}: The faces seen during the Doctor's mind duel with Morbius after the First Doctor's image disappears where originally meant to be the secret incarnations of the Doctor who had come before the First Doctor. These faces were later retconned to be Morbius' incarnations from back when he still had a body. Admittedly, is a more elegant retcon than most, since the idea that the faces used to be belong to the Doctor was never stated out loud, but was rather kept as an implication.

** To say nothing of Morbius himself. For a guy who's nothing but a brain and vocal chords, he hams it up.

* MindRape: The Doctor gets subjected to this by Morbius in a "mind-bending contest" that goes awry, when Morbius starts digging through his private and painful memories.

* CouldntFindALighter: The Doctor use the flaming torch being held by one of the Sisterhood of Karn to light the fuse on a firecracker.

* CouldntFindALighter: The Doctor use the flaming torch being held by one of the Sidterhood of Karn to light the fuse on a firecracker.