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The Doctor (The Brain of Morbius): Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox Individual | {{Infobox Individual | ||
|main alias = [[ | |main alias = [[The Other|The other]], [[Ulysses]] | ||
|image = <gallery> | |image = <gallery> | ||
FirstDoctorMorbius-0.JPG|1 | FirstDoctorMorbius-0.JPG|1 | ||
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|grandchild = Susan Foreman | |grandchild = Susan Foreman | ||
}}{{Doctors}} | }}{{Doctors}} | ||
During the [[Fourth Doctor]]'s [[mindbending]] duel with [[Morbius]], '''eight consecutive faces''' were shown as bodies the Doctor inhabited before he was the [[First Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') Often with reference to this mindbending duel, other sources would concur that these were prior incarnations from [[the Doctor's early life]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]''; [[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius (novelisation)|Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius]]'', ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]''; [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (audio story)|Cold Fusion]]'') with some sources even suggesting they went by the title "'''[[the Doctor (title)|the Doctor]]'''". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'') | |||
== Nature == | |||
During the [[mindbending]] battle, after [[Morbius]] said, "Back! Back to your beginning!" and the eight faces began to flash on the screen ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') and the [[Fourth Doctor]] thought to himself, ''"You can't... not that far... I won't let you... Not even I."'' ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') The mechanism broke down after the eighth face appeared. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') In the [[Fifth Doctor]]'s mind, memories of this event were associated with when ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') the [[Third Doctor]] claimed to have been a scientist for thousands of years ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mind of Evil (TV story)|The Mind of Evil]]'') and the Fourth Doctor said that Time Lords lived for 90 lives and that he'd lived for 130. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Creature from the Pit (TV story)|The Creature from the Pit]]'') | |||
The most straightforward explanation for these faces was that they were simply regenerations which the Doctor had lived before the incarnation commonly thought to be first. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', ''[[The Power of the Daleks (novelisation)|The Power of the Daleks]]'', ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') Indeed, the Fifth Doctor found traces of memories within himself of being these Doctors. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') The [[Infinity Doctor]] may have been a young First Doctor, existing at the relative border between these past Doctors and the Doctor's commonly known lifecycle. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'') When the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] discovered the truth of the [[Timeless Child]], these were among her past faces which had been wiped from her memory by [[the Division]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') | |||
However, simultaneous to his memories of being these Doctors, the Doctor also had memories of being [[loom]]ed in the [[House of Lungbarrow]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') [[Glospin]] claimed that people could renew regenerative cycles by jumping looms and being reborn into new families. The Doctor impossibly ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') remembered being a strung-out consciousness waiting to be born ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') and immediately after being born he said, "Again." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'') The [[Seventh Doctor]] would find that his hazy memories of a life before the First Doctor belonged to [[the Other]], who was reborn as the Doctor after millions of years via looming. Evoking this past, the Doctor quoted Morbius by telling Lungbarrow to think "back to your beginning" to remember when it was made by the Other. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') The Fifth Doctor's encounter with Patience's husband also suggested the faces seen in the mind battle had some overlap or connection to the Other. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') | |||
In explaining the past of history involving the faces, the other told the Fifth Doctor that, "Time is relative. History repeats itself, and repeats itself again. Father to son." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') The Doctor's life was part of an [[eternal return]] which repeated each generation in a patrilineal line of Doctors. Several details suggested that Patience's husband may have somehow been [[Ulysses]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'', ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'') This repetition continued, with one of [[The Doctor's ninth incarnation|the Eighth Doctor's possible futures]] glimpsed in the [[Tomorrow Window]] suggesting he would regenerate into a "series of men in pseudo-Edwardian clothes" and, in time, the [[First Doctor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Tomorrow Windows (novel)|The Tomorrow Windows]]'') | |||
=== Travels in the TARDIS === | === Travels in the TARDIS === | ||
Despite many accounts showing the so-called "[[First Doctor]]" as the incarnation who'd first stolen [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the Doctor's definitive TARDIS]] from the workshops and run away from Gallifrey, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Birth of a Renegade (short story)|Birth of a Renegade]]'', etc.) some accounts suggested that these incarnations of the Doctor had already used the same TARDIS as their successors. For example, the | Despite many accounts showing the so-called "[[First Doctor]]" as the incarnation who'd first stolen [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the Doctor's definitive TARDIS]] from the workshops and run away from Gallifrey, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Birth of a Renegade (short story)|Birth of a Renegade]]'', etc.) some accounts suggested that these incarnations of the Doctor had already used the same TARDIS as their successors. For example, the second incarnation seen in the mindbending duel's [[tricorn]] hat was found by the [[Eighth Doctor]] in the TARDIS's [[TARDIS control room#Second control room|second control room]], who pointed it out as evidence of how long it had been since he had regularly used that control room instead of the white one. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'') | ||
=== | ==Biography== | ||
=== Early life === | |||
According to one account, the Doctor was raised on [[Gallifrey]] from a family of explorers, [[The Doctor's father|his father]] being part of the [[Supreme Council]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') In an [[The Infinity Doctors universe|alternate universe]], after [[Patience]] was widowed by [[Omega]], she became [[The Doctor (The Infinity Doctors)|the Doctor]]'s tutor, just as she had been his grandfather's tutor and his father's tutor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'') He and Patience ultimately fell in love. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'') | |||
=== Incarnations === | |||
The screen of the [[mindbending]] device counted down from the Fourth Doctor to the First Doctor before showing the Morbius faces in reverse chronological order. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') When the Thirteenth Doctor blasted the Matrix with her memories of the mindbending contest, she remembered the faces in a different order. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') | |||
<!-- Played by Christopher Barry --> | |||
* The eighth displayed face was fair-skinned and had a short dark full beard which went lighter at his temples. In the screen of the mindbending device, he wore a dark narrow brimmed hat with a dark feather. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') | |||
<!-- Played by Robert Banks Stewart --> | |||
* The seventh face was fair-skinned and beardless but had lengthy dark straight hair. In the mindbending screen, he wore a dark wide-brimmed hat. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') | |||
<!-- Played by Christopher Baker --> | |||
* The sixth face was fair-skinned, had a goatee and moustache and straight dark lengthy hair. In the mindbending screen, he wore a dark wide-brimmed hat and a top with light coloured collar. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') He embarked on an [[Odyssey (Cold Fusion)|Odyssey]] through the [[Time Vortex]], being one of the first to explore it, with [[the Machine]], a prototype [[Space-time vessel|timeship]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') | |||
<!-- Played by Philip Hinchcliffe --> | |||
* The incarnation that married Patience ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') was fair-skinned and beardless but had long curly dark hair. In the mindbending screen, he wore a dark cavalier hat with a light-coloured feather. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') On the day of the Doctor's comeback from the Odyssey, returning with "charts and trophies from every corner of the universe" and bringing back with him "travellers' tales of monsters and lost civilizations", he married Patience. They lived at Patience's ancestral home, the [[House of Blyledge]], and had thirteen children. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') | |||
<!-- Played by Douglas Camfield --> | |||
* The incarnation that sat on the [[Supreme Council]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') was fair-skinned with blond curly hair and a dark full beard. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') Shortly after he regenerated, Patience thought he was much taller and hairier than his previous, beardless body, and his beard was much coarser. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') In the mindbending screen, he wore a light coloured necktie with a top with dark high collar. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') Early in this incarnation's life, his firstborn son was a [[Cardinal]] and a [[Time Lord]] of the first rank, whose wife was expecting to give birth to his and Patience's first grandchild. The [[Loom-born revolt]] occurred on the day of her birth, with [[the Watch]] culling the Doctor's thirteen children and charging him with consorting with aliens. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') By one account, [[the Doctor (The Infinity Doctors)|the Doctor]] remained on the Supreme Council afterwards, mourning his lost wife and dead children for a considerable length of time. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'') He continued to wear [[The Doctor's signet ring|his wedding ring]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'') | |||
<!-- Played by Graeme Harper --> | |||
* The third face was fair-skinned with light coloured curly hair and a full beard. In the mindbending screen, he wore a dark top with no collar at the front but a very high stand behind the head. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') This face and outfit were identical to those of [[Martin Jurgens]], an [[Adjudicator]] who was working for the [[Earth Empire]] circa [[2472]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Colony in Space (TV story)|Colony in Space]]'') | |||
<!-- Played by Robert Holmes --> | |||
* The second face was fair-skinned with no facial hair but curly light-coloured hair of mid length. In the mindbending screen, his hair was held at the back with a bow tie, and he wore a tricorn hat and a light-coloured necktie over his a dark collar. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') This Doctor travelled in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the same TARDIS which later Doctors would use]], piloting using the [[TARDIS control room#Second control room|second control room]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'') | |||
<!-- Played by George Gallacio --> | |||
* The incarnation which immediately preceded the [[First Doctor]] was fair-skinned with a dark moustache and dark straight hair of mid length. In the mindbending screen, he wore a top hat. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]'') | |||
=== Fate === | === Fate === | ||
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Ultimately, the Doctor, now in a [[First Doctor|body with long white hair]], rescued Patience and her [[Susan Foreman|granddaughter]] from the purge, placing Patience in [[the Machine]] for safety and assuring her that her granddaughter would be taken away from Gallifrey. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') | Ultimately, the Doctor, now in a [[First Doctor|body with long white hair]], rescued Patience and her [[Susan Foreman|granddaughter]] from the purge, placing Patience in [[the Machine]] for safety and assuring her that her granddaughter would be taken away from Gallifrey. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') | ||
The Fifth Doctor only had hazy memories of his life from before what he remembered to be his [[Third Doctor|second regeneration]]; further back, great chunks were missing. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') The [[Sixth Doctor]] also mentioned that his memory was vague prior to his regeneration into the Third Doctor. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The World Shapers (comic story)|The World Shapers]]'') Some sources indicate that some of the Doctor's early memories were actively erased ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Birth of a Renegade (short story)|Birth of a Renegade]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') | |||
== Legacy == | |||
The [[Fifth Doctor]] recognised the name of Patience's husband as a pioneer amongst his people - which he noted "was odd, because his people [had] forgotten the name". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') The [[First Doctor]] had previously stated that he "had been a pioneer among [his] people" to the [[Thal]]s of [[Skaro]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'') | The [[Fifth Doctor]] recognised the name of Patience's husband as a pioneer amongst his people - which he noted "was odd, because his people [had] forgotten the name". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') The [[First Doctor]] had previously stated that he "had been a pioneer among [his] people" to the [[Thal]]s of [[Skaro]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'') | ||
The [[First Doctor]]'s [[signet ring]] belonged to Patience's husband. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') | The [[First Doctor]]'s [[signet ring]] belonged to Patience's husband. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'') | ||
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When Polly, Ben, and [[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]] found a shaving [[mirror]] on the [[TARDIS control console|control console]] of the [[TARDIS control room#Second control room|second control room]] in [[the Doctor's TARDIS]], Polly and Ben speculated that the room may have been used by a [[beard]]ed incarnation of the Doctor from a time before either of the Doctors they were familiar with. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Something at the Door (short story)|Something at the Door]]'') Indeed, the [[Eighth Doctor]] recalled having used the second control room as his primary control room "ages ago", when he worn a [[tricorn]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'') | When Polly, Ben, and [[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]] found a shaving [[mirror]] on the [[TARDIS control console|control console]] of the [[TARDIS control room#Second control room|second control room]] in [[the Doctor's TARDIS]], Polly and Ben speculated that the room may have been used by a [[beard]]ed incarnation of the Doctor from a time before either of the Doctors they were familiar with. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Something at the Door (short story)|Something at the Door]]'') Indeed, the [[Eighth Doctor]] recalled having used the second control room as his primary control room "ages ago", when he worn a [[tricorn]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'') | ||
After being trapped in [[the Matrix]] by {{Dhawan}}, the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] escaped by overloading the system with memories of her past incarnations and of all she had seen; some of these eight faces from her distant past, as they had once appeared to the Fourth Doctor during the mindbending contest, were among them. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') | After being trapped in [[the Matrix]] by {{Dhawan}}, the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] escaped by overloading the system with memories of her past incarnations and of all she had seen; some of these eight faces from her distant past, as they had once appeared to the Fourth Doctor during the mindbending contest, were among them. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'') | ||
== Behind the scenes == | == Behind the scenes == | ||
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* Script-editor and uncredited co-writer [[Robert Holmes]], also one of the faces, confirmed Hincliffe's account: "We don't know which one Hartnell was, whether he was the first or not. In the phantasmagoric scene where they are mind-wrestling, we see the Doctor forced back through a number of regenerations." ([[REF]]: ''[[In-Vision]] #12: The Brain of Morbius'') He would later introduce the idea of a twelve [[regeneration]] limit in [[TV]]: ''[[The Deadly Assassin (TV story)|The Deadly Assassin]]'', a story which also established that the Doctor's contemporary [[the Master]] had reached his last life as well, although, of course, it is possible for the Master to have burned through regenerations at an accelerated rate, the interpretation that mainstream continuity eventually settled on. | * Script-editor and uncredited co-writer [[Robert Holmes]], also one of the faces, confirmed Hincliffe's account: "We don't know which one Hartnell was, whether he was the first or not. In the phantasmagoric scene where they are mind-wrestling, we see the Doctor forced back through a number of regenerations." ([[REF]]: ''[[In-Vision]] #12: The Brain of Morbius'') He would later introduce the idea of a twelve [[regeneration]] limit in [[TV]]: ''[[The Deadly Assassin (TV story)|The Deadly Assassin]]'', a story which also established that the Doctor's contemporary [[the Master]] had reached his last life as well, although, of course, it is possible for the Master to have burned through regenerations at an accelerated rate, the interpretation that mainstream continuity eventually settled on. | ||
** Issue 12 of ''[[In-Vision]]'' also included seven photographs of the "Young Doctors", excluding Graeme Harper. | ** Issue 12 of ''[[In-Vision]]'' also included seven photographs of the "Young Doctors", excluding Graeme Harper. | ||
* [[Lance Parkin]], author of the novel ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', confirmed that [[Patience]]'s newly-regenerated husband was intended to specifically be the [[Douglas Camfield]] Doctor<ref>[https://twitter.com/ParkinLance/status/1317094932264284161 tweet] of Lance Parkin</ref> ([[REF]]: ''[[AHistory]]'') | * [[Lance Parkin]], author of the novel ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'', confirmed that [[Patience]]'s newly-regenerated husband was intended to specifically be the [[Douglas Camfield]] Doctor.<ref>[https://twitter.com/ParkinLance/status/1317094932264284161 tweet] of Lance Parkin</ref> ([[REF]]: ''[[AHistory]]'') In an earlier draft of the novel ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'', the prologue would have featured the [[Robert Banks Stewart]] fighting [[Centro]] with Patience.<ref>''Time, Unincorporated: Volume One''</ref> | ||
:* In the same year that ''Cold Fusion'' was published, Parkin published an essay in the fanzine ''Matrix'' which explained his views on the Morbius Doctors. He gives an outline of the first six Morbius Doctors which corresponds to the history seen in ''Cold Fusion'': "lf the Doctor did regenerate several times before the series started, it might explain the contradictions in his early life – one incarnation could have been the mischievous, late-developing student; a second the serious young man who studied under K’anpo near the family home and learned the myths of Ancient Gallifrey; the third was a brilliant pioneer; a fourth a family man and father; another the Time Lord ambassador; yet another the political agitator who campaigned to ban Miniscopes." <ref>''Time, Unincorporated: Volume One''</ref> | |||
* ''Cold Fusion'' features the [[TARDIS (Dr. Who and the Daleks)|TARDIS]] from the film ''[[Dr. Who and the Daleks (theatrical film)|Dr. Who and the Daleks]]'' as "[[The Machine]]", with Patience repeatedly emphasizing that it is her husband's TARDIS. This could be interpreted as suggesting [[Dr. Who (Dr. Who and the Daleks)|Dr. Who]] as a past identity of the Doctor within the same era as the Morbius Doctors, in line with ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]''{{'}}s allusion to Dr. Who. | * ''Cold Fusion'' features the [[TARDIS (Dr. Who and the Daleks)|TARDIS]] from the film ''[[Dr. Who and the Daleks (theatrical film)|Dr. Who and the Daleks]]'' as "[[The Machine]]", with Patience repeatedly emphasizing that it is her husband's TARDIS. This could be interpreted as suggesting [[Dr. Who (Dr. Who and the Daleks)|Dr. Who]] as a past identity of the Doctor within the same era as the Morbius Doctors, in line with ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]''{{'}}s allusion to Dr. Who. | ||
* A screenshot of these Doctors' appearance in the mindbending contest appears in ''[[Strax Saves the Day (webcast)|Strax Saves the Day]]'' when [[Strax]] notes that ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'' featured "all the original Doctors, ''except for most of them''". | * A screenshot of these Doctors' appearance in the mindbending contest appears in ''[[Strax Saves the Day (webcast)|Strax Saves the Day]]'' when [[Strax]] notes that ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'' featured "all the original Doctors, ''except for most of them''". | ||
