a dark gothic sci-fi fairy tale about timeless beings of limitless power. being taped entirely in the studio on creaky-floored sets actually enhances the atmosphere (for once) as the stageniess heightens this feeling of unreality. sarah being blinded and forced to help solon's experiment is given a genuinely morbid (lol) undertone by sladen and madoc's performances; conversely, sladen and baker's playful dynamic is exemplified more than in any other story. the morbius doctors aren't a continuity niggle but just one element of the story's downplayed epicness, making the doctor as legendary as the sisterhood or morbius himself: he suddenly feels more unknowable than any other time since 1963. when people throw around phrases like "gothic" and "hammer horror" to describe the hinchcliffe era, this is really the story they have in mind. the shotgun marriage of two of the show's all-time great writers creates what is for my money the best story of the entire classic series, with dicks' tight plotting enhanced by holmes' wit, maturity and above all his midas touch for characterisation and dialogue ("you chicken-brained biological disaster" comes to mind).