Dr. Morbius is a phenomenally interesting character to analyze in the context of Sci Fi. When we first hear form him, he contacts the starship C-57-D and asks the crew to return to earth, warning he cannot guarantee their safety if they land on planet Altair IV. This threat immediately makes us think that Dr. Morbius is hiding something and casts him as the antagonist to the heroic space cadets, who have come to investigate the fate of a 20 year old scientific expedition. Dr. Morbius and his daughter are the only survivors of the expedition, which makes the crew of the C-57-D very suspicious of them. Furthermore, Dr. Morbius seems to posses very advanced technology that he can’t seem to properly explain, and his daughter has the ability to befriend wild animals that would be terribly dangerous to any normal human. The advanced technology and abilities beyond the realm of humanity make Dr. Mobius, who is already antagonizing our heroes, part of “the others”. In Science fiction, “the others” can be an alien race or powers beyond humanity that usually clash against the heroes. To use Burke’s categorization of heroes and villains, “the others”, in this case Dr. Mobius, appears to fit in the category of Archfiend.
Dr. Mobius does not remain in this characterization throughout the whole film, which is what makes him interesting. First off, the constant advances towards her daughter from the entire crew of C-57-D makes the “space cadets” lose sympathy, portraying them both as salvage males in the prowl for a mate, and as conquistadors who come to colonize the beauty of the native inhabitants of a foreign land. Furthermore, once the threat of the invisible beast has been revealed, Dr. Morbius is forced to explain to Commander John J. Adams the existence for the Krull aliens, and the source of his technology. The appearance of a supernatural threat, of an actual race of aliens, as well as the explanation of the origin of the technology and his obvious love for his daughter cast Dr. Morbius outside of the realm of “the other” and back into humanity. Furthermore, his moral stance on the sharing of the Krull technology with humanity portrays him as a worthier hero than Commander John J. Adams (who represents the “space cadets”). This too is an interesting position taken by the director, because greed of technology is often a quality possessed by the villains in Sci Fi. In this case though, we know that Dr. Mobius has been empowered with an expanded intellect, and the mysterious doom of the Krull race makes his stance against the sharing of the technology with humanity the morally correct position. In contrast, wanting to share the technology with humanity, as Commander John J. Adams wishes, seems the power greedy choice in this scenario. In this case, Dr. Morbius becomes, to use Burke’s terminology, the superhero.
Interestingly enough, Dr. Morbius proves to be both the villain and the hero. During the conclusion of the movie, we find out the invisible monster is the result of the giant Krull machine. The machine seems to connect to the expanded intellect of Dr. Morbius and use his mind to create the invisible monster. Dr. Morbius is unaware of this because it is actually his subconscious, the part of him that is most primal, that controls the machine, not his enhanced intellect. In the end he is forced to sacrifice himself to save the space cadets and his daughter, and at the same time destroys the Krull planet in order to protect the technology, and with it, humanity. Can we classify Dr. Morbius’ subconscious as his most human side? While it is described as the most primal part, his expanded intellect makes it seems he is also half alien. In this scenario, is his humanity or is his alien side the villain? Either way, because of this duality he becomes a contextual hero/antihero in Burke’s terms.
Media Design and Criticism 