Doctor Who: The Rosemariners

The Lost Stories #3.8

by Donald Tosh, David Warner (Narrator), Frazer Hines (Narrator)

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves on an almost deserted space lab. Earth Station 454 is being closed down, mothballed, its staff relocated. Years of research and co-operation are coming to an end and only distinguished xeno-botantist Professor Arnold Biggs remains on board.

But is there more to the closure than meets the eye? For the operation is being supervised by the Rosemariners of the planet Rosa Damascena. Their terrifying Commander, Rugosa, seems to have something to hide. Who is he? What do the Rosemariners want with the scientists? And what is the secret of Rosedream?

In a world where no one is quite what they seem, and deadly plants lurk around every corner, the Doctor will have to use all his ingenuity just to stay alive... just to stay himself.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction

Audio CD

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second doctor, Zoe and Jamie arrive at a space station lab that’s being shut down. The researchers have been evacuated by the Rosemariners without being given a reason why. All except one. The commander of the Rosemariners has a special assignment for him and it relates to a plant whose poison is occasionally used to subdue certain prisoners.


It’s a pretty standard and rather straight forward but well executed base under siege story. Considering this is pretty much the calling card of the second doctor’s era, I really can’t complain. This story has a slow but steady pace, which is something that can be said for most of the stories of that time. And the characters are well used here, with their epic chemistry fully on display here. Every character has their moment to shine and has an actual purpose related to the plot.


While there isn’t anything great that stands out about this particular lost episode, there isn’t anything bad that stands out for me either. It’s just a fun and light little extra adventure with the second doctor, Zoe and Jamie.

[Isiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Good Overall:

The plot is interesting and there are new aliens in it. There is a lot of beautiful imagery because of the roses (which you could guess from the name) and some surprisingly brutal action. The Tardis Team does what it’s best at: The Second Doctor does lab work and manipulates the villain, Zoe plays a high stakes battle of wits with someone and Jamie gets in fights. They are all in character and the closeness of the tardis team and the mutual respect and care between them is all abundant and awesome.

The Bad Overall:
Some of it is predictable and that causes the end to be anti-climactic to the point that over half of the last episode feels like waiting for the villain to realize he’s been had.

Voices:
This time, Wendy Padbury(Zoe) voiced one of the villains along side her character. She played a man named Colbert and honestly I found her villain to be the most interesting in the serial. While it is very obviously her voice, they are distinct enough in how they speak that nothing becomes confusing. Well done.

The main villain Rugosa, who was played by a guest actor, was a bit over the top for me. He was clearly doing a ‘bad-guy’ voice….but that aside, the character had interesting moments and he was actually manipulative enough that the Second Doctor had trouble manipulating him for a while, which alone is a feat.

While none of the side characters were that compelling this time around, as always having a full cast is amazing and really helps with visualizing the serial and keeping things from getting confusing.

Also extra note: the sound effects in this one are awesome.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really do enjoy these “lost scripts” that were commissioned during the first half dozen seasons, but never produced. They honestly feel almost as authentic as the “lost episodes” that now only exist as audio recordings. Almost. Without either William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton it’s just not quite the same. But with Frazer Hines offering his brilliant interpretation of Troughton, it’s almost like Troughton is here. Almost. In any case, Wendy Padbury is also just as wonderful to have back as Zoe as Hines is doing Jamie. This was a high water mark for the Troughton era and wonderful to have these “new” Lost Episodes to enjoy. As an added bonus, this one also includes the great David Warner and Clive Wood lending their voices to really wonderful effect. And the story holds up very well, even after all these years. Sure, it’s not perfect, but when was “Classic” Doctor Who ever perfect? Simply another absolutely brilliant production from Big Finish.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lost adventure with Zoe and Jamie and started quite well with the mysterious closure of a space station. The only problem was that apart from Zoe the cast was all male. One thing that her stories in the Troughton era were always really good at was including another strong woman in the story, which was quite a turn around from the days of Polly and Ben. It seemed especially odd as they had Wendy doing an impersonation of one of the men (A French man) and it would have made more sense I think to have made the extra character a woman for Wendy to voice, especially when most of the other characters had unique voices. It was especially odd when she was having conversations with herself. The other thing that let this down a bit was the ending was very sudden and solved very quickly. I had to go back and listen to it twice because I missed it the first time and suddenly everything was ok and everyone was saying goodbye. Still as always it is lovely to hear Fraser do his Pat voice and it was a decent adventure for them.

[David Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Rosemariners was a story following the monster of the week formula for Troughton-era Who. This story has the 1960s feel throughout. The basic idea is that an alien space station has called on a human scientific research station for help. However, the alien leader is acting very suspiciously. The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe arrive to meet the scientist who will be helping the aliens. Of course, the alien leader is not quite what he seems and has nefarious plans. Typical of stories at during this era of Doctor Who, the good guys are clearly good, the bad guys clearly bad, the science is seriously off track, and many events happen for convenience of the plot rather than for situational logic. David Warner is great, as always, playing the professor. Frazer Hines still does a marvelous Doctor 2. Nostalgia pervades the whole production.

[Billy Martel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just rewatched Doctor Who and the Krotons, and learned that it was actually a first doctor story that was hastily rewritten.

I haven’t listened to the behind the scenes material, but I suspect something similar about this. In any case it has a similar feel to Krotons.

And like Krotons there are a lot of good ideas here, and most of them have been done better in other stories. There are still a lot of fun bits with the characters. The Zoe stuff in part 3 in particular was my favorite.

It’s perfectly serviceable, it’s fun, it’s ok. It feels like an average first doctor story with the second doctor dream team slotted in.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe land on what looks like an abandoned space station. A researcher has been left behind to finish his work with Roses. This is a fun, quite straightforward tale. It really feels like it belongs in that era. As always Hines impression of Troughton is amazing. A good listen.

[Joseph S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love when Frazier plays Doctor 2. I LOVE David Warner. This story, for whatever reason, three listen throughs and it never really caught me. I enjoyed it, probably more of a 2 had it not been such fantastically voiced and directed.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A really interesting premise - who'd expect a sci-fi story about roses? - but a clunky execution.

[Anne Barwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite Dr Who eras, and good to hear David Warner amongst the cast. Fraser Hines is amazing as Patrick Troughton as usual.

[Charles Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always wonderful to hear Frazer Hines as Jamie and Wendy Padbury as Zoe. And this story features the inimitable talents of the late David Warner.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. This didn’t do very much for me.

[Daniel Cork · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lost Stories range is always one I will treasure, whilst it may not be of the highest quality at times in terms of writing, it's great to see Big Finish adapt these abandoned storylines and bring them to life. I have been disappointed lately with how the range is being produced however, I haven't listened to Genesis of Terror but after hearing the reviews on it, I don't think will for a long while yet.

Attempting to manipulate the controls of The Tardis, Jamie lands the crew on an almost deserted space station. The staff are being evacuated, the station closed down. The Rosemariners have arrived and they need Professor Arnold Briggs' help to save them from a deadly threat. But what is Commander Rugosa really up to? The Doctor's about to have a surprise from the past in the form of a new threat.

Donald Tosh has written a really fun script but that's all I can really say about it. The atmosphere, characterization, and general premise are really good. But it's nothing amazing and how the story wraps up honestly feels very rushed. I do find there is a subtle sense of humor to the story however especially with the character of Colbert who isn't exactly the brightest.

Overall: A really fun story that whilst not anything exceptional is incredibly fast-paced and easy to listen to. 8/10

[Juan Fernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a story I really struggled to rate. I kept going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars. Eventually I worked out what my problem was and that helped me decide on my final score.

The story comes across as a sort of dramatised version of a World Distributors “Doctor Who Annual” adventure. All the typical features are there - an unlikely alien race (based on roses); a single megalomaniac villain in Rugosa wanting universal domination; weird science like the rose dream “potion” and its antidote; space stations…..all so familiar and at first it seems really interesting.

But there is a missing emotional core to the story - the villain is a villain because he is; Jamie is brave but a bit stupid; Zoe is ever so clever and the Doctor acts like the Doctor because he is the Doctor. The motivations just aren’t there and in that sense it’s a very 1960’s story. Other Big Finish stories from this era take in an emotional landscape and I’ve come to want that every time. So when it’s not there, it becomes a bit unsatisfying no matter how good the production values or the acting are.

Not an awful story by any means but lacking real sparkle and emotional connection. Not sure I would listen to it again in a hurry.

[DrAshleyWho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goes for a more traditional ‘base under siege’ than The Prison in Space (the other pre-2019 Lost Story with the Second Doctor though this was originally intended for the Hartnell era which makes sense seeing how he was a story editor during some of that period) and it’s fine enough if nothing spectacular, but I appreciate how it subtly ties itself to The Daleks’ Master Plan with its villain and David Warner in a Big Finish audio is always a massive plus.

[Debra Cook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Confusing not good.

[William Vaudin · Rating 1 out of 5]

BORING!!!