3.8 - The Rosemariners

Well I suppose I should start by saying, lots of narration so not as much room for music, so I feel the atmosphere suffers. Also, the music is mostly woodwind of some descriptions and slow cymbal crashes, sounding nothing like the music of the time. One of my pet hates is members of the cast playing characters of the opposite gender because it never sounds right. Yet, despite having Wendy, and Frazer, Wendy is playing a male character, come on? The acting is one of the strong points, and I think David Warner is brilliant, but over used. I keep hearing him in a number of other Big Finish titles, and I don't think he is cast as well here. This is undeniably plot light, slow and without visual representation it was a struggle to maintain interest. It's not really bad in anyway, it just needs shortening to speed it up. The link to Kembel and the Daleks is a nice touch and the dialogue is great. Something about being as rare as an Elephant foot print in the Highlands was a lovely turn of phrases, but this doesn't do enough to keep me interested.

In this four part "talking book" that recreates a never made Doctor Who Script, the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe (roles recreated by Frazier Hines and Wendy Padbury) arrive on a station that's being shutdown. Yet something mysterious is going on (if it weren't, this wouldn't be Doctor Who now would it?), as a race of green aliens known as Rosemariners want a krytobiologist in order to provide an antidote to a venom so that they can take over the Universe.

Overall, this is pretty standard Doctor Who stuff, particularly for the era. The story's not bad but it isn't particularly memorable either. It is helped quite a bit by the presence of two other actors assisting Hines and Padbury as opposed to just one. This is helpful as that cuts down on narration and the amount of times that the actors have to double up on characters. As usual Hines' Patrick Troughton voice is uncanny as he makes Troughton come alive nearly a quarter century after he died. Overall, Rosemariners is a fun story, just not a great one.

I think what I would say about this story is that it's very pleasant without actually being terribly interesting. The performances are all top-rate, and Tosh writes for the second Doctor and Jamie very well, although he has occasional trouble with Zoe. The real issue is the storyline: it's very simple, it's largely very sedate - this is, after all, essentially a story about getting stoned - and just doesn't seem to do very much. On TV, that might have worked, especially Patrick Troughton adding little visual and dialogue touches to his performance as he so often did. On audio, with a narrated script, it can veer into a cure for insomnia. I must've played Part One at least three times - across several weeks - before I decided to press on with the rest of the story. It's in no way bad, and the production has been lovingly crafted to have an authentic 1960s-style soundscape, but it's very easy to let your mind wander away from this one even as it's playing.

Very little discussion of this one, I have noticed. I guess it was overshadowed by big happenings in the Main Range, and a packed month of releases. It's not so hard to see why - Rosemariners is a fairly unassuming tale. There's nothing stand-out or shocking here. But I still found it charming lighthearted fun. It's a simple tale but it has a good Troughton era feel and it succeeds in painting a great many excellent visuals and giving its characters lovely dialogue.

There was something Holmesian about a lot of the interactions, with characters being paired of and engaging in flowing back-and-forth. Biggs and Colbert's working relationship is deftly suggested to us in just a few early scenes. Later Biggs and the Doctor form the most lovely working relationship. The chemistry between the two is so fantastic I'd love for them to meet again. Meanwhile Zoe and Colbert's cat-and-mouse conversational chess game is redolent of the best I-Know-That-You-Don't-Know spy thrillers, and really utilises Zoe well. I'd say it's not a very Jamie-heavy episode, which is sad for big Jamie fans like myself, but he's charming when he's around.

Add to that, I genuinely think these are some of the highest quality performances going. Sure, it's a light story and nobody's tackling deeply challenging material, but there are a range of characters presented here, and importantly, a range of performances. Multiple roles are being played by the same actors, and they've crafted distinct and equally strong performances for each. Producing such a collection who are universally a pleasure to listen to makes this very much to cast and director's credit.

On that note, and as I saw someone else say on Gallifrey Base, with its slightly expanded cast and the quality of its direction, complemented by beautifully visual scene setting (A spaceship-greenhouse-laboratory-rose garden!) and a modern score that captures the spirit of the Radiophonic Workshop, this really does come off exactly like a narrated episode soundtrack. I was so totally immersed in its period qualities that for the duration I totally forgot it was anything other than a classic episode from the Troughton era.

Donald Tosh, obviously, understood the show and its characters well. It shows in a lyrical, flowing script that carries everything charming about that era of the show. That flow is carried smoothly through by cast and crew alike. Whilst not philosophically and conceptually weighty like Luxor endeavoured to be, The Rosemariners is just a pleasant, easy, uplifting experience to listen to. 7/10.

Now, please, BF, give us a Companion Chronicle where the second Doctor meets Biggs again!