The Stone Rose was the seventh novel in the BBC New Series Adventures series. It was written by Jacqueline Rayner and featured the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler.
The book was the first book of the series to feature the Tenth Doctor. Rose continued to be featured as the companion in the series, as she had in the previous six books.
The book was released only two days before David Tennant's first series on Doctor Who, which started its run on 15 April 2006.
Publisher's summary[]
2006 BBC Books edition[]
Mickey is startled to find a statue of Rose in a museum - a statue that is 2,000 years old. The Doctor realises that this means the TARDIS will shortly take them to ancient Rome, but when it does, he and Rose soon have more on their minds than a sculpture.
While the Doctor searches for a missing boy, Rose befriends a girl who claims to know the future - a girl whose predictions are surprisingly accurate. But then the Doctor stumbles on the hideous truth behind the statue of Rose - and Rose herself learns that you have to be very careful what you wish for...
2015 BBC Books edition[]
A 2,000 year old statue of Rose Tyler is a mystery that the Doctor and Rose can only solve by travelling back to the time when it was made. But when they do, they find the mystery is deeper and more complicated than they ever imagined.
While the Doctor searches for a missing boy, Rose befriends a girl who it seems can accurately predict the future. But when the Doctor stumbles on the terrible truth behind the statue, Rose herself learns that you have to be very careful what you wish for.
An adventure set in Roman times, featuring the Tenth Doctor as played by David Tennant and his companion Rose Tyler.
Plot[]
Mickey Smith takes Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler, and the Tenth Doctor to the British Museum in 2007 to show them a Roman statue of Rose, dating back nearly 2,000 years and identified as the goddess Fortuna. Intrigued, the Doctor and Rose travel in the TARDIS to ancient Rome in 120 AD, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian and the Quinquatrus festival. They quickly rescue an elderly Roman citizen, Gnaeus Fabius Gracilis, from muggers. Gracilis is distraught over the disappearance of his 16-year-old son, Optatus. A local café owner suggests Gracilis consult an astrologer named Vanessa, a young slave girl owned by Balbus. The Doctor and Rose accompany Gracilis and Vanessa (whom Gracilis purchases from Balbus) to his country villa.
At the villa, they meet Aulus Valerius Ursus, a surly sculptor who created a statue of Optatus just before the boy vanished. Ursus, the last known person to see Optatus, agrees to sculpt Rose as the goddess Fortuna for a new commission. The Doctor, meanwhile, deduces that Vanessa is actually from the future (specifically, 2375 AD Sardinia) due to her anachronistic knowledge of the yet-to-be-built Hadrian's Wall and her use of advanced mathematics (Merik's Theorem) for her "astrological calculations."
Rose poses for Ursus in his workshop at the villa. He gives her drugged wine, and as she becomes paralysed, he reveals his secret: he can turn living beings into perfect stone statues with a touch. This "gift" was bestowed upon him by a being he believes to be the goddess Minerva. He has already transformed another model, a young slave named Tiro, into a statue of Mercury. The Doctor, investigating Optatus's disappearance, discovers Ursus's method (no marble dust, pristine tools, the lifelike nature of the statues) and confronts him. During a struggle outside the workshop, Vanessa, attempting to help, accidentally knocks the Doctor unconscious with a bronze lamp.
Vanessa then reveals her story to the recovering Doctor. She was transported to 120 AD by a device from her father Salvatorio Moretti's lab at the Bureau Tygon – the GENIE (Genetically Engineered Neural Imagination Engine) – after idly wishing she could live in ancient Rome while watching a historical vidcast. The GENIE, now appearing as a small, scaly, beaked creature in a cardboard box marked 'SM', is capable of granting wishes but requires significant energy. In Rome, it disguised itself as Minerva and formed a pact with Ursus, granting him his petrifying touch in exchange for "offerings" (the life essence of sacrificed animals, which it absorbs). Ursus has been using this power to create his acclaimed statues.
The Doctor is subsequently arrested by Lucius Aelius Rufus, an arrogant imperial official, on a trumped-up charge of horse theft (orchestrated by Rufus after the Doctor annoyed him at a way station) and taken to the Colosseum for execution during the games. The Doctor, using his wits and the sonic screwdriver, manages to survive encounters with wild animals and then incites his fellow prisoners to fight for their freedom, leading a mass escape.
He and Gracilis, who had followed him to Rome, learn from a contact that Ursus is unveiling a new statue in the Forum – it is the petrified Tiro as Mercury. The Doctor uses a phial of emerald-green liquid, a "miracle cure" he obtained from "Fortuna" (actually Rose from his near future in a bootstrap paradox) to restore Tiro. They systematically restore other victims of Ursus in Rome, including a woman named Gaia. The Doctor deduces all of Ursus's statues are in Rome, except for the one of Optatus at Gracilis's villa.
Returning to Ursus's now-abandoned shrine in the woods near the villa, they find Rose, also turned to stone by Ursus, dressed as Minerva. The Doctor restores her with the last of the cure. Ursus appears and attacks, but in the ensuing struggle, he falls on his own sacrificial dagger and dies. His body is absorbed by the GENIE. The GENIE then turns Vanessa to stone, and subsequently the Doctor. Rose, finding the phial empty, is devastated. In her grief and confusion, she makes a wish that the Doctor had never come to Rome. The GENIE alters her perception, making her forget the Doctor's presence. Realizing the GENIE is manipulating her mind rather than true reality, Rose wishes to be back in the shrine with Vanessa and to "see everything as it really is."
The petrified Doctor reappears. Rose, understanding the GENIE can refill the phial, wishes for it to be full of the cure again, and restores the Doctor. He explains the GENIEs were AI created in 2375 that ran rampant, granting destructive wishes. Earth's timeline was reset when the first GENIE created (Vanessa's) was forced to destroy itself and the research lab by absorbing the sun's power, erasing all subsequent GENIEs from history. Vanessa's GENIE survived because it was the prototype created before this cataclysmic event. It cannot return to 2375 without risking the same destructive cycle.
To resolve the paradox of Rose's statue in the British Museum, the Doctor reveals he sculpted it himself during a trip to the Renaissance (with Michelangelo's assistance), after his "future" self (from Rose's perspective) found the petrified Rose in the museum. Rose, now in the TARDIS, travels back to the moment in the shrine of Fortuna where her past self's Doctor is, uses a voice disguiser, and "as Fortuna" gives him the phial of cure, thus closing the loop. Vanessa is returned to her own time, warned to prevent her father from recreating the GENIE. Rose then wishes the GENIE free from its obligation to grant wishes. The GENIE, now able to choose, wishes to go somewhere peaceful and nice, and vanishes. Finally, the Doctor and Rose take the newly made Fortuna statue (sculpted by the Doctor) and leave it in the grove at Gracilis's villa, where Optatus is now happily reunited with his parents.
Characters[]
- Tenth Doctor
- Rose Tyler
- Mickey Smith
- Jackie Tyler
- Gnaeus Fabius Gracilis
- GENIE
- Marcia Gracilis
- Aulus Valerius Ursus
- Vanessa Moretti
- Optatus Gracilis
- Lucius Aelius Rufus
- Balbus
- Tiro
- Cornelia
- Quintus Junius Crispus
- Gaia
Worldbuilding[]
- The Doctor keeps a set of Winnie the Pooh bed linens in the TARDIS.
- The Doctor mentions the Moomins, Chorlton and the Wheelies and Spongebob SquarePants when talking about how stories can be based on echoes of altered timelines or "disappearing time tracks.", adding that there was a galactic inquiry when Robocop was released.
- The "miracle cure" to reverse petrification, an emerald-green liquid in a glass phial, and its circular origin, is an example of a bootstrap paradox.
- The Doctor calls four of his fellow prisoners in the Colosseum dungeons John, Paul, George, and Ringo, as a nod to The Beatles.
- Ringo, one of the Doctor's cellmates, was arrested for selling fake Greek artworks. George was a pie-maker falsely accused of poisoning.
- The GENIE stands for Genetically Engineered Neural Imagination Engine, created by Salvatorio Moretti at the Bureau Tygon in 2375.
- The main events in Rome take place on and around the Quinquatrus festival, celebrating the goddess Minerva, which occurs on 19 March 120 AD.
- The Doctor's signature on the base of the Rose statue he sculpts is in Gallifreyan.
- Minerva is depicted as the Roman goddess of war and the arts, and patron of artisans. Fortuna is the Roman goddess of good luck, sometimes depicted blindfolded.
Food and beverages[]
- The Doctor and Rose eat fruit pastries with spiced wine when they first arrive in Rome.
- They are given fresh figs by the Doctor during their journey to Gracilis's villa.
- Later they eat a full Roman meal, including a strong fish sauce called garum, at Gracilis's villa.
- The Doctor consumes large quantities of honeyed wine and hot pies whilst searching for Rose in various Roman taverns and snack bars.
- The Doctor and Mickey drink blackcurrant cordial in the British Museum's Great Court.
- Rose wishes for, and receives, a bag of hot chips (made from potatoes) with salt and vinegar, and a fork, while in the timeless void with the GENIE.
Notes[]
- This is the first Tenth Doctor novel.
- Later reprints of this book removed the image of Billie Piper from the cover, presumably due to use-of-likeness issues after she had left the programme. The 2015 reprint in The History Collection features an introduction from Rayner.
- This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
- According to Jacqueline Rayner's website, this is the best-selling Doctor Who novel ever.[1]
- The copyright page indicates the cover design is by Henry Steadman and notes "Format c BBC 1963," referring to the original Doctor Who series' production format.
Continuity[]
- The Doctor jokes about nearly marrying an elephant, saying his "fiancée ate the bouquet, invalidating the contract. And I did what is technically known as 'a runner'." This alludes to the Doctor's vague history with weddings. (TV: Blink)
- Jackie mentions the Doctor's "new body," referencing his recent regeneration. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
- Rose thinks about her future travels, including being on a space station defeating Daleks (TV: The Parting of the Ways) and watching Earth's destruction by the sun. (TV: The End of the World)
- Vanessa Moretti mentions trying to warn people about the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii, unaware it had already occurred in 79 AD. The Doctor, in his tenth incarnation, would later be present at and trigger this eruption. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)
- The Doctor mentions working with Michelangelo in the Renaissance to create the replica statue of Rose. The Fifth Doctor previously met Michelangelo in Rome in 1511. (AUDIO: Fallen Angels)
- The Doctor names four of his cellmates in the Colosseum dungeons John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The Fifth Doctor attempted to see The Beatles. (AUDIO: 1963: Fanfare for the Common Men)
Additional cover images[]
Editions published outside Britain[]
- Published in China by New Star Press in 2018 as a paperback edition.
Audiobook[]
- This novel was released as an audiobook on 3 July 2006 by BBC Audio and read by David Tennant.
- It was reissued in two parts as a promotional free CD with the Radio Times in 2008.
External links[]
- Official The Stone Rose page at Penguin Books
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Stone Rose at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: The Stone Rose
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