Howling:The Sonic Probe in The Girl Who Waited

The Howling → The Sonic Probe in The Girl Who Waited

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Was it slightly farfetched that a present day kiss-o-gram stuck in a secluded facility somehow learned to harness sonic technology and built a sonic probe? --00:04, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

Given that the kiss-o-gram has had three timelines flowing through her head for decades, a year to study under a Time Lord, and then thirty-six years to build the probe when she has access to technology so advanced they can fool around with time flows, not terribly. Boblipton ^{talk to me} 00:26, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

I think Boblipton has just about completed the discussion for us. One point, however: A kiss-o-gram isn't what Amy is (or was); a kiss-o-gram is (or was) a job she did. People aren't defined by their jobs. Anyway, we live in a world where our understanding of how the universe works, on every scale from the subatomic to the cosmological, was revolutionised by -- in your terms -- a patent clerk (Albert Einstein). What's "far fetched" after that? --2.101.60.159^{talk to me} 00:52, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

Amy figuring out how to build technology that advanced was a bit far-fetched, but not impossible. Maybe she asked that computer for help. I shouldn't think that having three timelines flowing through her head would be of any help, and the Doctor never really seems to train his companions technologically. Still, it was a a good enough story that that falls under willing suspension of disbelief.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 05:33, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

but how would amy know to call it the more general name of probe instead of screwdriver? the only sonic probe she has seen is a sonic screwdriver! how is she expected to know the difference? Imamadmad ^{talk to me} 06:33, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

Maybe that computer told her.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 08:57, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

That's like saying an uneducated 80 year old person would be a brilliant inventor if we put them in a high tech surroundings for 3 decades with technologies not relevant to the thing he is inventing. Moreover, I doubt there's even anything sonic for her to work with in her environment since the facility clearly uses light-based technology. It is extremely odd that she managed to build a sonic device from scratch with no knowledge. I'm more willing to believe if she managed to put together something laser...like a...um...laser flashlight, or out of a very small possibility, managed to survive hundreds of failed experiments and did something with the time engine, but a sonic probe is just odd and out of place....--222.166.181.204^{talk to me} 09:09, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

Well if Jackson Lake can invent a sonic screwdriver, then is it really unlikely that Amy can invent one?Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 09:14, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

JACKSON LAKE INVENTED A SONIC SCREWDRIVER?!!!?!!!?!?

It's certainly already very bad to make up details to support your argument, but making up an entire story that never happened is, you know, ...a bit, you know...

Let's keep away the fan-fics--222.166.181.100^{talk to me} 10:36, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

Fan-fic? That was straight out of The Next Doctor. Well, it was a screwdriver and it mae a noise. Therefore it was a sonic screwdriver. It's mentioned on the sonic screwdriver page.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 10:49, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

uh...the episode made it quite clear that Jackson Lake got the name from the infostamp, he never invented the name sonic screwdriver let alone an actual sonic screwdriver. I have absolutely no idea which The Next Doctor you were watching but it's definitely not the Doctor Who episode. --222.166.181.251^{talk to me} 11:00, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

"That's like saying an uneducated 80 year old person would be a brilliant inventor ..." etc.: There's nothing in what we've seen to indicate that Amy's uneducated. There's been plenty to show she's intelligent, determined and adaptable. She's certainly not 80 years old (even the older Amy was nowhere near that). Sonic technology has been shown to be fairly widespread, so there's every chance the computer would have information on it. The facility "clearly uses light-based technology" but it doesn't clearly use only light-based technology. Amy had 30-odd years in which to learn what she needed and build the thing. She also had good reason to do a lot of studying and tinkering to keep her mind occupied -- 30 years on your own is a long time! Why a sonic screwdriver rather than a laser one like the Master had? She knew there was such a thing as a sonic screwdriver; she'd never encountered a laser screwdriver. A sonic screwdriver was a reminder of her past life when she wasn't alone and was having rather a lot of fun -- and was with Rory. Furthermore, a sonic screwdriver was something she'd seen being a very useful, highly portable multipurpose tool. Why call it a sonic probe? Maybe that's what the computer called it. Anyway, we only heard her calling it that when she was angry with the Doctor and trying to make a point. It's perfectly possible she'd been calling it a sonic screwdriver (to herself) right up to the moment when she wanted to find another name for it as a way of expressing her anger. When she switched to calling it a sonic screwdriver, she didn't sound as if she was calling it something she'd not called it before. She just sounded as if she was reverting to her "non-angry" name for it. The most important thing in making it believable that Amy could build herself a sonic screwdriver in that environment is the time factor: she had over 30 years in which to do it! --89.241.69.185^{talk to me} 11:39, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

Almost everyone has 30 years to do something, and the perplexing part is how did she learn to build it in a secluded facility? The computer having instructions on building instructions to every single common technology in that era in that part of the Universe is quite unlikely, moreso a device that would aid the patient to hide/escape the facility. That's like an asylum having an instruction booklet attached to the gate intentionally teaching the patients to escape. --222.166.181.51^{talk to me} 12:58, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

How do you know what an alien species would program their computers to do? And why would they expect anyone to wish to escape a facility that will keep them alive for more than thirty years, when keaving it would kill them within a day? I don't understand and since you seem to claim to do so, please explain. Boblipton ^{talk to me} 13:14, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

Also, it was made explicit that the computer was helping Amy. --89.241.69.185^{talk to me} 14:20, January 12, 2012 (UTC)

222, the Jackson Lake reference was a joke, which you clearly didn't get. I agree that it is unlikely that Amy would be able to build a sonic screwdriver by herself, but clearly she accomplished it. The real reason that she built a sonic device instead of a laser one is for story purposes. It was a connection to the Doctor, but her refusal to use the Doctor's terminology showed that she had changed and didn't seem to care about the Doctor anymore. That wouldn't have worked as well with a laser, and it was a good story, so the whole thing really falls under willing suspension of disbelief.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 01:19, January 13, 2012 (UTC)

but how would she have gotten the materials to make a sonic screwdriver? Imamadmad ^{talk to me} 04:16, January 15, 2012 (UTC)

Sorry. That question strongly indicates you did not watch the episode. She had access to a huge quantity of high-tech materials. The stuff was all around her. Very, very obviously so. --89.242.73.40^{talk to me} 05:08, January 15, 2012 (UTC)

just because there is high tech materials doesn't mean that there is every bit of high tech material in existance and therefore not all high tech things can be made. for example, you could be in a high tech car factory on earth for a century but that doesn't mean you can build a high tech smart phone from the materials you find lying around the factory. Imamadmad ^{talk to me} 05:17, January 15, 2012 (UTC)

Fine. Which bit do you, in your immense wisdom, reckon was missing and couldn't be substituted? Or are you saying that we can't accept that anyone in the show can build anything unless we get shown every single detail, including the entire supply line for each component? Quite honestly, you are raising a blatantly stupid objection. --89.242.73.40^{talk to me} 05:30, January 15, 2012 (UTC)

P.S. I think (and very much hope) that you know it's stupid. --89.242.73.40^{talk to me} 05:37, January 15, 2012 (UTC)

hey, it's not stupid. what are the chances of all the materials for a sonic device made by a time/space traveler who could probably find the materials from different points of space-time to build his device could be found in the same enclosed space, nomatter how high tech it is. now, i don't know how to build a sonic screwdriver or what it's made of but i would assume that the materials wouldn't just be lying around in a quaranitned hospital area thing. Imamadmad ^{talk to me} 08:40, January 15, 2012 (UTC)

"Interface, I need a type 32-J High flux interocitor. And a katana." Boblipton ^{talk to me} 12:41, January 15, 2012 (UTC)

Imamadmad: It is stupid. You know that. Chances have nothing to do with it. You know that. She built the thing, therefore the materials were available, somehow. You know that. It's the same as the Doctor rigging something up. If it's successful, we know the materials were available. You know that. There's at least a legitimate question about Amy's knowledge and skills. Saying that, because they didn't show where she got every component of the thing, she can't have built it is and always has been a stupid objection. You could apply the same objection to the TARDIS, which provided the Doctor with a new sonic in The Eleventh Hour: The materials might not have been available, therefore it couldn't be done. That's intentionally stupid reasoning. You -- and we -- know that perfectly well. This is a show intended as entertainment. It's not going to bore its audience to death by showing where Amy (or anyone else) got every part of some device and how she (or anyone else) put the parts together. If it did that, the episode would be at least days long, if not months, and its ratings would be zero long, long before it ended. Grow up! -- If you have the materials, that is! --2.96.16.116^{talk to me} 16:33, January 15, 2012 (UTC)