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'''"Superphone"''' was the nickname [[Rose Tyler]] gave to her [[mobile phone]] after it was altered by the the [[Ninth Doctor]], giving it the ability to communicate through time and space. ([[TV]]: ''[[World War Three (TV story)|World War Three]]'') Similar "superphones" were created by the Doctor for many of his companions after Rose. The Doctor had one of his own.
{{first pic|Tardis calling.jpg|The Doctor calling Rose from the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: {{cs|World War Three (TV story)}})}}
"'''Superphone'''" was the nickname [[Rose Tyler]] gave to [[Rose Tyler's mobile phone|her]] [[mobile phone]] after it was altered by the [[Ninth Doctor]], giving it the ability to communicate through time and space. ([[TV]]: {{cs|World War Three (TV story)}}) Similar "superphones" were created by the Doctor for many of their companions after Rose. The Doctor sometimes had one of their own.


== Overview ==
== Overview ==
=== Abilities ===
=== Abilities ===
[[File:Doctor app.jpg|thumb|100px|The "Doctor" superphone app on [[Gabby Gonzalez]]'s smartphone. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Fountains of Forever (comic story)}})|left]]
A superphone could be used to make telephone calls through time and space. It could also work in places where there was no phone service.
A superphone could be used to make telephone calls through time and space. It could also work in places where there was no phone service.


The Doctor altered Rose's mobile phone into a superphone by adding a chip into it, enabling Rose to call [[Jackie Tyler|her mother Jackie]] while on her adventures with the Doctor. Rose had experienced distress at the thought of going to a time period where her mother would quite likely be long dead by then, which prompted the Doctor to modify her mobile to contact Jackie in real time elapsed from the point she entered the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of the World (TV story)|The End of the World]]'')
=== Known superphones ===


The [[Tenth Doctor]] altered [[Martha Jones]]' phone into a superphone, this time using only his [[sonic screwdriver]] rather than a technological addition to the phone, imparting it with "Universal Roaming" service. ([[TV]]: ''[[42 (TV story)|42]]'')
The [[Ninth Doctor]] altered Rose's mobile phone into a superphone by adding a chip into it, enabling Rose to call [[Jackie Tyler|her mother Jackie]] while on her adventures with the Doctor. Rose had experienced distress at the thought of going to a time period where her mother would quite likely be long dead by then, which prompted the Doctor to modify her mobile to contact Jackie in real time elapsed from the point she entered the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The End of the World (TV story)}})


[[Donna Noble]]'s phone was enhanced by the Doctor as well. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]'') It is unknown if the Doctor reverted the phone to its unaltered state after Donna lost her memories, due to the risk of it acting as a link to remembering him. ([[TV]]: ''[[Journey's End]]'')
According to the Ninth Doctor, [[the TARDIS]] itself also boosted [[mobile phone|mobile]] signals significantly. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Rose (novelisation)}})


[[File:The Doctor Phones UNIT.jpg|thumb|left|The Doctor creates a superphone on [[San Helios]], stranded in a place where a normal phone cannot work. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')]]
The [[Tenth Doctor]] altered [[Martha Jones]]' [[Martha Jones' mobile phone|phone]] into a superphone, this time using only his [[Ninth Doctor's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver]] rather than a technological addition to the phone, imparting it with "Universal Roaming" service. ([[TV]]: {{cs|42 (TV story)}})
The Doctor altered [[Barclay (Planet of the Dead)|Barclay's]] phone to call [[UNIT]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')


There were at least two superphones available for use in the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s TARDIS: Amy's phone and a flip phone occasionally used by the Doctor.{{facts}} ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'') Rory also possessed a superphone. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (TV story)|Dinosaurs on a Spaceship]]'')
[[Donna Noble]]'s phone was enhanced by the Doctor as well. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Doctor's Daughter (TV story)}})
 
[[File:The Doctor Phones UNIT.jpg|thumb|The Doctor uses a superphone on [[San Helios]], stranded where a normal phone cannot work. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Planet of the Dead (TV story)}})]]
The Doctor altered [[Barclay (Planet of the Dead)|Barclay]]'s phone to call [[UNIT]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Planet of the Dead (TV story)}})
 
The Doctor also added Universal Roaming to [[Gabby Gonzalez]]'s phone using the sonic screwdriver. He told her messages could be sent to the screwdriver or the [[psychic paper]]. In this particular upgrade, Gabby received a "Doctor" app on her phone through which the messages could be sent. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Fountains of Forever (comic story)}})
 
After having her brand new [[smart phone]] wrecked by [[the Wire]], the [[Tenth Doctor]] made it up to [[Alice Wu]] by upgrading her old [[mobile phone]] giving it a direct line to the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Loose Wire (short story)}})
 
There were at least two superphones available for use in the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s TARDIS: [[Amy Pond]]'s phone and a flip phone occasionally used by the Doctor. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Day of the Moon (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Doctor's Wife (TV story)}}) [[Rory Williams]] also possessed a superphone. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (TV story)}})
 
The [[Fifteenth Doctor]] modified [[Ruby Sunday]]'s [[Ruby Sunday's smartphone|smartphone]] through his [[Fifteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Space Babies (TV story)}})


=== Examples of use ===
=== Examples of use ===
During the [[Slitheen family|Slitheen]] crisis, Jackie Tyler called her daughter. Rose's superphone was the only phone working in the sealed [[Cabinet Room]]. It provided an outside line for the [[Ninth Doctor]] to communicate with [[Mickey Smith]] and Jackie and coordinate efforts against the Slitheen. Using the connection, the two groups figured out the Slitheen's weakness. The Doctor talked Mickey through shooting a [[Harpoon missile]] at [[10 Downing Street]], destroying the Slitheen. Later, Rose received a call on it from the Doctor in the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: ''[[World War Three (TV story)|World War Three]]'')
During the [[Slitheen family|Slitheen]] crisis, Jackie Tyler called her daughter. Rose's superphone was the only phone working in the sealed [[Cabinet Room]]. It provided an outside line for the [[Ninth Doctor]] to communicate with [[Mickey Smith]] and Jackie and coordinate efforts against the Slitheen. Using the connection, the two groups figured out the Slitheen's weakness. The Doctor talked Mickey through shooting a [[Harpoon missile]] at [[10 Downing Street]], destroying the Slitheen. Later, Rose received a call on it from the Doctor in the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: {{cs|World War Three (TV story)}})


==== Abuse of the superphone ====
==== Abuse of the superphone ====
[[Adam Mitchell]] used Rose's superphone to phone his mother in his own time to send knowledge of the future back to his time for his own gain. Knowing the potential damage he could do to the natural course of history, coupled with an experience where Adam's underhanded behavior during a journey to [[Satellite Five]] nearly got everyone killed, the Doctor expelled him from the TARDIS. Furthermore, he used the [[sonic screwdriver]] to overload and obliterate the phone in his mother's house to ensure the messages he left on its answering machine would be irrecoverable. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Long Game]]'')
[[Adam Mitchell]] used Rose's superphone to phone his mother in his own time to send knowledge of the future back to his time for his own gain. Knowing the potential damage he could do to the natural course of history, coupled with an experience where Adam's underhanded behaviour during a journey to [[Satellite Five]] nearly got everyone killed, the Doctor expelled him from the TARDIS. Furthermore, he used the [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver]] to overload and obliterate the phone in his mother's house to ensure the messages he left on its answering machine would be irrecoverable. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Long Game (TV story)}})
 
==== Other uses ====
After the [[Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17|Lady Cassandra]] took possession of Rose's body on [[New Earth (New Earth)|New Earth]], she received a call from the [[Tenth Doctor]] on Rose's superphone and initially believed the ringtone was coming from her [[posterior]]. Encouraged by her servant [[Chip]], who described the phone as a "primitive communications device", Cassandra answered the call with an attempt at "Old Earth Cockney" [[Cockney rhyming slang|rhyming slang]] to pass herself off as Rose and assured the Doctor she would be on her way. ([[TV]]: {{cs|New Earth (TV story)}})
 
While stuck on [[Pete's World]], Rose's superphone still worked. She used it to find out about that world. During the invasion of the [[Battersea Power Station]], the [[Tenth Doctor]] had Mickey find a much needed code. He transmitted it to Rose's phone via [[text message|text]]. The Doctor plugged the phone into a nearby console and the code shut down the Cybermen's inhibitors, defeating them. The Doctor had Mickey keep Rose's superphone, as it had the code he needed programmed into it. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Age of Steel (TV story)}})
 
Rose received another superphone by the time she was stranded on [[Krop Tor]]. This phone had no signal there, after the TARDIS was briefly lost, but was intercepted by [[The Beast (The Impossible Planet)|the Beast]], who sent a message saying, "He is awake." ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Impossible Planet (TV story)}})
 
While stuck on a ship falling into a sun, Martha's phone was modified by the [[Tenth Doctor]] to call her mother. During her travels with the Doctor, she did this a lot, unaware her calls were being monitored. When she needed to answer a trivia question, Martha called her mother to look it up on the [[Internet]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|42 (TV story)}})
 
Following her ordeal during "[[the Year That Never Was]]", Martha Jones gave her phone to the Doctor to contact him should he ever be needed. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Last of the Time Lords (TV story)}}) Martha called him, bringing him back to [[Earth]] to assist with [[UNIT]]'s investigation of the [[ATMOS]] facility. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}})


==== Other known uses ====
The Doctor later modified [[Donna Noble]]'s phone to call Martha Jones. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Doctor's Daughter (TV story)}})
While stuck on Pete's World, Rose's superphone still worked. She used it to find out about that world. During the invasion of the Battersea power station, the [[Tenth Doctor]] had Mickey find a much needed code. He transmitted it to Rose's phone via text. The Doctor plugged the phone into a nearby console and the code shut down the Cybermen's inhibitors, defeating them. The Doctor had Mickey keep Rose's superphone, as it had the code he needed programmed into it. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel]]'')


While stuck on a ship falling into a sun, Martha's phone was modified by the [[Tenth Doctor]] to call her mother. During her travels with the Doctor, she did this a lot, unaware her calls were being monitored. When she needed to answer a trivia question, Martha called her mother to look it up on the [[Internet]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[42 (TV story)|42]]'')
Martha's phone was also used by [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]], [[Mr Smith]] and [[Harriet Jones]], all using the [[Cardiff rift]] to contact the Doctor when Earth was [[teleport]]ed to the [[Medusa Cascade]] by [[Davros]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Stolen Earth (TV story)}})


Following her ordeal during the "[[Year That Never Was]]", Martha Jones gave her phone to the Doctor to contact him should he ever be needed. Martha called him, bringing him back to [[Earth]] to assist with [[UNIT]]'s investigation of the [[ATMOS]] facility. ([[TV]]: ''[[Last of the Time Lords]]'', ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')
When he was stuck on [[San Helios]], the Doctor modified [[Barclay (Planet of the Dead)|Barclay]]'s phone into a superphone to communicate with [[UNIT]] on Earth. The Doctor used it to communicate with [[Malcolm Taylor|Doctor Malcolm Taylor]] and [[Erisa Magambo|Captain Erisa Magambo]] to find a way back and deal with the threat of the [[stingray]]s. Even though his phone was unmodified, [[Nathan (Planet of the Dead)|Nathan]] called the Doctor on the superphone, showing that any phone could call a superphone, no matter where it was. The Doctor brought the people on [[the 200]] home. He used the phone to tell Malcom to close the wormhole despite being hung up on twice. What happened to it afterwards is unknown. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Planet of the Dead (TV story)}})


The Doctor later modified [[Donna Noble]]'s phone to call Martha Jones. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]'')
Apparently [[Christina de Souza|Lady Christina de Souza]] either learned of the Doctor's superphone number or obtained Barclay's phone, as at one point the Doctor answered his superphone in the TARDIS thinking it was Christina calling him. It was actually Martha. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Tesseract (comic story)}})


Martha's phone was also used by [[Torchwood 3|Torchwood]], [[Mr Smith]] and [[Harriet Jones]], all using the [[Cardiff rift]] to contact the Doctor when Earth was [[teleport]]ed to the [[Medusa Cascade]] by [[Davros]] . ([[TV]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'')
When the Doctor briefly suffered a [[retro-regeneration]], his [[psychic paper]] sent a telepathic feedback to Gabby's superphone, allowing her to access the messages on it and locate the Doctor. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|The Fountains of Forever (comic story)}})


When he was stuck on San Helios, the Doctor modified Barclay's phone into a superphone to communicate with UNIT on Earth. The Doctor used it to communicate with [[Malcolm Taylor|Doctor Malcolm Taylor]] and [[Erisa Magambo|Captain Erisa Magambo]] to find a way back and deal with the threat of the [[Stingray|stingrays]]. Even though his phone was unmodified, [[Nathan (Planet of the Dead)|Nathan]] called the Doctor on the superphone, showing that any phone could call a superphone, no matter where it was. The Doctor brought the people on [[the 200 ]]home. He used the phone to tell Malcom to close the wormhole despite being hung up on twice. What happened to it afterwards is unknown. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
[[Canton Everett Delaware III]] used Amy Pond's mobile phone to receive a call from the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s flip phone in [[1969]], before cell networks existed, indicating that both phones must have been upgraded by the Doctor at some point. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Day of the Moon (TV story)}})


Apparently [[Christina de Souza|Lady Christina de Souza]] either learned of the Doctor's superphone number or obtained Barclay's phone, as at one point the Doctor answered his superphone in the TARDIS thinking it was Christina calling him. It was actually Martha. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Tesseract]]'')
The Doctor used Amy's phone to keep in touch with her when she and Rory were trapped in the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Doctor's Wife (TV story)}})


[[Canton Delaware]] used Amy Pond's cell phone to receive a call from the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s flip phone in [[1969]], before cell networks existed, indicating that both phones must have been upgraded by the Doctor at some point.
[[Clara Oswald]]'s phone was capable of [[video chat|video calling]] to and from the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Before the Flood (TV story)}})


The Doctor used Amy's phone to keep in touch with her when she and Rory were trapped in the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'')
At some point after joining [[Thirteenth Doctor|the Doctor]] and [[Yasmin Khan|Yaz]], [[Dan Lewis]]' phone was given "universal roaming", enabling him to phone his friend [[Diane (The Halloween Apocalypse)|Di]] in [[21st century]] [[Liverpool]] whilst he was on a beach in [[19th century]] [[China]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Legend of the Sea Devils (TV story)}})
 
After being granted superphone abilities, Ruby Sunday tested its abilities by calling [[Carla Sunday]], just ten seconds after she'd left [[Sundays' home|their home]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Space Babies (TV story)}})


=== Strengths and weaknesses ===
=== Strengths and weaknesses ===
A superphone had the ability to call the person the caller was looking for no matter where in time or space they were, referred to as "free roaming". It locked onto the the user's relative time. The only exception to this last was the Doctor himself. It worked in areas with no service, as proven when the [[Ninth Doctor]], Rose, and [[Harriet Jones]] used Rose's superphone to communicate with Jackie Tyler and [[Mickey Smith]] while trapped in the cabinet room, which should have been impossible. ([[TV]]: ''[[World War Three]]'')
A superphone had the ability to call the person the caller was looking for no matter where in time or space they were, referred to as "free roaming". It locked onto the user's relative time. It worked in areas with no service, as proven when the [[Ninth Doctor]], Rose, and [[Harriet Jones]] used Rose's superphone to communicate with Jackie Tyler and [[Mickey Smith]] while trapped in the cabinet room, which should have been impossible. ([[TV]]: {{cs|World War Three (TV story)}})


Rose could not get any reception on the planet [[Krop Tor]], but was startled when she received a call foreshadowing [[The Beast (The Impossible Planet)|the Beast]]'s escape. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Impossible Planet]]'') Martha also had trouble contacting the Doctor when the Earth was forced out of sync with the rest of the universe. She found her phone couldn't contact the superphone. As Martha herself said, this was probably because the Daleks were blocking all interstellar transmissions. Wilf and Sylvia could not contact Donna's superphone with their normal phone and Rose Tyler's superphone was also non-functional. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'')
Rose could not get any reception on the planet [[Krop Tor]], which orbited a [[black hole]], and so was startled when she received a call foreshadowing [[The Beast (The Impossible Planet)|the Beast]]'s escape. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Impossible Planet (TV story)}}) Martha also had trouble contacting the Doctor when the Earth was forced out of sync with the rest of the universe. She found her phone couldn't contact the Doctor's superphone. As Martha herself said, this was probably because the Daleks were blocking all interstellar transmissions. Wilf and Sylvia also could not contact Donna's superphone with their normal phone and Rose Tyler's superphone also was non-functional. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Stolen Earth (TV story)}})


When the Doctor modified Donna's phone, he called Martha on it despite her being on a different planet and the phone she used being an ordinary cell phone. When he used Barclay's modified phone, Nathan called him despite being on the same planet as he was. This indicates that any phone could call the superphone or could be called by it, no matter if it had service or not.
[[Rory Williams]] once found a superphone on the TARDIS and used it to access the [[Internet]]. Because the TARDIS had no [[firewall]]s, Rory's dabbling resulted in the TARDIS being flooded by [[hologram|holographic]] [[spam (email)|spam]]. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Spam Filtered (comic story)}})


[[Rory Williams]] once found a superphone on the TARDIS and used it to access the Internet. Because the TARDIS had no firewalls, Rory's dabbling resulted in the TARDIS being flooded by [[hologram|holographic]] spam. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Spam Filtered (comic story)|Spam Filtered]]'')
Despite being able to communicate across time, according to the Doctor [[Clara Oswald]]'s phone would be unable to get a signal when taken inside the [[Faraday cage]] at [[the Drum]], a mining facility in [[Scotland]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Before the Flood (TV story)}})


== Precursors ==
== Precursors ==
The [[Second Doctor]] modified [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's]] mobile radio, boosting it through the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] communication systems to function through the TARDIS' forcefield, though it lacked the range to work after the TARDIS and the surrounding laboratory had been taken to the [[anti-matter universe]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Three Doctors]]'')
The [[Second Doctor]] modified [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart|Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]]'s mobile radio, boosting it through the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] communication systems to function through the TARDIS's forcefield, though it lacked the range to work after the TARDIS and the surrounding laboratory had been taken to the [[anti-matter universe]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Three Doctors (TV story)}})
 
The [[Fifth Doctor]] and [[Nyssa]] created an experimental device called a [[temporal interocitor]] to communicate across spacetime. This device was implied{{By whom}} to be a prototype for the superphone. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Renaissance of the Daleks (audio story)}})
 
== Behind the scenes ==
The Doctor has to date been shown four times on screen turning their companion's mobile into a "superphone": Rose Tyler's in [[TV]]: ''[[The End of the World (TV story)|The End of the World]]'', [[Martha Jones]]' quite late in her first season, in [[TV]]: ''[[42 (TV story)|42]]'', [[Donna Noble]] in [[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Daughter (TV story)|The Doctor's Daughter]]'' and [[Ruby Sunday]] in ''[[Space Babies (TV story)|Space Babies]]''. With [[Amy Pond]] and [[Clara Oswald]], phone upgrades were simply taken as a given, with Clara seen using two distinctly different models of phone during her time.
 
In [[Series 11 (Doctor Who 2005)|Series 11]], [[Yasmin Khan]] explicitly regains mobile reception only upon returning to [[21st Century]] [[Earth]] in [[TV]]: ''[[Arachnids in the UK (TV story)|Arachnids in the UK]]''.


The [[Fifth Doctor]] and [[Nyssa]] created an experimental device called a [[temporal interocitor]] to communicate across spacetime. This device was implied to be a prototype for the superphone. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Renaissance of the Daleks]]'')
[[Category:Mobile phones]]
[[Category:The Doctor's devices]]
[[Category:Communications technology]]
[[Category:Communications technology]]

Latest revision as of 18:12, 3 November 2024

The Doctor calling Rose from the TARDIS. (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"])

"Superphone" was the nickname Rose Tyler gave to her mobile phone after it was altered by the Ninth Doctor, giving it the ability to communicate through time and space. (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"]) Similar "superphones" were created by the Doctor for many of their companions after Rose. The Doctor sometimes had one of their own.

Overview[[edit] | [edit source]]

Abilities[[edit] | [edit source]]

The "Doctor" superphone app on Gabby Gonzalez's smartphone. (COMIC: The Fountains of Forever [+]Loading...["The Fountains of Forever (comic story)"])

A superphone could be used to make telephone calls through time and space. It could also work in places where there was no phone service.

Known superphones[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Ninth Doctor altered Rose's mobile phone into a superphone by adding a chip into it, enabling Rose to call her mother Jackie while on her adventures with the Doctor. Rose had experienced distress at the thought of going to a time period where her mother would quite likely be long dead by then, which prompted the Doctor to modify her mobile to contact Jackie in real time elapsed from the point she entered the TARDIS. (TV: The End of the World [+]Loading...["The End of the World (TV story)"])

According to the Ninth Doctor, the TARDIS itself also boosted mobile signals significantly. (PROSE: Rose [+]Loading...["Rose (novelisation)"])

The Tenth Doctor altered Martha Jones' phone into a superphone, this time using only his sonic screwdriver rather than a technological addition to the phone, imparting it with "Universal Roaming" service. (TV: 42 [+]Loading...["42 (TV story)"])

Donna Noble's phone was enhanced by the Doctor as well. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter [+]Loading...["The Doctor's Daughter (TV story)"])

The Doctor uses a superphone on San Helios, stranded where a normal phone cannot work. (TV: Planet of the Dead [+]Loading...["Planet of the Dead (TV story)"])

The Doctor altered Barclay's phone to call UNIT. (TV: Planet of the Dead [+]Loading...["Planet of the Dead (TV story)"])

The Doctor also added Universal Roaming to Gabby Gonzalez's phone using the sonic screwdriver. He told her messages could be sent to the screwdriver or the psychic paper. In this particular upgrade, Gabby received a "Doctor" app on her phone through which the messages could be sent. (COMIC: The Fountains of Forever [+]Loading...["The Fountains of Forever (comic story)"])

After having her brand new smart phone wrecked by the Wire, the Tenth Doctor made it up to Alice Wu by upgrading her old mobile phone giving it a direct line to the TARDIS. (PROSE: Loose Wire [+]Loading...["Loose Wire (short story)"])

There were at least two superphones available for use in the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS: Amy Pond's phone and a flip phone occasionally used by the Doctor. (TV: Day of the Moon [+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"], The Doctor's Wife [+]Loading...["The Doctor's Wife (TV story)"]) Rory Williams also possessed a superphone. (TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship [+]Loading...["Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (TV story)"])

The Fifteenth Doctor modified Ruby Sunday's smartphone through his sonic screwdriver. (TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"])

Examples of use[[edit] | [edit source]]

During the Slitheen crisis, Jackie Tyler called her daughter. Rose's superphone was the only phone working in the sealed Cabinet Room. It provided an outside line for the Ninth Doctor to communicate with Mickey Smith and Jackie and coordinate efforts against the Slitheen. Using the connection, the two groups figured out the Slitheen's weakness. The Doctor talked Mickey through shooting a Harpoon missile at 10 Downing Street, destroying the Slitheen. Later, Rose received a call on it from the Doctor in the TARDIS. (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"])

Abuse of the superphone[[edit] | [edit source]]

Adam Mitchell used Rose's superphone to phone his mother in his own time to send knowledge of the future back to his time for his own gain. Knowing the potential damage he could do to the natural course of history, coupled with an experience where Adam's underhanded behaviour during a journey to Satellite Five nearly got everyone killed, the Doctor expelled him from the TARDIS. Furthermore, he used the sonic screwdriver to overload and obliterate the phone in his mother's house to ensure the messages he left on its answering machine would be irrecoverable. (TV: The Long Game [+]Loading...["The Long Game (TV story)"])

Other uses[[edit] | [edit source]]

After the Lady Cassandra took possession of Rose's body on New Earth, she received a call from the Tenth Doctor on Rose's superphone and initially believed the ringtone was coming from her posterior. Encouraged by her servant Chip, who described the phone as a "primitive communications device", Cassandra answered the call with an attempt at "Old Earth Cockney" rhyming slang to pass herself off as Rose and assured the Doctor she would be on her way. (TV: New Earth [+]Loading...["New Earth (TV story)"])

While stuck on Pete's World, Rose's superphone still worked. She used it to find out about that world. During the invasion of the Battersea Power Station, the Tenth Doctor had Mickey find a much needed code. He transmitted it to Rose's phone via text. The Doctor plugged the phone into a nearby console and the code shut down the Cybermen's inhibitors, defeating them. The Doctor had Mickey keep Rose's superphone, as it had the code he needed programmed into it. (TV: The Age of Steel [+]Loading...["The Age of Steel (TV story)"])

Rose received another superphone by the time she was stranded on Krop Tor. This phone had no signal there, after the TARDIS was briefly lost, but was intercepted by the Beast, who sent a message saying, "He is awake." (TV: The Impossible Planet [+]Loading...["The Impossible Planet (TV story)"])

While stuck on a ship falling into a sun, Martha's phone was modified by the Tenth Doctor to call her mother. During her travels with the Doctor, she did this a lot, unaware her calls were being monitored. When she needed to answer a trivia question, Martha called her mother to look it up on the Internet. (TV: 42 [+]Loading...["42 (TV story)"])

Following her ordeal during "the Year That Never Was", Martha Jones gave her phone to the Doctor to contact him should he ever be needed. (TV: Last of the Time Lords [+]Loading...["Last of the Time Lords (TV story)"]) Martha called him, bringing him back to Earth to assist with UNIT's investigation of the ATMOS facility. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"])

The Doctor later modified Donna Noble's phone to call Martha Jones. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter [+]Loading...["The Doctor's Daughter (TV story)"])

Martha's phone was also used by Torchwood, Mr Smith and Harriet Jones, all using the Cardiff rift to contact the Doctor when Earth was teleported to the Medusa Cascade by Davros. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"])

When he was stuck on San Helios, the Doctor modified Barclay's phone into a superphone to communicate with UNIT on Earth. The Doctor used it to communicate with Doctor Malcolm Taylor and Captain Erisa Magambo to find a way back and deal with the threat of the stingrays. Even though his phone was unmodified, Nathan called the Doctor on the superphone, showing that any phone could call a superphone, no matter where it was. The Doctor brought the people on the 200 home. He used the phone to tell Malcom to close the wormhole despite being hung up on twice. What happened to it afterwards is unknown. (TV: Planet of the Dead [+]Loading...["Planet of the Dead (TV story)"])

Apparently Lady Christina de Souza either learned of the Doctor's superphone number or obtained Barclay's phone, as at one point the Doctor answered his superphone in the TARDIS thinking it was Christina calling him. It was actually Martha. (COMIC: Tesseract [+]Loading...["Tesseract (comic story)"])

When the Doctor briefly suffered a retro-regeneration, his psychic paper sent a telepathic feedback to Gabby's superphone, allowing her to access the messages on it and locate the Doctor. (COMIC: The Fountains of Forever [+]Loading...["The Fountains of Forever (comic story)"])

Canton Everett Delaware III used Amy Pond's mobile phone to receive a call from the Eleventh Doctor's flip phone in 1969, before cell networks existed, indicating that both phones must have been upgraded by the Doctor at some point. (TV: Day of the Moon [+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"])

The Doctor used Amy's phone to keep in touch with her when she and Rory were trapped in the TARDIS. (TV: The Doctor's Wife [+]Loading...["The Doctor's Wife (TV story)"])

Clara Oswald's phone was capable of video calling to and from the TARDIS. (TV: Before the Flood [+]Loading...["Before the Flood (TV story)"])

At some point after joining the Doctor and Yaz, Dan Lewis' phone was given "universal roaming", enabling him to phone his friend Di in 21st century Liverpool whilst he was on a beach in 19th century China. (TV: Legend of the Sea Devils [+]Loading...["Legend of the Sea Devils (TV story)"])

After being granted superphone abilities, Ruby Sunday tested its abilities by calling Carla Sunday, just ten seconds after she'd left their home. (TV: Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"])

Strengths and weaknesses[[edit] | [edit source]]

A superphone had the ability to call the person the caller was looking for no matter where in time or space they were, referred to as "free roaming". It locked onto the user's relative time. It worked in areas with no service, as proven when the Ninth Doctor, Rose, and Harriet Jones used Rose's superphone to communicate with Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith while trapped in the cabinet room, which should have been impossible. (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"])

Rose could not get any reception on the planet Krop Tor, which orbited a black hole, and so was startled when she received a call foreshadowing the Beast's escape. (TV: The Impossible Planet [+]Loading...["The Impossible Planet (TV story)"]) Martha also had trouble contacting the Doctor when the Earth was forced out of sync with the rest of the universe. She found her phone couldn't contact the Doctor's superphone. As Martha herself said, this was probably because the Daleks were blocking all interstellar transmissions. Wilf and Sylvia also could not contact Donna's superphone with their normal phone and Rose Tyler's superphone also was non-functional. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"])

Rory Williams once found a superphone on the TARDIS and used it to access the Internet. Because the TARDIS had no firewalls, Rory's dabbling resulted in the TARDIS being flooded by holographic spam. (COMIC: Spam Filtered [+]Loading...["Spam Filtered (comic story)"])

Despite being able to communicate across time, according to the Doctor Clara Oswald's phone would be unable to get a signal when taken inside the Faraday cage at the Drum, a mining facility in Scotland. (TV: Before the Flood [+]Loading...["Before the Flood (TV story)"])

Precursors[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Second Doctor modified Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's mobile radio, boosting it through the TARDIS communication systems to function through the TARDIS's forcefield, though it lacked the range to work after the TARDIS and the surrounding laboratory had been taken to the anti-matter universe. (TV: The Three Doctors [+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TV story)"])

The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa created an experimental device called a temporal interocitor to communicate across spacetime. This device was implied[by whom?] to be a prototype for the superphone. (AUDIO: Renaissance of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Renaissance of the Daleks (audio story)"])

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor has to date been shown four times on screen turning their companion's mobile into a "superphone": Rose Tyler's in TV: The End of the World, Martha Jones' quite late in her first season, in TV: 42, Donna Noble in TV: The Doctor's Daughter and Ruby Sunday in Space Babies. With Amy Pond and Clara Oswald, phone upgrades were simply taken as a given, with Clara seen using two distinctly different models of phone during her time.

In Series 11, Yasmin Khan explicitly regains mobile reception only upon returning to 21st Century Earth in TV: Arachnids in the UK.

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