Sonic screwdriver: Difference between revisions

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
Tag: sourceedit
 
(580 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Update|[[Thread:133842]] establishes there's some inconsistency among the writers, but there is nonetheless a sonic in the Doctor's possession by the time of his travels with Benny in the NAs.}}
{{subpage tabs}}
 
{{ImageLink}}
{{Infobox Object
{{Infobox Object
|image = ElevenSonicsTROA.jpg
|image       = The Pilot Cup of Sonic.jpg
|alias = The sonic, sonic probe
|alias       =  
|type = Multi-functional sonic device
|type       = [[Sonic device]]
|made by = {{il|[[The Doctor]]|[[The Doctor's TARDIS]]}}
|made by     = {{il|[[The Doctor]]|[[Romana II|Romana]]|[[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]]|[[Santa Claus]]|[[Amy Pond]]}}
|used by = [[The Doctor]] and his [[companion]]s
|used by     = [[The Doctor]] and some of their [[companion]]s, [[Stoyn]]
|origin = [[Gallifrey]]
|origin     = {{il|[[Gallifrey]]|[[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]]}}
|appearances = [[Sonic screwdriver - list of appearances|'''''see list''''']]
|first       = Fury from the Deep (TV story)
|first=Fury from the Deep (TV story)
|appearances = {{appears}}
|clip=The Master Summons the Sea Devil - The Sea Devils - Doctor Who - BBC
|clip       = The Master Summons the Sea Devil - The Sea Devils - Doctor Who - BBC
|clip2 = The Sonic Screwdriver is Destroyed! - The Visitation - Doctor Who - BBC
|clip2       = The Sonic Screwdriver is Destroyed! - The Visitation - Doctor Who - BBC
|clip3 = Hang on Doctor! - Doctor Who - BBC
|clip3       = Race to Save River Song (HQ) - Doctor Who - Forest of the Dead - BBC
}}
|bts        = The Woman Who Fell to Earth Episode 1 Closer Look Doctor Who BBC AMERICA
}}{{you may|Doctor Who: Sonic Screwdriver|n1=the mobile app}}
The '''sonic screwdriver''', also called a '''[[sonic probe]]''' or simply "the '''sonic'''", was a highly versatile [[tool]] used by many people throughout the universe, the most prominent of them being [[the Doctor]].


The '''sonic screwdriver''' — sometimes called '''the sonic''' — was a highly versatile tool used by [[the Doctor]]. He modified and ostensibly upgraded it over the years, giving it an increasing number of applications.  Early versions were used mainly for the picking of locks and for projecting sound so as to, for example, detonate bombs. By the time of the [[Ninth Doctor]], the sonic was able to also be used as a sophisticated scanning device, with medical applications.  Subsequent incarnations gave it even wider functionality, such as the ability to hack into computers, provide geolocation and actively defend against some types of assault weapons.
While almost always referred to as a sonic screwdriver, this device has on occasion been referred to as a sonic probe by people other than the Doctor, such as [[Dalek Sec]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'') and a version of [[Amy Pond]] who had been stuck on [[Apalapucia]] for 36 years. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited (TV story)|The Girl Who Waited]]'') The [[Tenth Doctor|Tenth]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'') and [[Eleventh Doctor|Eleventh]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited (TV story)|The Girl Who Waited]]'') Doctors openly disliked this and corrected those who did so. The [[Ninth Doctor|Ninth]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'') and [[Twelfth Doctor]]s ([[TV]]: ''[[The Husbands of River Song (TV story)|The Husbands of River Song]]'') also defended when others claimed it was inferior to other sonic devices like a [[sonic blaster]] or [[sonic trowel]].
 
All of these incarnations utilised the same software, though they used different cases. For all intents and purposes, the [[War Doctor]]'s sonic was the same as the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s some 400 years later. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')


== Technology and functions ==
== Technology and functions ==
The sonic screwdriver was considered to be very advanced [[Gallifrey]]an technology. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Heart of TARDIS]]'')
Identified by the [[Dalek]]s as a "[[sonic probe]]", ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'') the sonic screwdriver was considered to be very advanced [[Gallifrey]]an technology, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Heart of TARDIS (novel)|Heart of TARDIS]]'') although the Doctor could make one by using resources found on [[21st century]] [[Earth]] with help from [[Stenza]] technology. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)|The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]'') During the [[Dalek-Movellan War]], [[Davros]] dismissed the sonic screwdriver as a "simple" tool. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Triumph of Davros (audio story)|The Triumph of Davros]]'')
 
[[The Doctor]] claimed that he either invented or designed the specific sonic screwdriver which he owned. When [[Kazran Sardick]] was confused as to what to do when it looked like [[Abigail Pettigrew]] was about to kiss him, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] told Kazran to trust him and kiss Abigail, as "It's this, or go to your room and design a new kind of screwdriver. Don't make my mistakes. Now, go." ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'') When Captain [[Jack Harkness]] asked the [[Ninth Doctor]], "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?", the [[Ninth Doctor]] responded, "What? You never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of [[cabinet]]s to put up?" ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'') Other individuals had similar devices, such as the [[sonic pen]] used by [[Cofelia|Miss Foster]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime (TV story)|Partners in Crime]]'') and the [[sonic blaster]] used first by Captain [[Jack Harkness]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child (TV story)|The Empty Child]]'' / ''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'') and later [[River Song]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silence in the Library (TV story)|Silence in the Library]]'' / ''[[Forest of the Dead (TV story)|Forest of the Dead]]'') [[Sarah Jane Smith]] had her [[sonic lipstick]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Invasion of the Bane]]'', et. al.), and the Doctor himself once used a [[sonic cane]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)|Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
 
At least one version of the screwdriver used a [[crystal]] similar to the [[Metebelis crystal]] sought after by the [[Eight Legs]] of [[Metebelis III]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Forgotten (comic story)|The Forgotten]]'') There were also electrical components. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Halls of Sacrifice]]'')
 
The screwdriver had a multitude of settings and different versions of settings. The [[Tenth Doctor]] told [[Rose Tyler|Rose]] to use "setting 15B" to triangulate the source of the ghosts ([[TV]]: ''[[Army of Ghosts]]'') and used 34-H to sink a ship. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Second Wave]]'') It had a setting 85 that undid security codes to unlock doors. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lazarus Experiment]]'') The [[Ninth Doctor]] told Rose to use setting 2428D to re-attach barbed wire. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'') Sarah Jane used the Theta Omega setting to melt plastic vines. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Android Invasion]]'') The [[Twelfth Doctor]] told [[Clara Oswald|Clara]] to use setting number 41 to send out random bursts of [[helicon energy]] to distract the [[Skovox Blitzer]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'') However, at least one version of the screwdriver was able to use thoughts instead of settings. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)|Let's Kill Hitler]]'', ''[[Death in Heaven (TV story)|Death in Heaven]])
 
The different versions of the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers exhibited different capabilities and uses, such as the interception of signals ranging from transmat beams to conscious thought; ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of the World (TV story)|The End of the World]]'') medical diagnostics and repair of organic parts; ([[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child]]'', ''[[The Vampires of Venice]]'') cutting, but also re-attaching materials such as barbed wire; ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'') operating Earth machinery such as computers and even cash machines (at regular and high eject speeds); ([[TV]]: ''[[School Reunion]]'', ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'') creating a spark to light a candle or Bunsen burner; ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace]]'', ''[[Evolution of the Daleks (TV story)|Evolution of the Daleks]]'') opening and holding doors with acoustic locks; ([[TV]]: ''[[The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)|The Rings of Akhaten]]'') and, on the rare occasion, driving [[screw]]s without touching them. ([[TV]]: ''[[The War Games]],'' ''[[The Ark in Space]]'', ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')
 
Although it was primarily a tool, the sonic screwdriver could also be used as a defensive weapon. The Tenth Doctor put it in a sound board to destroy the [[Robot Santa]]s by overloading their sensors. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'') The [[Eleventh Doctor]] used it to bounce sound waves off a knife held by [[Melody Pond]], knocking it out of her hand. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'') The sonic screwdriver was also capable of holding off sound waves from creatures who relied on sound in order to attack such as the [[Vigil]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)|The Rings of Akhaten]]'') The Doctor also used it to try and help River Song defeat a group of [[Silent]]s although River teased him by saying it would be better if he used it to "build a cabinet". However, the Doctor implied that although it couldn't actually hurt the Silents it could weaken the power of their electricity, therefore allowing him to provide River with a certain degree of protection while she shot down their foes. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon (TV story)|Day of the Moon]]'')
 
Although the [[Eighth Doctor]] once claimed the device could destroy a Dalek's brain if held directly against the casing when activated, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[War of the Daleks]]'') according to the Tenth Doctor, the device could not be used to wound, maim or kill living things. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'', ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]'') It could destroy non-living objects or mechanisms or place living creatures in circumstances where they might die, if the situation required. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of the World (TV story)|The End of the World]]'', ''[[The Christmas Invasion]]'') The [[War Doctor]] claimed that it was a scientific instrument rather than a [[water pistol]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
 
From time to time, the sonic screwdriver needed to be recharged. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'' / ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Monsters Inside]]'', [[COMIC]]: ''[[Bizarre Zero]]'') It was self-repairing and could send out a homing signal to any parts that had been separated. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'') However, it was up to the owner to collect the parts for reassembly.
 
Sonic screwdrivers and similar technology could not unlock a [[deadlock seal]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[School Reunion]]'', ''[[The Night of the Doctor]]'') However, Miss Foster's [[sonic pen]] could open the deadlock seals that it was programmed to within her own facility when the Doctor's screwdriver could not. ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime]]'') Some or all versions were ineffective against [[wood]], or in the presence of some models of hairdryers. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'' / ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'', ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'', ''[[Night Terrors]]'', ''[[The Time of the Doctor]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Catastrophea (novel)|Catastrophea]]'')
 
== Variants of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver ==
[[File:Doc2Sonic.jpg|thumb|right|The earliest known version of the sonic screwdriver in use. ([[TV]]: ''[[The War Games]]'')]]
=== The First and Second Doctor's sonic ===
One sonic screwdriver, a small, simple metal rod similar to a penlight, used by the [[First Doctor|First]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Venusian Lullaby (novel)|Venusian Lullaby]]'') and [[Second Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Fury from the Deep]]'') It was used by the [[Eighth Doctor]] after it was destroyed "centuries ago." He explained how this occurred to his [[companion]] [[Samantha Jones]]: "It's a [[Time Lord]] tool. [[Time]] doesn't work the same way for Time Lord tools." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Alien Bodies]]'')
 
==== Known uses ====
* Cracking the code for an [[aerodynamic shuttle]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Venusian Lullaby (novel)|Venusian Lullaby]]) ''
* Opening up hatches, panels and control panels. ([[TV]]: ''[[Fury from the Deep]]'', ''[[The War Games]]'')
* For cutting through a section of a wall. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Dominators]]'')
* As a conventional screwdriver (without touching the screws). ([[TV]]: ''[[The War Games]]'')
 
=== The Third Doctor's sonic ===
[[File:Pertweewithscrewdriver.jpg|thumb|The Third Doctor's Sonic. ([[TV]]: ''[[Carnival of Monsters]]'')]]
The [[Third Doctor]]'s most-used model of the sonic screwdriver was much larger than the one his first and second incarnation used; its elaborately-detailed silver shape featured black and yellow stripes and red trim. It had a removable head which the Doctor would change with others, each performing a different function. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sea Devils]]'')
 
==== Known uses ====
* Scanning for alarm systems in [[the Master's TARDIS]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Colony in Space]]'')
* Remote detection and detonation of [[land mine]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sea Devils]]'')
* Unlocking a holding cell within a [[Sea Devil]] base. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sea Devils]]'')
* To open an electronic door. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mutants (TV story)|The Mutants]]'')
* Creation of a spark of [[fire]] and igniting [[swamp gas]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Carnival of Monsters]]'')
* Open electronic locks. ([[TV]]: ''[[Carnival of Monsters]]'')
* As conventional screwdriver, on large, flathead screw. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Curse of Peladon]]'')
* Overloading the brains of [[Space Greyhound]]s. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Forgotten (comic story)|The Forgotten]]'')
 
=== Refit used by the Third, Fourth and Fifth Doctor ===
[[File:Four uses Sonic on drone.jpg|thumb|The Fourth Doctor's Sonic. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')]]
The Third Doctor fitted the head of his sonic screwdriver with a cylindrical black magnet which enabled it to open bolted doors, especially when its polarity was reversed. ([[TV]]: ''[[Frontier in Space]]'') This refit left the metal mostly unpainted, with a dark red emitter ring. The head of this model could be extended.
 
Before this model met its demise, its head was repainted twice after the original coat wore off. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Keeper of Traken]]'', ''[[Castrovalva (TV story)|Castrovalva]]'') It was ultimately destroyed when a [[Terileptil]] leader forced the Doctor to drop the screwdriver inside a holding cell, then incinerated it with a laser gun — causing the Doctor to remark "I feel as though you've just killed an old friend." The Doctor went without a sonic screwdriver for some time after this model and [[Nyssa]] lamented the [[Fifth Doctor]]'s decision not to replace it. ([[TV]]: ''[[Snakedance]]'') The [[Tenth Doctor]] also criticised his past incarnation for going "hands-free" following this incident when their TARDISES accidentally collided. ([[TV]]: ''[[Time Crash (TV story)|Time Crash]]'')
 
The Doctor, leaving [[UNIT]], left behind a prototype. UNIT scientists then tried to use reverse-engineering to understand its workings; this went on into the [[21st century]]. Despite them trying to keep it quiet from the Doctor, he was well aware of the project by his [[seventh incarnation]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Persuasion (audio story)|Persuasion]]'')
 
==== Known uses ====
* Unbolting a door. ([[TV]]: ''[[Frontier in Space]]'')
* Fusing shut a sliding door. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Daleks]]'')
* Opening a lift door. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Green Death]]'')
* Distracting [[giant maggot]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Green Death]]'')
* Detecting booby-trapped floor tiles. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks]]'')
* Breaking a [[hypnotic]] trance. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks]]'')
* Opening a refinery door. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Monster of Peladon]]'')
* Remotely detonating mines. ([[TV]]: ''[[Robot (TV story)|Robot]]'')
* Cutting locks. ([[TV]]: ''[[Robot (TV story)|Robot]]'')
* Undoing screws. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ark in Space]]'')
* Repairing wires chewed by the [[Wirrn]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ark in Space]]'')
* Fixing a circle of [[transmat]] refractors. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')
* Breaching a [[force field]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')
* Shutting down [[Styre's robot]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sontaran Experiment]]'')
* Sabotaging a two-way [[radio]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks]]'')
* Deactivating an [[energy loop]] opening up [[Sutekh]]'s [[deflection barrier]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Pyramids of Mars]]'')
* Shattering the [[Clynex]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Naked Flame]]'')
* Safe-cracking. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sun Makers (TV story)|The Sun Makers]]'')
* Creating a temporary hole in [[Gallifrey]]'s [[force field]] above the Citadel. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Invasion of Time]]'')
* Using the correct sonic frequency to return the [[Fourth Doctor]], [[Ernestina Stott]] and later, [[The Doctor's scarf|his scarf]], to normal size. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Dead Shoes]]'')
* Opening doors on [[Ribos]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ribos Operation]]'')
* Unlocking multi-levered interlocks to the Ribos crown jewels casket ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ribos Operation]]'')
* Opening the door to the real [[Queen]] [[Xanxia]]'s chamber. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pirate Planet]]'')
* Freeing [[Romana I]] from her bonds on a [[prison ship]] in [[hyperspace]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Stones of Blood]]'')
* Blowing up a [[Dalek]] bomb. ([[TV]]: ''[[Destiny of the Daleks]]'')
* Unscrewing the [[Zero Room]]'s hinges and assisting in constructing the [[Zero Cabinet]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Castrovalva (TV story)|Castrovalva]]'')
* Disarming [[fusion bomb]]s by reversing the polarity of the neutron-flow. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion]]'')
* Creating a piercing loud noise to prevent security cameras from picking on the conversation between the [[Fifth Doctor]], [[Adric]], [[Nyssa]], and [[Tegan]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Four to Doomsday]]'')
* Opening a door to escape confinement. ([[TV]]: ''[[Four to Doomsday]]'')
* Reversing the magnetic field on [[Monopticon]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Four to Doomsday]]'')
* Short-circuiting [[android]]s in conjunction with a [[pencil]], the [[graphite]] acting as a conductive material for the screwdriver's power. ([[TV]]: ''[[Four to Doomsday]]'')
* It was used as a component in the [[delta wave augmenter]], to induce sleep. ([[TV]]: ''[[Kinda (TV story)|Kinda]]'')
 
=== Used by the Sixth Doctor ===
The [[Sixth Doctor]] once carried an unspecified replacement model for the sonic screwdriver, but had to leave it tied to the side of a video camera in a dungeon cell in order for it to keep the visual feed disabled. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Nightmare Fair (novelisation)|The Nightmare Fair]]'') He later carried another unknown sonic model during his adventures with [[Crystal]], [[Jason (The Ultimate Adventure)|Jason]], and [[Zog]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Ultimate Adventure (audio story)|The Ultimate Adventure]]'')
 
==== Known uses ====
* Disabling a video camera indefinitely. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Nightmare Fair (novelisation)|The Nightmare Fair]]'')
* Closing and sealing [[Dalek]] doors. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Ultimate Adventure (audio story)|The Ultimate Adventure]]'')
* For repair work on the [[TARDIS control console]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Ultimate Adventure (audio story)|The Ultimate Adventure]]'')
* The Doctor attempted to use it to free the [[Envoy|American Envoy]] from the Dalek [[Laser wall]], but this failed. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Ultimate Adventure (audio story)|The Ultimate Adventure]]'')
 
=== Used from the end of the Seventh Doctor's life ===
[[File:ChangLooksThroughSonic.jpg|thumb|[[Chang Lee]] discovers the sonic screwdriver amongst the things he stole from the [[Seventh Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'')]]
Towards the end of his [[Seventh Doctor|seventh life]], the Doctor fished another type of sonic screwdriver from one of the tool kits in [[the TARDIS]]. This model looked similar to the screwdriver seen at the end of his [[Fourth Doctor|fourth incarnation]]; it was silver with a brass trim ring in the lower grip. The handle resembled the previous sonic screwdrivers, with the upper section being able to collapse <span>into itself</span> (in similar fashion as a telescope) for ease of carrying. At the top, the emitter had a silver ring with a red bullet-shaped crystal in the centre. This version remained in the [[Eighth Doctor]]'s use throughout his life. Later, a torch was built into the handle. Once, while suffering from amnesia, the Doctor distracted himself and operated this sonic screwdriver on instinct. {{fact}}
 
At the end of his life during the [[Last Great Time War]], the Eighth Doctor used  a similar model. It was the last model the Doctor used thus far that bore an emitter-ring head. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Night of the Doctor (TV story)|The Night of the Doctor]]'') The Eighth Doctor's other choice of a diode-tipped sonic screwdriver model would become the standard for his later incarnations. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'', ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'', ''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]'', ''[[The Eleventh Hour (TV story)|The Eleventh Hour]]'')
 
==== Known uses ====
* Locking the casket containing [[the Master]]'s remains. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'')
* Performing maintenance on new parts in the TARDIS console. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'')
* Opening the organic locks used by the [[Zygon]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Bodysnatchers]]'')
* Destroying a [[Red Dalek]]'s brain (when placed directly against the Dalek's casing around its head). ([[PROSE]]: ''[[War of the Daleks]]'')
* Making [[Gunstick|Dalek weapons]] detonate. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Legacy of the Daleks]]'')
* Repelling [[ghost]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Vanderdeken's Children]]'')
* Opening a door in a [[force field]] large enough for the Doctor and his companions to travel through. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[EarthWorld (novel)|EarthWorld]]'')
* Opening the chest of the mobile [[nuclear weapon]] Fatboy. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Eater of Wasps]]'')
* Decapitating the [[King of Beasts]], leader of the [[Babewyn]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Adventuress of Henrietta Street]]'')
* Locking a bank vault from the inside. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Trading Futures]]'')
* Temporarily disabling an [[electron bomb]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Tomorrow Windows]]'')
* Subduing hostile dogs. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Deadstone Memorial]]'')
* Disrupting the control signal for floating magnetic discs. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[To the Slaughter]]'')
* Disorienting a [[ROSM|Rescue Operational Security Module]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Embrace the Darkness]]'')
* Raising the bulkheads between [[Romana II]] and the Matrix chamber. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Neverland]]'')
* Jamming motion-sensitive sensors long enough for the Doctor and his companions to get to safety. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Scaredy Cat]]'')
* Locking the TARDIS [[console room]] away from the rest of the ship until it could repair itself during a [[Hellion]] attack. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Absolution (BFA audio story)|Absolution]]'')
* Tracking residual energy traces. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Girl Who Never Was]]'')
* Reactivating a long-dormant [[telegraph]] machine. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Girl Who Never Was]]'')
* Turning [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] against each other. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Flood (comic story)|The Flood]]'')
* Oscillating the atoms of [[wickerwork]] to weaken the structure. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Dead London]]'')
* Vibrating [[Molluscari]] from their shells by duplicating the precise frequency necessary. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Orbis (audio story)|Orbis]]'')
* Weakening a stone wall by weakening the molecular bonds between atoms. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Book of Kells (audio story)|The Book of Kells]]'')
* Opening a bulk head door on a crashing spaceship. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Night of the Doctor (TV story)|The Night of the Doctor]]'')
* Scanning for life signs. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Night of the Doctor (TV story)|The Night of the Doctor]]'')
 
=== After Lucie and Tamsin ===
Later in his [[Eighth Doctor|eighth incarnation]], the Doctor carried a sonic screwdriver with a wooden handle. It had a metallic tip with six prongs that nested a clear diode at the end, which glowed blue when activated. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Great War (audio story)|The Great War]]'') The Doctor claimed that he made this version of the sonic screwdriver to do more than open doors and blow up land mines. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[X and the Daleks (audio story)|X and the Daleks]]'') It was called a [[pennywhistle]] by [[World War I]] medics. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Great War]]'') Although the Doctor used this screwdriver more frequently later on in his eighth incarnation, he had used this version of the sonic screwdriver as early as his travels with Charley Pollard, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Light at the End (audio story)|The Light at the End]]'') and the early part of the [[Last Great Time War]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Natural Regression (short story)|Natural Regression]]'') For reasons unknown, he was not using this model at the end of his life. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Night of the Doctor (TV story)|The Night of the Doctor]]'')
 
==== Known uses ====
* To locate the TARDIS, but instead opening a [[Vess]] forcefield. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Light at the End]]'')
* To hack into the reality orientation controls in a Vess weapons factory. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Light at the End]]'')
* Breaking the security lockdown in a Vess facility with the help of the Fourth Doctor's sonic screwdriver. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Light at the End]]'')
* Touching with the Fourth Doctor's sonic screwdriver to release enough temporal energy to force the door to the TARDIS to open. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Light at the End]]'')
* Fixing a train track. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Great War (audio story)|The Great War]]'')
* To locate the TARDIS. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Fugitives (audio story)|Fugitives]]'')
* Trying to shatter the walls of a prison. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Tangled Web (audio story)|Tangled Web]]'')
* Detecting a temporal intrusion. ([[AUDIO]]: [[X and the Daleks (audio story)|''X and the Daleks'']])
* Being activated by [[Herbert Goring]], allowing the Doctor to track the screwdriver with the TARDIS. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The White Room (audio story)|The White Room]]'')
* Breaking into the [[Ides Scientific Institute]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Eyes of the Master (audio story)|Eyes of the Master]]'')
* Unlocking a freezer door slowly from the inside. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Eyes of the Master (audio story)|Eyes of the Master]]'')
* Settings twelve and twenty could overide security on a Ramossan spaceport. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Reviled (audio story)|The Reviled]]'')
* Cancelling an alarm. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Masterplan (audio story)|Masterplan]]'')
* Tampering with a spaceship computer. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Masterplan (audio story)|Masterplan]]'')
* As a torch when the Doctor visted [[Rontan 9]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Natural Regression (short story)|Natural Regression]]'')
* Fusing the lock of a metal door. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Natural Regression (short story)|Natural Regression]]'')
 
=== The War Doctor's sonic ===
[[File:War Doctor sonic.jpg|thumb|The [[War Doctor]]'s sonic screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')]]
At the end of the [[War Doctor]]'s life, the Doctor used a sonic screwdriver with a simple metallic handle and a red diode at the end. It appeared to be a further upgraded version of the Eighth Doctor's old sonic adapted for battle, which he kept strapped in a bandolier on his chest. It shared the same casing type as the screwdriver used by the Fourth Doctor, but had an extending diode head instead of an emitter head, and an additional piece added to the end of the handle that looked like a small red cap. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
 
==== Known uses ====
* Dismantling an [[Interstitial]]'s [[possibility engine]] by removing its bolts. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Engines of War]]'')
* Implanting a permanent subroutine within the architecture of the sonic screwdriver's software that would begin the centuries-long calculation to disintegrate a door. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Activating the memory-erasing device in the [[Black Archive]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Creating a force field with two other screwdrivers to force back an attacking Time War Dalek. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Continuing a calculation to move Gallifrey into a pocket universe. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
=== The Ninth and Tenth Doctor's sonic ===
[[File:Ninth Doctor Good with Teleports.jpg|thumb|The [[Ninth Doctor]]'s sonic screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[Boom Town (TV story)|Boom Town]]'')]]
The Doctor had yet another screwdriver during his ninth incarnation. This one had a white/light grey handle with a "cracked-porcelain" texture, silver metal at both the handle and the tip and was capped off with a black pommel. This model was carried by the [[Ninth Doctor]], who used it far more frequently than his previous incarnations had done before. The [[Tenth Doctor]] also used this model, as he liked tinkering with technology to make devices he needed.
 
[[File:Human Nature Universal Remote Sonic.JPG|thumb|left|A replacement sonic used by the [[Tenth Doctor]] after overloading the former model. ([[TV]]: ''[[Human Nature (TV story)|Human Nature]]'')]]
This version was burnt out by accident after the Tenth Doctor used it to modify an [[X-ray]] output to over 5000%, but he replaced it with a similar model. There were many variations  throughout the prop history, including a few shape variations and different paint choices. ([[TV]]: ''[[Smith and Jones (TV story)|Smith and Jones]]'') This version of the sonic screwdriver was also shown{{by whom}} to be the first to have a direct connection to the Doctor's TARDIS and could be used to override its functions. ([[TV]]: ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'') The Tenth Doctor had this screwdriver on his person during his [[regeneration]], but it was damaged repeatedly afterwards, leading to many malfunctions. Despite the damage, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] used it to overload technology in an attempt to alert the Atraxi to Prisoner Zero's location. This fried it into useless, charred metal, much to his growing annoyance and anger. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')
 
==== Known uses ====
===== Security =====
* Opening a door. ([[TV]]: ''[[Aliens of London]]'')
* Freeing the [[Ninth Doctor]] from his manacles. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Long Game]]'')
* Unlocking handcuffs. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'')
* Locking and unlocking a hatch in Cybus Industries ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel]]'')
* Unlocking a taxi door and window. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Hacking into the [[H.C. Clements]] website. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Bypassing the key needed to access the secret basement in H.C. Clements. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Opening air-tight seals. ([[TV]]: ''[[Gridlock]]'')
* Unsuccessfully activating emergency by-pass switches. ([[TV]]: ''[[Gridlock]]'')
* Bypassing and turning off security systems. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lazarus Experiment]]'')
* Disabling [[security orb]]s. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Wrath of the Warrior]]'')
* Trying unsuccessfully to hack into New New York's police communications to call for help. ([[TV]]: ''[[Gridlock]]'')
* Destroying a security camera. ([[TV]]: ''[[Bad Wolf (TV story)|Bad Wolf]]'', ''[[The Sound of Drums]]'')
* Opening and closing the Titanic's doors. ([[TV]]: ''[[Voyage of the Damned]]'')
* Disabling emergency exit alarms and locks, but causing sparks as a result. ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime]]'')
* Controlling a cable cart; also locking it in a "sonic cage" to prevent anything but another sonic device from controlling it. ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime]]'')
* Breaking into a silo on the [[Ood-Sphere]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Ood]]'')
* Fusing a lock shut, forcing it to be broken down. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Ood]]'')
* Temporarily turning off lethal security beams. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]'')
* Opening the casing of a cleaning robot. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Carnage Zoo]]'')
* Accessing [[Bowie Base One]]'s records on the [[Flood]] infection. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Waters of Mars]]'')
* Unlocking the door to [[Adelaide Brooke]]'s house. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Waters of Mars]]'')
* Switching the ''[[Hesperus (spacecraft)|Hesperus]]''{{'}} power off. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'')
* Locking [[Prisoner Zero]] in the room it was hiding in. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')
* Opening bus doors. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
* Unlocking handcuffs. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'', ''[[The Eleventh Hour]])''
===== Medical =====
* Acting as a medical scanner and diagnostic tool. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child]]'')
* Dislodging and reinserting [[tooth|teeth]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Lodger (comic story)|The Lodger]]'')
* Partially reversing the [[Abzorbaloff]]'s absorption of [[Ursula Blake]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Love & Monsters]]'')
* Confusing the [[Antibody|antibodies]] of a living [[planet]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Lonely Planet]]'')
* Building a DNA scanning device. ([[TV]]: ''[[Daleks in Manhattan]]'')
* Scanning for fluctuating DNA, specifically that of Professor [[Lazarus]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lazarus Experiment]]'')
===== Diagnostic =====
* Detecting and stopping [[telepathy|telepathic]] signals. ([[TV]]: ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'')
* Scanning a life form for information, specifically [[Donna Noble]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Detecting heated [[water]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Halls of Sacrifice]]'')
* Scanning shadows for the presence of [[Vashta Nerada]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]''/''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
* Checking [[Crusader 50]]'s control console for faults. ([[TV]]: ''[[Midnight (TV story)|Midnight]]'')
* Scanning for [[Infostamp]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]'')
* Tracing [[distress signal]]s. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Ghost Factory]]'')
* Scanning slime. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Doomsilk]]'')
* Scanning the [[President of Earth (Return of the Klytode)|President of Earth]] for [[alien]] influence. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Return of the Klytode]]'')
* Detecting and illuminating [[ultraviolet]] characters. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Game of Death]]'')
* Detecting the arrival of [[spacecraft]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Pictures of Emptiness]]'')
* Picking up traces of [[Psychic energy|psychic spoor]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Mortal Beloved (comic story)|Mortal Beloved]]'')
* Detecting time traces. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]'')
* Detecting the progress of the War Doctor's calculation in his iteration of the sonic screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Scanning a crack in Amelia Pond's wall. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')
===== Technology =====
* Destroying the controls of a [[lift]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'')
* Establishing an interface with a [[computer]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of the World (TV story)|The End of the World]]'')
* Controlling a lift. ([[TV]]: ''[[World War Three]]'')
* Causing [[rain]] via [[atmospheric excitation]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Death to the Doctor! (comic story)|Death to the Doctor!]]'')
* Obtaining money from a cash machine. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Long Game]]'')
* Opening a panel to [[Satellite Five|Satellite Five's]] mainframe. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Long Game]]'')
* Calling immediately a number in a phone box without the need of pressing number buttons. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Getting money from a cash machine, at both regular and extra-high rates of ejection. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Obtaining access to Satellite Five's core computer. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Long Game]]'')
* Charging from a battery. ([[TV]]: ''[[Father's Day (TV story)|Father's Day]]'')
* Reversing teleport devices. ([[TV]]: ''[[Boom Town]]'')
* Destroying a television camera. ([[TV]]: ''[[Bad Wolf (TV story)|Bad Wolf]]'')
* Dematerialising the TARDIS and initialising TARDIS processes from outside the craft. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Parting of the Ways]]'')
* Blowing up [[Roboform Christmas tree|a remote control Christmas tree]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion]]'')
* Reestablishing the time window's connection to a space ship in the future. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace]]'')
* De-activating a [[Scribble creature|living graphite scribble]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Fear Her]]'')
* Reversing an [[anti-gravity]] [[umbrella]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Smart Bombs]]'')
* Detonating an explosive device. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday]]'')
* Detonating the head of a [[roboform]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Searching a phone for an app or a feature. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Scanning through hospital records, specifically to find any patient suffering from strange symptoms (an alien in disguise). ([[TV]]: ''[[Smith and Jones]]'')
* Partially activating ventilation air ducts. ([[TV]]: ''[[Gridlock]]'')
* Sending out a signal to tell the [[Dalek]]s where he was. ([[TV]]: ''[[Evolution of the Daleks (TV story)|Evolution of the Daleks]]'')
* Reversing the polarity of Lazarus' machine, sending an energy pulse out to knock Lazarus unconscious and revert him to human form. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lazarus Experiment]]'')
* Disabling robotic flies. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Exhausting Evil]]'')
* Modifying hearing aids. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Screaming Prison]]'')
* Reversing [[Teleportation|teleport feeds]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Warriors' Revenge]]'')
* Giving [[mobile phone]]s [[Superphone|the ability to call across time and space]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[42 (TV story)|42]]'', ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]], [[The Doctor's Daughter]]'')
* Completing the propulsion system for the ship destined for [[Utopia (Utopia)|Utopia]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'')
* Fusing the TARDIS' navigational coordinates, allowing only travel between its current position and the previous one. The fusion was imperfect; at least 18 months before or after take-off were allowed as destinations. ([[TV]]: ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'')
* Fixing and upgrading a decades-broken [[vortex manipulator]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'')
* Rewiring a television/portrait to show ship's systems. ([[TV]]: ''[[Voyage of the Damned]]'')
* Looping temporal energy of a [[fraxis pod]] back into a [[zygma drive]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Blooms of Doom!]]'')
* Shattering robot assassins. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[A Suitable Showdown]]'')
* Disabling a [[Sontaran]] teleport. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')
* Unsuccessfully trying to bypass the Sontarans' control of the [[ATMOS]], forcing the Doctor to use reverse-psychology with the machine to avoid drowning. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sontaran Stratagem]]'')
* Changing the destination of a Sontaran teleport. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
* Opening a broadcast channel on a Sontaran ship in order to communicate ([[TV]]: ''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
* Changing the "channel" on a broadcast when the [[Sontaran]]s began chanting. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
* Building a terraforming device to ignite the poisonous clouds. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Poison Sky]]'')
* Accessing hidden areas on a holographic map. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]'')
* Unintentionally showing a hologram of [[Donna Noble]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
* Tinting a helmet visor and increasing the mesh density of a spacesuit. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
* Disabling the [[Crusader 50]]'s annoying entertainment system; this was a mercy to the Doctor himself and many other passengers. ([[TV]]: ''[[Midnight (TV story)|Midnight]]'')
* Modifying a [[gravity converter]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Skydive! (comic story)|Skydive!]]'')
* Disabling a [[Cyrronak robot]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Highway Robbery]]'')
* Cancelling out a [[phonic blast]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[We Will Rock You]]'')
* Repairing an overloading distribution box. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Graves of Mordane]]'')
* Downloading a journal. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Colour of Darkness]]'')
* Remotely controlling environmental controls. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Game of Death]]'')
* Overriding [[Gadget]]'s controller and increasing the robot's speed to the point where it left trails of flames behind. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Waters of Mars]]'')
* Activating the memory-erasing device in the [[Black Archive]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Disabling a [[shimmer]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'')
* Helping repair the ''[[Hesperus (spacecraft)|Hesperus]]''. ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'')
* Remotely controlling the TARDIS to change its course, saving the Doctor and his vessel the fate of colliding into [[Big Ben]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')
* Opening a "[[Time Crack|crack]]" in space-time. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')
* Switching a radio between several international channels to determine that the Atraxi were broadcasting their warning for Prisoner Zero to surrender or be destroyed along with the "human residence" to the entire Earth. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')
* Trying to set off multiple technological resources on Earth to draw the attention of the Atraxi; however, due to the damage it had sustained from Prisoner Zero and continued abuse, this action overtaxed the screwdriver and caused its components to fail, which ultimately led to it burning up and exploding with a large burst of sparks. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')
 
===== Amplification =====
* Setting up a [[resonation pattern]] in [[concrete]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'')
* Destroying the Robot Santas with sound (used in conjunction with a professional sound system). ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Increasing the radiation output of a device such as an [[x-ray]] scanner; this action burned out the screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[Smith and Jones]]'')
* Producing hypersonic sound waves which led to the death of the mutated [[Richard Lazarus]], in conjunction with a pipe organ. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lazarus Experiment]]'')
* Used with [[Miss Foster]]'s [[sonic pen]] to create an ultra-high frequency. ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime]]'')
===== Utility =====
* Corroding thin metal (e.g. [[barbed wire]]) so that it crumbled into rust. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'')
* Re-connecting barbed wire. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'')
* Igniting [[swamp gas]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Hunt of Doom]]'')
* Stopping the emergence of [[Mirrorling]]s from mirrors. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Mirror Image]]'')
* Lighting a candle. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace]]'')
* Cutting rope. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel]]'')
* Illuminating [[Rose Tyler]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Warfreekz!]]'')
* Partially cracking glass so it could be smashed with the tiniest press of a finger. ([[TV]]: ''[[Army of Ghosts]]'')
* Cutting a spider web. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride]]'')
* Overloading [[Cyberman (Pete's World)|Cybermen]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Power of the Cybermen]]'')
* Crashing an [[aircar]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Time of the Cybermen]]'')
* Trying to strip off pieces of [[Dalekanium]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Evolution of the Daleks]]'')
* Lighting a Bunsen burner from a distance. ([[TV]]: ''[[Evolution of the Daleks]]'')
* Melting hardened asphalt into heated [[tarmac]], and reversing the process, so as to catch animals in a road. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Last Dodo]]'')
* Sinking a ship. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Second Wave]]'')
* Resonating a floor to destroy it, via crystal gems. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Operation Lock-up]]'')
* Melting [[chocolate]] by increasing the resonance frequency of a torch. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Crimes and Punishment]]'')
* As a soldering iron to make [[perception filter]]s using [[TARDIS key]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sound of Drums]]'')
* Uncorking a champagne bottle. ([[TV]]: ''[[Voyage of the Damned]]'')
* Knocking over stone tablets. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Fires of Pompeii]]'')
* Cutting rope holding Donna to a sacrificial altar. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Fires of Pompeii]]'')
* Creating a [[stasis beam]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[School of the Dead]]'')
* Teleporting a [[Graske]] to the other side of the universe. ([[TV]]: ''[[Music of the Spheres]]'')
* [[Teleport]]ing onto a [[Nim]] [[spacecraft]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Day the Earth Was Sold]]'', ''[[The King of Earth]]'')
* As a [[sonic toothbrush]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Continuity Cap]]'')
* Shattering ice. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Arctic Eclipse]]'')
* Blowing up a fire hydrant. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Creature Feature]]'')
* [[Atmospheric excitation]] to cause [[rain]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Mudshock]]'')
* Tickling a [[lion]] with sonic waves. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Slitheen Excursion]]'')
* Tinting the Doctor's glasses, effectively making them sunglasses. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
* Stopping and winding up a winch. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Dead (TV story)|Planet of the Dead]]'')
* Incapacitating a [[Gizou]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Fugitive]]'')
* Making [[toast]] and [[butter]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Dead Air (audio story)|Dead Air]]'')
* As an actual screwdriver, without touching the screws. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dreamland (TV story)|Dreamland]], [[The Doctor's Daughter]]'')
* Extending the end of his screwdriver after he and the [[Eleventh Doctor]] both take out their sonic screwdrivers, and observing that his future incarnation's version is much larger. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Combining power with the [[Eleventh Doctor]] and [[War Doctor|War Doctor's]] sonic screwdrivers to create a sonic force to blast back an attacking [[Dalek]] in the [[Time War]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')


=== The Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor's sonic ===
[[The Doctor]] claimed to have either invented or designed the specific [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver which they owned]]. In fact, the [[Seventh Doctor]] claimed to have filed a [[patent]] on the technology, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Unknown (audio story)|The Unknown]]'') and to have [[copyright]] on the design. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Quantum Possibility Engine (audio story)|The Quantum Possibility Engine]]'')
[[File:ElevenScrewdriverTHE.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s sonic screwdriver ([[TV]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth (TV story)|The Hungry Earth]]'')]]
After the loss of the previous sonic screwdriver, the TARDIS gifted the Doctor with a new model. Differing radically from the last due to its extendable "claws" and green crystalline emitter (rather than blue), it also had copper plating similar to the new control room. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'') A psychic interface allowed its user to point it at a target and think of the function they wanted, instead of "settings". ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'', ''[[Death in Heaven (TV story)|Death in Heaven]]'') Having been mentioned to be more than sonic, ([[TV]]: ''[[Night Terrors]]'') this screwdriver also shot beams of green energy. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'', ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]'') By at least the time of the Doctor's thirteenth regeneration, it had a voice-activation feature, which the Doctor forgot about when he needed it. ([[TV]]: ''[[Deep Breath (TV story)|Deep Breath]]'') It had a charge that could last centuries; it once lasted 300 years before the Doctor could charge it in the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')


Retaining ineffectiveness against [[wood]], it also didn't work against [[Peg Doll]]s ([[TV]]: ''[[Night Terrors (TV story)|Night Terrors]]'') or the [[Wooden King]] and [[Wooden Queen|Queen]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)|The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]'') The Doctor considered it embarrassing and said that "I need to invent a setting for wood." ([[TV]]: ''[[Night Terrors]]'') In similar situations, he yelled at it in panic; "Aliens made of wood, you know this was always going to happen!", "Yes, I know it's wood. Get over it!" ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]'') Though aware of this flaw, he was still able to successfully bluff a [[Wooden Cyberman]] into destroying itself.  ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'') Oddly, he defended once, saying "Oi! Don't diss the sonic!" ([[TV]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'') At some point it had an anti-freeze setting. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
When [[Kazran Sardick]] was confused as to what to do when it looked like [[Abigail Pettigrew]] was about to [[kissing|kiss]] him, the [[Eleventh Doctor]] told Kazran to trust him and kiss Abigail, as "it's this, or go to your room and design a new kind of screwdriver. Don't make my mistakes." ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'') When Captain [[Jack Harkness]] asked the [[Ninth Doctor]], "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?", the Doctor defensively responded, "What? You never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of [[cabinet]]s to put up?" ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'')


[[File:Sonic and psychic paper.jpeg|thumb|right|The sonic screwdriver and [[psychic paper]] on the TARDIS console. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flatline]]'')]]
Other individuals had similar devices, such as the [[sonic pen]] (which appeared to serve a near-identical function) used by [[Cofelia|Miss Foster]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime (TV story)|Partners in Crime]]'') and the [[sonic blaster]] used first by Captain [[Jack Harkness]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child (TV story)|The Empty Child]]'' / ''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'') and later [[River Song]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silence in the Library (TV story)|Silence in the Library]]'' / ''[[Forest of the Dead (TV story)|Forest of the Dead]]'') [[Sarah Jane Smith]] had her [[sonic lipstick]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Invasion of the Bane (TV story)|Invasion of the Bane]]'', etc.) and the Doctor himself once used a [[sonic cane]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)|Let's Kill Hitler]]'') Even Missy used a [[sonic umbrella]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[World Enough and Time (TV story)|World Enough and Time]]''/''[[The Doctor Falls (TV story)|The Doctor Falls]]'') River Song also had [[River Song's sonic screwdriver|her own sonic screwdriver]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Silence in the Library (TV story)|Silence in the Library]]'' / ''[[Forest of the Dead (TV story)|Forest of the Dead]]'') that the Twelfth Doctor gifted her. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Husbands of River Song (TV story)|The Husbands of River Song]]'')
It was destroyed and replaced repeatedly: bitten in half by a [[sky shark]] and left behind, ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'') given to the [[Ganger Doctor]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Rebel Flesh]]'') or simply fried out from overuse. In the latter instance, a replacement was given to him by [[Santa Claus]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Silent Knight (comic story)|Silent Knight]]'') One of the Twelfth Doctor's sonic screwdrivers was incinerated by the [[Governor (The Blood Cell)|Governor]] when he was admitted into [[the Prison]]. Clara Oswald attempted to give him a new one disguised as a large candle in a birthday cake, but the Governor refused to give the cake to the Doctor. He created a [[sonic spoon]] in the interim. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Blood Cell (novel)|The Blood Cell]]'')


==== Known uses ====
From time to time, the sonic screwdriver needed to be recharged. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Monsters Inside (novel)|The Monsters Inside]]'', [[COMIC]]: ''[[Bizarre Zero (comic story)|Bizarre Zero]]'') It was self-repairing and could send out a homing signal to any parts that had been separated. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'') One account held that a sonic screwdriver was powered by a type of [[crystal]] that was similar to the [[Metebelis crystal]]s. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Forgotten (comic story)|The Forgotten]]'')
===== Security =====
* Trying (unsuccessfully) to open the exit back into ''[[Starship UK]]''. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Beast Below]]'')
* Opening the chest plate of [[Edwin Bracewell|an android]]'s controls. ([[TV]]: ''[[Victory of the Daleks]]'')
* Opening the entrance hatch of a space ship. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
* Breaking open padlocks. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'')
* Locking the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] doors. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cold Blood]], [[The Doctor's Wife]]'')
* Opening the gate to the [[London Underground]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[City of the Daleks (video game)|City of the Daleks]]'')
* Opening up a discarded [[Dalek]] dome. ([[GAME]]: ''[[City of the Daleks (video game)|City of the Daleks]]'')
* Bypassing Dalek security seals. ([[GAME]]: ''[[City of the Daleks (video game)|City of the Daleks]]'')
* Opening up control panels in [[Kaalann]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[City of the Daleks (video game)|City of the Daleks]]'')
* Closing and locking a door to a [[Cyber-conversion]] room. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Blood of the Cybermen]]'')
* Unlocking [[Cyber-conversion unit]] manacles. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Blood of the Cybermen]]'')
* Opening an electronic door. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Shadows of the Vashta Nerada]]'')
* Opening the door to a [[79B Aickman Road|time ship]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lodger (TV story)|The Lodger]]'')
* To open, close and lock the Pandorica. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')
* Unlocking the door to Melody's room. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'')
* Unlocking Amy's restraints. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'')
* Locking and failing to unlock the TARDIS. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'')
* Unlocking a grating. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Almost People]]'')
* Locking a grating into place. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Almost People]]'')
* Closing doors inside a [[Cyber Ship]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
* Opening doors on [[Demons Run]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
* Opening a fake door. ([[TV]]: ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'')
* Sealing the trapdoor that [[Gantok]] fell down, out of fear of the carniverous skulls. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'')
* Unlocking Dalek prisoner restraints. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Dalek Project (comic story)|The Dalek Project]]'')
* Turning off the defence system of [[Kahler-Jex]]' ship. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Town Called Mercy (TV story)|A Town Called Mercy]]'')
* Locking a door in the [[Great Intelligence Institute]] office. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Stripping away the disguise around the [[Great Intelligence]]'s voice. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen]]'')
* Unlocking the door of the Maitland home. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
* Unlocking the door of an aeroplane's cockpit. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
* Opening the secret entrance to the Doctor's tomb. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
* Disabling a Sontaran invisibility field to leave two Sontarans invading the town of [[Christmas (town)|Christmas]] defenceless against the [[Papal Mainframe]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')
* Unlocking restraints around Clara and the Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[Deep Breath (TV story)|Deep Breath]]'')
* Opening a Dalek drainage hole. ([[TV]]: ''[[Into the Dalek (TV story)|Into the Dalek]]'')
* Unlocking the seal to a space capsule door. ([[TV]]: ''[[Listen (TV story)|Listen]]'')
* Opening air vents. ([[TV]]: ''[[Time Heist (TV story)|Time Heist]]'')
* Shutting an automatic door on the ''[[Pollyanna]]''. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Eye of Torment (comic story)|The Eye of Torment]]'')
* Opening a door on the ''Pollyanna''. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Eye of Torment (comic story)|The Eye of Torment]]'')
* Fusing a lock. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Eye of Torment (comic story)|The Eye of Torment]]'')
* Unlocking the door of [[3W]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dark Water (TV story)|Dark Water]]'')


===== Medical =====
Sonic screwdrivers and similar technology could not unlock a [[deadlock seal]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[School Reunion (TV story)|School Reunion]]'', ''[[The Night of the Doctor (TV story)|The Night of the Doctor]]'') However, Miss Foster's sonic pen could open the deadlock seals that it was programmed to within her own facility when the Doctor's screwdriver could not. ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime (TV story)|Partners in Crime]]'') It also couldn't unlock the doors to the TARDIS if they had been manually locked at the console. ([[TV]]: ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'') Some or all versions were ineffective against [[wood]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Night Terrors (TV story)|Night Terrors]]'', ''[[The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)|The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]'', ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'', ''[[Empress of Mars (TV story)|Empress of Mars]]'') It didn't work in the presence of some models of [[hairdryer]]s, although the Tenth Doctor stated he was working on it. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead (TV story)|Forest of the Dead]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Catastrophea (novel)|Catastrophea]]'')
* Forcing a [[star whale]] to regurgitate by overloading its chaemo-receptors. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Beast Below]]'')
* Simultaneously healing and analysing wounds. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Vampires of Venice]]'')
* Scanning lifeforms to determine how integrated into a host body they are. ([[TV]]: ''[[Amy's Choice]]'')
* Scanning piles of dust for traces of people. ([[TV]]: ''[[Amy's Choice]]'')
* Scanning an infection. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cold Blood]]'')
* On the right "prozatic setting", can stun any creature; however, because the Doctor couldn't see the [[Krafayis]], he couldn't get the seting right and ended up pleasing the creature instead. ([[TV]]: ''[[Vincent and the Doctor]]'')
* Stunning the Silence. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'')
* Confirming how long [[Idris]]'s body has before the TARDIS Matrix causes it to die. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife (TV story)|The Doctor's Wife]]'')
* Scanning the Flesh. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Rebel Flesh (TV story)|The Rebel Flesh]]'')
* Detecting differences between Gangers and humans. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Almost People]]'')
* Dissolving [[Ganger]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Almost People]]'')
* Detecting if a person was fatally wounded. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
* Melting the [[Ice Governess]] using the new anti-freeze setting. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Trying but failing to melt the Ice Governess again once she came back. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Stunning the [[Rutan Host|Rutan]] [[Elizabeth Winters|Lady Winters]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Gunpowder Plot]]'')
* Scanning the deceased to determine what caused death with no success. ([[TV]]: ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'')
* Scanning for lifesigns. ([[TV]]: ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]'')
* Scanning pieces of what used to be the Ice Governess. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Stripping away the disguise of the [[Great Intelligence]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Stripping away the disguise of a [[Spoonhead]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
* Scanning the people in an [[aeroplane]] to find out that they were unconscious. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Bells of Saint John (TV story)|The Bells of Saint John]]'')
* Removing a [[dream crab]] from [[Clara Oswald]]'s face. ([[TV]]: ''[[Last Christmas (TV story)|Last Christmas]]'')


===== Diagnostic =====
== Individual sonic screwdrivers ==
* Scanning ''[[Starship UK]]''{{'}}s engine room to determine that there was no actual engine powering the spaceship. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Beast Below]]'')
=== The Doctor's screwdriver ===
* Scanning voting booth for memory erasing function. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Beast Below]]'')
{{Main|The Doctor's sonic screwdriver}}
* Scanning Father [[Octavian (The Time of Angels)|Octavian]]'s computer. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'')
[[The Doctor]], throughout many of their lives, possessed a sonic screwdriver. They originally used [[Second Doctor's sonic screwdriver|a basic model]] in their [[First Doctor|first]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Venusian Lullaby (novel)|Venusian Lullaby]]'') and [[Second Doctor|second incarnations]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Fury from the Deep (TV story)|Fury from the Deep]]'') before [[Third Doctor's sonic screwdriver|upgrading]] in [[Third Doctor|their third]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sea Devils (TV story)|The Sea Devils]]'') However, according to one account, the First Doctor was unfamiliar with the sonic screwdriver when he met the [[Twelfth Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Twice Upon a Time (TV story)|Twice Upon a Time]]'') Similarly the accounts depicting the Doctor's life as the Timeless Child prior to their first incarnation showed at least one of them as being unfamiliar with the sonic screwdriver and dismissive of it. ([[TV]]: ''[[Fugitive of the Judoon (TV story)|Fugitive of the Judoon]]'') The Doctor continued to use the model introduced during his third incarnation until it was destroyed in [[Fifth Doctor|their fifth]] by a [[Terileptil]] leader. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Visitation (TV story)|The Visitation]]'') It wasn't until they were in their [[Seventh Doctor|seventh incarnation]] before they began to use [[Seventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver|a screwdriver]] again, taking on various different models throughout the years. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'', ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'', ''[[The Eleventh Hour (TV story)|The Eleventh Hour]]'', ''[[Hell Bent (TV story)|Hell Bent]]'', ''[[The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)|The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]'', [[WC]]: {{cs|The Fourteenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver (webcast)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The World Tree (audio story)}})
* Determining the nature of [[time Field|the cracks]] throughout time and space; which was "extremely very not good." ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
* Scanning for heat signatures. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cold Blood]]'')
* Scanning [[Stonehenge]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
* Helping trace who received the [[Pandorica]]'s summons. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
* Scanning the Pandorica. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
* Scanning with a parabolic satellite dish for an exploding TARDIS. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')
* Scanning a [[vortex manipulator]] to see if it was wired into something. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')
* Confirming the [[isomorphic controls|isomorphic]] nature of a control panel. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]])''
* Scanning boxes of stolen NASA equipment to confirm that they are just what they look like. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Impossible Astronaut]]'')
* Scanning a spacesuit. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'')
* Confirming if a [[nano-recorder]] was on telepathic transmission or a replay. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'')
* Confirming the nature of an alien life-support system. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Curse of the Black Spot]]'')
* Scanning for [[Hypercube]] transmissions to locate their source. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Wife]]'')
* Scanning for monsters and how powerful they were. ([[TV]]: ''[[Night Terrors]]'')
* Scanning [[dimensional lesion]]s. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Gunpowder Plot]]'')
* Detecting electrical interference. ([[TV]]: ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]'')
* Confirming increased [[sulphur]] emissions. ([[TV]]: ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]'')
* Scanning a Dalek's database for information, specifically anything that his oldest enemies knew about [[the Silence]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'')
* Scanning a Headless Monk head box to confirm its contents. ([[TV]]:'' [[The Wedding of River Song]]'')
* Scanning [[Albert Einstein]]'s liquid to determine if it was the ingredient he thought he needed to make a time machine. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death Is the Only Answer]]'')
* Scanning the life-force transference crown. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)|The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]'')
* Detecting a magnetic field. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Dalek Project]]'')
* Scanning a load of rocks and wood, determining that they were just that. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Town Called Mercy (TV story)|A Town Called Mercy]]'')
* Scanning the electric lights in Mercy to determine how far advanced the technology was. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Town Called Mercy (TV story)|A Town Called Mercy]]'')
* Scanning a [[Weeping Angel]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
* Scanning a frozen pond. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Scanning the melted Ice Governess to make sure she was gone and draining through the carpet. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Scanning a [[Cybermite]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Nightmare in Silver (TV story)|Nightmare in Silver]]'')
* Scanning the Doctor's time stream. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
* Detecting the progress of the War Doctor's calculation in his iteration of the sonic screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* A heat sensor to discover the hiding place of the [[Mara]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dreaming (short story)|The Dreaming]]'')
* Scanning Dalek memory technology. ([[TV]]: ''[[Into the Dalek (TV story)|Into the Dalek]]'')
* Scanning a lock of hair. ([[TV]]: ''[[Robot of Sherwood (TV story)|Robot of Sherwood]]'')
* Scanning an apple. ([[TV]]: ''[[Robot of Sherwood (TV story)|Robot of Sherwood]]'')
* Scanning [[Bank of Karabraxos]] technology. ([[TV]]: ''[[Time Heist (TV story)|Time Heist]]'')
* Tracing the [[Skovox Blitzer]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'')
* Calculating how long before the Skovox Blitzer would return. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'')
* Scanning a cocoon. ([[TV]]: ''[[Kill the Moon (TV story)|Kill the Moon]]'')
* Scanning a [[spider germ]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Kill the Moon (TV story)|Kill the Moon]]'')
* Scanning the [[Excelsior Life Extender]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Mummy on the Orient Express (TV story)|Mummy on the Orient Express]]'')
* Scanning for traces of the [[Boneless]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flatline (TV story)|Flatline]]'')
* Scanning trees. ([[TV]]: ''[[In the Forest of the Night (TV story)|In the Forest of the Night]]'')
* Scanning [[Clara Oswald]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dark Water (TV story)|Dark Water]]'')


===== Technology =====
[[File:Jeremy Enecio 3rd Doctor cropped.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Third Doctor]] wields an early model of [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver]]. ([[GRAPHIC]]: ''[[Doctor Who Evergreen (illustration)|Doctor Who Evergreen]]'')]]
* Isolating the lighting so that the [[Weeping Angel]]s could not drain the power. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
Early versions of their sonic screwdriver were used mainly for the [[lock picking|picking]] of [[lock]]s and for projecting [[sound]] so as to, for example, [[explosion|detonate]] objects and fry [[circuit]]ry. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sea Devils (TV story)|The Sea Devils]]'') By the time of the [[Ninth Doctor]], the sonic was able to also be used as a sophisticated [[scanner|scanning]] device, with [[medicine|medical]] applications. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child (TV story)|The Empty Child]]'') Subsequent incarnations gave it even wider functionality, such as the ability to [[hacking|hack]] into [[computer]]s, ([[TV]]: ''[[Smith and Jones (TV story)|Smith and Jones]]'') provide [[geolocation]] ([[TV]]: ''[[Evolution of the Daleks (TV story)|Evolution of the Daleks]]'') and actively defend against some types of assault [[weapon]]s by frying their internal mechanics and causing the weapons to burst into flames and spark from the inside. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cold Blood (TV story)|Cold Blood]]'') The tool could create powerful frequencies and signals, ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime (TV story)|Partners in Crime]]'', ''[[Thin Ice (TV story)|Thin Ice]]'') as well as use sound to carry out its functions, even to the point where three of its latest incarnations where able to create a [[sonic blast|sonic force blast]] powerful enough to repel and destroy a [[Dalek]] while working together, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'') as well as shoot green sonic energy waves to briefly incapacitate or stun a target. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Falls (TV story)|The Doctor Falls]]'')
* Redirecting all the power to the doors in order to open them. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
* Uploading proximity-alerting software to Amy's communicator. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
* Detecting the location of lights. ([[TV]]: ''[[Amy's Choice]]'')
* Exploding lightbulbs. ([[TV]]: ''[[Amy's Choice]]'')
* Hacking into computer records. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'')
* Activating bio-programmed soil. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'')
* Disabling [[Silurian]] weapons. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cold Blood]]'')
* Accessing the [[Visualiser]] eye and repowering it. ([[GAME]]: ''[[City of the Daleks (video game)|City of the Daleks]]'')
* Tampering with the [[Dalek Emperor]]'s casing. ([[GAME]]: ''[[City of the Daleks (video game)|City of the Daleks]]'')
* Activating a Dalek console trap. ([[GAME]]: ''[[City of the Daleks (video game)|City of the Daleks]]'')
* Constructing a [[Dalek Vision Disruptor]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[City of the Daleks (video game)|City of the Daleks]]'')
* Fixing platform lift control panels. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Blood of the Cybermen]]'')
* Disassembling a [[Chronon Blocker]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[TARDIS (video game)|TARDIS]]'')
* Activating emergency light switches. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Shadows of the Vashta Nerada]]'')
* Turning on the lights inside a generator. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Shadows of the Vashta Nerada]]'')
* Setting the TARDIS on its "adventure setting". ([[TV]]: ''[[Good as Gold (TV story)|Good as Gold]]'')
* Unsuccessfully attempting to free [[Sophie (The Lodger)|Sophie]]'s hand from the time ship console. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lodger (TV story)|The Lodger]]'')
* Changing a [[hologram]] between its different forms. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Lodger (TV story)|The Lodger]]'')
* To send a signal through to [[Amy Pond|Amy]]'s communicator to help guide her through a forest. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
* Scrambling a Cyberarm's circuits. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
* Giving orders to androids. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The War of Art (WEB short story)|The War of Art]]'')
* To reconfigure the binaries in the TARDIS. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Evacuation Earth]]'')
* Disabling a force field. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
* Hailing the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s [[sonic cane]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
* Disabling privileges from the ''[[Teselecta]]''{{'}}s crew. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
* Activating [[George (Night Terrors)|George]]'s toys. ([[TV]]: ''[[Night Terrors]]'')
* Detaching the view glass from the visitation facility. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited]]'')
* Augmenting the view glass to work disconnected. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited]]'')
* Locking on to Amy's timestream. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited]]'')
* Switching off CCTV monitors. ([[TV]]: ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'')
* Repairing and activating a lift. ([[TV]]: ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]'')
* Fusing the controls of a [[Cyberman#Cybermen of the Cyber Legions|Cyberman]] teleporter. ([[TV]]: ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]'')
* Overloading/imploding a Cybermat; unfortunately wiping its memory in the process. ([[TV]]: ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]])''
* Repairing the controls of a Cyberman teleporter and using it. ([[TV]]: ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]'')
* Taking apart a [[Supreme Dalek]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'')
* Freezing the ''Teselecta'' in place; this caused sparks to fly inside of it. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'')
* reprogramming [[Proto-Dalek]]s to recognise Daleks as enemies. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Dalek Project (comic story)|The Dalek Project]]'')
* Used to help with rewiring the TARDIS; he told Lilly it was because the light in his "wardrobe" wasn't working, claiming it was the reason he dressed as he did. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)|The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]'')
* Deleting an answering machine message from the phone the message was made from. ([[WC]]: ''[[Pond Life (webcast)|Pond Life]]'')
* Activating the reverse in a badly damaged, insane Dalek's casing to send it into other insane Daleks (as it was going to self-destruct). ([[TV]]: ''[[Asylum of the Daleks]]'')
* Taking apart the device emitting the [[Silurian Ark]]'s signal, and activating it upon placing it in [[Solomon (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)|Solomon]]'s ship. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dinosaurs on a Spaceship]]'')
* Disabling the [[android]] the [[Shakri]] put on [[Earth]] to control the [[Shakri cube]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Power of Three]]'')
* Reversing the Shakri's programming of the cubes to jump-start the hearts of the humans they previously stopped. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Power of Three]]'')
* Reversing a [[friction amper]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Cornucopia Caper (comic story)|The Cornucopia Caper]] '')
* Overloading a light bulb, creating a blinding light, to act as a distraction to escape the Angels. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
* Getting rid of the shield that was blocking the Ice Governess and putting a new one behind the Doctor and Clara ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Seemingly adding an extra layer of super-dense water vapour to keep the Ice Governess "trapped for the moment" ([[TV]]: ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'')
* Turning off the TARDIS [[Anti-gravity|anti-grav]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
* Activating the memory-erasing device in the [[Black Archive]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Ringing the bell in [[Christmas (town)|Christmas]]' Clock Tower. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]], ''[[PROSE]]: ''[[An Apple a Day (short story)|An Apple a Day]]'')
* Bluffing a [[wooden Cyberman]] that he sent a signal to its flamethrower weapon so it would reverse its direction as soon as it tried to release fire. Though a [[Truth Field]] was active, the Cyberman was not told the screwdriver couldn't affect wood. It pointed its weapon backwards, thinking it would reset, and killed itself by accident. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')
* Sealing a damage crack within a Dalek. ([[TV]]: ''[[Into the Dalek (TV story)|Into the Dalek]]'')
* Activating a holographic scanner. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'')
* Leading the [[Skovox Blitzer]] to [[Coal Hill School]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'')
* Attracting the attention of the Skovox Blitzer with pulses of [[helicon energy]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'')
* Transferring a video phone message to a screen monitor. ([[TV]]: ''[[Kill the Moon (TV story)|Kill the Moon]]'')
* Activating and altering a 3D projection. ([[TV]]: ''[[Kill the Moon (TV story)|Kill the Moon]]'')
* Altering a phone so it would work wireless. ([[TV]]: ''[[Mummy on the Orient Express (TV story)|Mummy on the Orient Express]]'')
* Changing a train signal from green to red. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flatline (TV story)|Flatline]]'')
* Detecting the location of a mobile phone. ([[TV]]: ''[[In the Forest of the Night (TV story)|In the Forest of the Night]]'')
* Activating an [[emotional inhibitor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Death in Heaven (TV story)|Death in Heaven]]'')


===== Amplification =====
All of these [[incarnation]]s utilised the same core [[software]], though they used different [[hardware]]. While it was different individual model, for all intents and purposes the [[War Doctor]]'s sonic was the same as the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s some 400 years later. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'') However, the [[Thirteenth Doctor]], having lost the Twelfth Doctor's sonic screwdriver, created her own version. As such, hers used unique software, and was made from 21st century Earth components, as well as part of a Recall Circuit from the Stenza Homeworld. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)|The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]'') Although, by the time of the [[Fifteenth Doctor]], [[Fifteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his screwdriver]] featured the same software as previous models. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The World Tree (audio story)}})
* Amplifying an electrical beam. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Beast Below]]'')
* To increase a signal's strength. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'')
* Making the voice of a [[star whale]] audible to the human ear. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Beast Below]]'')
* Displaying energy barricades which are usually invisible to the naked eye. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Hungry Earth]]'')
* Transmitting [[Abigail Pettigrew|Abigail]]'s singing from one broken segment to the other to open the [[cloud belt]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'')
* Amplifying the [[sonic probe]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited]]'')
* Creating a high pitched noise to get attention. ([[TV]]: ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'')
* As a microphone. ([[TV]]: ''[[The God Complex (TV story)|The God Complex]]'')
* Creating a sound loud enough to distract [[Kahler-Tek]] to allow the Doctor's escape. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Town Called Mercy (TV story)|A Town Called Mercy]]'')
* Amplifying the sound of the Time Lords calling out "Doctor who?" to the Daleks to remind them how easy it would be to answer their call and the difficulty it would take to kill him if he could live for ages. Also bouncing sonic waves of the bell in the clock tower on Trenzalore to mark the coming of war. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')
* Amplifying the sound wave produced by an Ice Warrior made sonic cannon. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Let it Snow (short story)|Let it Snow]]'')
* Creating localised [[gravity]] to hold the entities which surrounded [[Maebh Arden]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[In the Forest of the Night (TV story)|In the Forest of the Night]]'')


===== Other =====
=== Romana's screwdriver ===
* As a torch with blue light. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Beast Below (TV story)|The Beast Below]]'', ''[[Closing Time (TV story)|Closing Time]]'', ''[[The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)|The Angels Take Manhattan]]'')
{{Main|Romana's sonic screwdriver}}
* Blocking out the effects of [[perception filter]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Vampires of Venice]]'')
[[File:Romana's Screwdriver.jpg|thumb|The [[Fourth Doctor]] compares [[The Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]] with [[Romana's sonic screwdriver|Romana's]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Horns of Nimon (TV story)|The Horns of Nimon]]'')]]
* Giving a [[Cybermat]] a "Cyber-Migraine". ([[GAME]]: ''[[Blood of the Cybermen]]'')
[[Romana II]] constructed [[Romana's sonic screwdriver|her own sonic screwdriver]], which was so impressive that the Doctor attempted to substitute his own with hers, but she noticed the switch. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Horns of Nimon (TV story)|The Horns of Nimon]]'') Her version also included a silencer. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Luna Romana (audio story)|Luna Romana]]'') She later gave it to the Doctor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'') Nonetheless, during the final term of her presidency, her [[Romana III|third incarnation]] used a sonic screwdriver. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Intervention Earth (audio story)|Intervention Earth]]'')
* Distracting Cybermats. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Blood of the Cybermen]]'')
* Heating [[water]] and ice. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Blood of the Cybermen]]'')
* Destroying a [[Weeping Angel]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Good as Gold (TV story)|Good as Gold]]'')
* Lighting flaming torches. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
* Heating up a [[tea]]pot. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Snowfall]]'')
* As a lure to attract a [[sky fish]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'')
* Attempting self-reconstruction via signalling its other half; it failed at this and was left behind by the Doctor to be replaced by a similar sonic screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Christmas Carol (TV story)|A Christmas Carol]]'')
* Protecting two versions of [[Rory Williams]] from falling victim to the [[Blinovitch Limitation Effect]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Touched by an Angel]]'')
* Damaging a [[Cyber Ship]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
* Disarming [[River Song|Melody Pond]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
* Igniting a cannon. ([[GAME]]: ''[[The Gunpowder Plot]]'')
* Destroying the [[Star of Solitude]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Cornucopia Caper (comic story)|The Cornucopia Caper]]'')
* opens and closing Dalek [[Transmat]] portals. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Dalek Project (comic story)|The Dalek Project]]'')
* Holding a heavy door with an acoustic lock open in the [[pyramid]] of the rings of [[Akhaten]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)|The Rings of Akhaten]]'')
* Holding back the [[Vigil]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Rings of Akhaten (TV story)|The Rings of Akhaten]]'')
* Tracking the location of [[Grand Marshall]] [[Skaldak]] as he sneaked around out of his armour. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cold War (TV story)|Cold War]]'')
* Receiving a signal from the [[TARDIS]] indicating that it had returned and indicating its location. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cold War (TV story)|Cold War]]'')
* Enhancing the power of an arsenal of bombs. ([[TV]]: ''[[Cold War (TV story)|Cold War]]'')
* Relaxing the grip from someone's hand. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Shroud of Sorrow (novel)|Shroud of Sorrow]]'')
* Combining power with the [[Tenth Doctor]] and [[War Doctor|War Doctor's]] sonic screwdrivers to create a sonic force to blast back an attacking [[Dalek]] in the [[Time War]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Used for centuries as a weapon against his greatest enemies during the [[Siege of Trenzalore]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'')
* Adapted with bits of alien technology the Doctor had collected over the years and was used as a way to fly which the Doctor referred to as his "whirligig." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dreaming (short story)|The Dreaming]]'')
* Disconnecting a horse's reins. ([[TV]]: ''[[Deep Breath (TV story)|Deep Breath]]'')
* Tracking a radiation signal. ([[TV]]: ''[[Into the Dalek (TV story)|Into the Dalek]]'')
* Blowing up an [[archery]] target. ([[TV]]: ''[[Robot of Sherwood (TV story)|Robot of Sherwood]]'')
* Sending the [[Boneless]] back to their dimension. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flatline (TV story)|Flatline]]'')


=== River's screwdriver ===
=== River's screwdriver ===
[[File:Everybody lives? - Doctor Who - BBC|thumb|The [[Tenth Doctor]] figures out the true purpose of River's screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead (TV story)|Forest of the Dead]]'')]]
{{Main|River Song's sonic screwdriver}}
[[The Doctor]] created another screwdriver before [[River Song]]'s final date with him at the [[Darillium]] [[Singing Towers]]. This version of the sonic screwdriver had the settings of the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s model when he met her at [[the Library]], along with "dampers" and a "red setting" that allowed it to work without interference from [[Doctor Moon]]. The Doctor gave it to River so she would be ready when she met his tenth incarnation in [[the Library]]. Unbeknownst to her, this version included a [[neural relay]] which would save her [[data ghost]] for uploading into [[Charlotte Lux|the main computer]] of the Library. ([[TV]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'' / ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
[[File:River Gifted her Sonic Screwdriver.jpg|thumb|River receives her sonic screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Husbands of River Song (TV story)|The Husbands of River Song]]'')]]
 
The [[Twelfth Doctor]] gave [[River Song]] [[River Song's sonic screwdriver|another screwdriver]] before River's final date with him at the [[Singing Towers]] of [[Darillium]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Husbands of River Song (TV story)|The Husbands of River Song]]'', ''[[Silence in the Library (TV story)|Silence in the Library]]'') This version of the sonic screwdriver somewhat resembled the [[Ninth Doctor|Ninth]] and [[Tenth Doctor]]'s [[Ninth Doctor's sonic screwdriver|model]], which was notable when she met the latter in [[the Library]], though it looked elaborately decorated and modified, featuring increased and enhanced functionality, including "[[damper]]s" and a "[[red setting]]" that allowed it to work without interference from the [[Doctor Moon]]. The Doctor gave it to River so she would be ready when she met his tenth incarnation in [[the Library]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead (TV story)|Forest of the Dead]]'', [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Time Lord Technology (feature)|page=56}})
==== Known uses ====
* Activating and disabling [[gravity platform]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
* Slowing the descent of a fall. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
* Fixing [[light bulb]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
* Storing the consciousness of an individual (specifically River's). ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
* Increasing mesh densities to over 800%. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
 
=== Vastra's screwdriver ===
[[Vastra]] had a sonic screwdriver that was a gift from the Doctor. She used it to shatter the glass of the [[Crystal Palace]]. It had a red tip. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Crystal Throne (comic story)|The Crystal Throne]]'')
 
== Related tools ==
A [[Second Doctor (clone)|clone of the Second Doctor]] also possessed a sonic screwdriver, which he used along with the [[Fourth Doctor]]'s to send [[Hexford]] home. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Survivors in Space]]'')
 
[[Romana II]] constructed her own sonic screwdriver. Her version was so impressive that the Doctor offered to swap sonic screwdrivers with her. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Horns of Nimon]]'') She later gave it to the Doctor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow]]'')
 
The [[Fifth Doctor]] had a device called a [[sonic prodder]], although he didn't consider it a tool like "his beloved sonic screwdriver" ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Falling from Xi'an]]'')
 
The Fifth Doctor also kept a [[Molenski Univarius]] in the TARDIS for repairs. He described it as a Gallifreyan "[[Swiss Army knife]]". While exploring the [[Axis]], he carried it with him and used it in the same fashion as later models of the sonic screwdriver, once even using the sonic properties to fend off creatures with sound waves before it ran out of power and was discarded. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Axis of Insanity]]'')
 
The [[Eighth Doctor]], despite having lost his memories, built a device he called a [[sonic suitcase]] using eighties technology. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Father Time (novel)|Father Time]]'')
 
{{Simm|c}} had a similar tool, called a [[laser screwdriver]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Sound of Drums]]'')
 
Captain [[Jack Harkness]] and later [[River Song]] had a [[sonic blaster]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child]]'' / ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'', ''[[Silence in the Library]]'' / ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
 
Using stolen and incomplete [[UNIT]] design plans, [[Toshiko Sato]] created a [[sonic modulator]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Fragments (TV story)|Fragments]]'')
 
[[Matron Cofelia|Miss Foster]] had a [[sonic pen]] with a design similar to the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s sonic screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[Partners in Crime]]'')
 
The Doctor gave [[Sarah Jane Smith]] a [[sonic lipstick]], a similar tool. ([[TV]]: ''[[Invasion of the Bane]]'') {{disputed}} {{facts}}
 
The Doctor mentioned that he once had a [[laser spanner]] as well, but [[Emmeline Pankhurst]] took it from him. ([[TV]]: ''[[Smith and Jones]]'')


[[Mrs Wormwood]] was in possession of a ring called a [[phonic disruptor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Enemy of the Bane]]'')
=== Other screwdrivers ===
[[Quadrigger]] [[Stoyn]] possessed [[Stoyn's sonic screwdriver|a sonic screwdriver]] in his workcase aboard [[the Doctor's TARDIS]], which he had been working on shortly before the [[First Doctor]] stole the ship. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Beginning (audio story)|The Beginning]]'')


The [[Sixth Doctor]] defeated [[Cyberman (Mondas)|Cybermen]] using a [[sonic lance]]. It was similar in function to the sonic screwdriver, but a weapon. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'')
[[Second Doctor (clone)|A clone of the Second Doctor]] also possessed [[Second Doctor clone's sonic screwdriver|his own sonic screwdriver]], which he used along with the [[Fourth Doctor]]'s to send [[Hexford]] home. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Survivors in Space (audio story)|Survivors in Space]]'')


[[Banto Zame]], a con artist who posed as [[the Doctor]], used a [[psychic screwdriver]] to seemingly foil an attack on [[Generios 1]] by the [[Skelloid]]s, which were infact a [[hologram|holographic]] illusion created by him. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The One Doctor]]'')
[[Narvin]] had [[Narvin's sonic screwdriver|a sonic screwdriver]] made, based on the Doctor's design, after seeing its utility when carried by the Doctor. At first he objected, preferring to call it a sonic [[lockpick]], but then admitted the nature of his new device. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Quantum Possibility Engine (audio story)|The Quantum Possibility Engine]]'')


The [[Eleventh Doctor]] used a [[sonic cane]] <span>to scan the </span>''[[Teselecta]] ''<span>and to </span>contact [[Amy Pond]] and [[Rory Williams]], who were miniaturized inside. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
[[Ace]] had [[Ace's sonic screwdriver|a sonic screwdriver]] which she took with her to [[Outpost Delta]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Enemy Lines (audio story)|Enemy Lines]]'')


While trapped on [[Apalapucia]] for thirty-six years, [[Amy Pond]] cobbled together a sonic device from various pieces of technology, although she insisted on calling it a "[[sonic probe]]". She later admitted it was a sonic screwdriver. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited]]'')
[[Doctor Ogron]] built [[Doctor Ogron's sonic screwdriver|his own sonic screwdriver]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Planet of the Ogrons (audio story)|Planet of the Ogrons]]'')


[[Jackson Lake]] carried a primitive iteration of the sonic screwdriver. His version was a regular [[19th century]] screwdriver, which he claimed was sonic by virtue of it making a sound when it was struck against a surface. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]'')
[[Jackson Lake]] carried [[Jackson Lake's screwdriver|a regular screwdriver]] from the [[19th century]] which he claimed was sonic by virtue of it making a sound when it was struck against a surface. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Next Doctor (TV story)|The Next Doctor]]'')


[[Gabriel (The Pirate Loop)|Gabriel]] created a similar device that was made out of [[Firearm|guns]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Pirate Loop]]'')
While trapped on [[Apalapucia]] for thirty-six years, [[Amy Pond]] cobbled together [[Amy Pond's sonic probe|a sonic device]] from various pieces of technology, but insisted upon calling it a [[sonic probe]]. She later conceded that it was a "sonic screwdriver". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl Who Waited (TV story)|The Girl Who Waited]]'')


While in [[the Prison]], the [[Twelfth Doctor]] created a [[sonic spoon]] when his sonic screwdriver was destroyed by the [[Governor (The Blood Cell)|Governor]]. He created it from items in the Prison workshop and a spoon he took from mealtime. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Blood Cell (novel)|The Blood Cell]]'')
[[Vastra]] had [[Vastra's sonic screwdriver|a sonic screwdriver]] that was a gift from the Doctor. She used it to shatter the glass of the [[Crystal Palace]]. It had a red tip, and was similar in design to that used by the Doctor's eleventh incarnation. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Crystal Throne (comic story)|The Crystal Throne]]'')


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
=== The sonic screwdriver prop ===
According to the fiction source [[REF]]: ''[[Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary]]'', a sonic screwdriver was a common and basic [[Time Lord]] device. If needed, a Time Lord could make one from scratch in very little time.
* The sonic screwdriver was retired during the [[Fifth Doctor]] serial ''[[The Visitation]]'', as it was felt that it had been overused. It was absent for the [[Sixth Doctor|Sixth]] and [[Seventh Doctor]]'s eras, except in [[Doctor Who (TV story)|the TV Movie]], in which the Seventh Doctor used it to lock [[the Master]]'s remains away. The [[Eighth Doctor]] recovered it at the end of the film. The tool was reintroduced with the [[Ninth Doctor]] and has become the show's most frequently used gadget besides [[the TARDIS]] itself. It has since appeared in many Seventh and Eighth Doctor audio adventures from [[Big Finish Productions]].
* For unexplained reasons, the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s sonic screwdriver had a green casing in ''[[The Infinite Quest]]''.
* <span>For unexplained reasons, the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s sonic screwdriver had a red diode in [[Cold War (TV story)|Cold War]]</span>
* During early production of [[Series 1 (Doctor Who)|Series 1]] (2005), the production crew decided to switch from their original prop to one based on the toy sonic screwdriver because the first prop was prone to falling apart. The production team secured moulds of the toy replica to make a more reliable prop for [[Series 2 (Doctor Who)|the next season]].
* There are two main versions of the Tenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver — one which has a slide feature with button, and one which does not slide and has a fixed button. The two prop types varied each episode.
* The War Doctor's sonic screwdriver prop was created by modifying a Fourth Doctor's sonic screwdriver replica toy. 
 
=== Concept art ===
* Early conceptual art of the modern era sonic screwdriver features a different "tube" section. Notes refer to "glowing organic circuitry" and a movable ball-joint on the emitter to allow use around corners and in tight spaces. Instead of the "glowing circuitry," the actual prop and toy reproductions featured a black "swivel" like a simple helix. When given a personal copy of the concept art, [[David Tennant]] himself commented on the lack of the swivelling emitter.
* Another early piece of concept art, similar to a simple Bitmap drawing, reveals that the black "cap" at the reverse end of the sonic screwdriver was intended to be an opening set of "feet," allowing the sonic screwdriver to plug into a section of the [[TARDIS console]]. This feature was also dropped from the eventual prop model.
* When the Doctor handles the screwdriver, the clinking noises produced (when he throws and catches it) are created by repeating the motions with a corkscrew, the handles of which bump against the casing to produce the required noise. These noises are dubbed over the footage.
 
=== Sonic screwdriver toy ===
* A toy of the [[Eleventh Doctor]]'s version was seen in "Light Echoes", an edition of [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk7h "The Sky at Night"] broadcast on [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc4 BBC4] on Wednesday 5th October 2010. The screwdriver was (jokingly) used to scan a part of the [http://www.lofar.org.uk LOFAR] radio telescope, then under construction in Chilbolton, Hampshire, UK.
* The Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver toy has a total of four sound effects, two of which alternate with every other button press. The third is activated by pressing twice and holding on the third button push. The fourth is activated with three presses and a hold on the fourth push. However, in some models of the toy, over-use of the hidden sound effects causes the sound functions to eventually break, leaving only the LED functional.
* The customiseable toy sonic screwdriver set featuring three screwdrivers with interchangeable parts can produce up to eight sound effects: the first two are the basic screwdriver sound, with slightly different pitches, and alternate each time the button is pressed. The other six effects are achieved in a similar manner to those of the Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver toy, and are accompanied by a flashing lights instead of a constant light.
* Since the War Doctor's sonic screwdriver prop was created by modifying a toy replica, the toy version that was subsequently produced is screen accurate.
 
=== ''The Visual Dictionary'' ===
* According to the non-fiction source [[REF]]: ''[[Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary]] (''which this wiki does not count as a [[valid source]]) the sonic screwdriver was a common and basic [[Time Lord]] device. If needed, a Time Lord could make one from scratch in very little time.
 
=== ''Attack of the Graske'' ===
In [[NOTDWU]]: ''[[Attack of the Graske (video game)|Attack of the Graske]]'', the [[Tenth Doctor]] appears to break the [[fourth wall]] by noting the player at home's been watching his adventures. Later, he points the sonic screwdriver at the television screen, transferring its powers to the player's digital remote control. This, along with having the player choose multiple endings to this game, disqualifies it as a [[valid source]] on this wiki.
 
=== Other matters ===
* In the original script for ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'', the Doctor referred to his screwdriver as "Level 4000" technology.
* Scientists at the University of Dundee invented a device which turns objects with ultrasonic waves, an invention which has been described as a real-world version of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17760077 Dr Who's sonic screwdriver 'invented' at Dundee University]</ref>
*The [[Poldigon]] scientists the Seventh Doctor encountered on Celdor knew of Sonic screwdrivers, but not of The Doctor himself. This suggests they were at least partly a Gallifreyan invention and not entirely of the Doctor's creation. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Doomsday Quatrain]]'')


== External links ==
== External links ==
* [http://nzdwfc.tetrap.com/archive/tsv31/sonicscrewdriver.html "Is That A Sonic Screwdriver in your Pocket, Doctor?" article by Jon Preddle]
* [http://nzdwfc.tetrap.com/archive/tsv31/sonicscrewdriver.html "Is That A Sonic Screwdriver in your Pocket, Doctor?" article by Jon Preddle]
{{Template:Sonic devices}}


== Footnotes ==
[[cs:Sonický šroubovák]]
{{reflist|2}}
[[Category:Sonic screwdrivers| *]]
[[Category:Sonic devices]]

Latest revision as of 00:53, 22 October 2024

Sonic screwdriver
Appearances
You may be looking for the mobile app.

The sonic screwdriver, also called a sonic probe or simply "the sonic", was a highly versatile tool used by many people throughout the universe, the most prominent of them being the Doctor.

While almost always referred to as a sonic screwdriver, this device has on occasion been referred to as a sonic probe by people other than the Doctor, such as Dalek Sec (TV: Doomsday) and a version of Amy Pond who had been stuck on Apalapucia for 36 years. (TV: The Girl Who Waited) The Tenth (TV: Doomsday) and Eleventh (TV: The Girl Who Waited) Doctors openly disliked this and corrected those who did so. The Ninth (TV: The Doctor Dances) and Twelfth Doctors (TV: The Husbands of River Song) also defended when others claimed it was inferior to other sonic devices like a sonic blaster or sonic trowel.

Technology and functions[[edit] | [edit source]]

Identified by the Daleks as a "sonic probe", (TV: Doomsday) the sonic screwdriver was considered to be very advanced Gallifreyan technology, (PROSE: Heart of TARDIS) although the Doctor could make one by using resources found on 21st century Earth with help from Stenza technology. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth) During the Dalek-Movellan War, Davros dismissed the sonic screwdriver as a "simple" tool. (AUDIO: The Triumph of Davros)

The Doctor claimed to have either invented or designed the specific sonic screwdriver which they owned. In fact, the Seventh Doctor claimed to have filed a patent on the technology, (AUDIO: The Unknown) and to have copyright on the design. (AUDIO: The Quantum Possibility Engine)

When Kazran Sardick was confused as to what to do when it looked like Abigail Pettigrew was about to kiss him, the Eleventh Doctor told Kazran to trust him and kiss Abigail, as "it's this, or go to your room and design a new kind of screwdriver. Don't make my mistakes." (TV: A Christmas Carol) When Captain Jack Harkness asked the Ninth Doctor, "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?", the Doctor defensively responded, "What? You never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" (TV: The Doctor Dances)

Other individuals had similar devices, such as the sonic pen (which appeared to serve a near-identical function) used by Miss Foster (TV: Partners in Crime) and the sonic blaster used first by Captain Jack Harkness (TV: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances) and later River Song. (TV: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead) Sarah Jane Smith had her sonic lipstick, (TV: Invasion of the Bane, etc.) and the Doctor himself once used a sonic cane. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler) Even Missy used a sonic umbrella. (TV: World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls) River Song also had her own sonic screwdriver (TV: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead) that the Twelfth Doctor gifted her. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)

From time to time, the sonic screwdriver needed to be recharged. (PROSE: The Monsters Inside, COMIC: Bizarre Zero) It was self-repairing and could send out a homing signal to any parts that had been separated. (TV: A Christmas Carol) One account held that a sonic screwdriver was powered by a type of crystal that was similar to the Metebelis crystals. (COMIC: The Forgotten)

Sonic screwdrivers and similar technology could not unlock a deadlock seal. (TV: School Reunion, The Night of the Doctor) However, Miss Foster's sonic pen could open the deadlock seals that it was programmed to within her own facility when the Doctor's screwdriver could not. (TV: Partners in Crime) It also couldn't unlock the doors to the TARDIS if they had been manually locked at the console. (TV: Utopia) Some or all versions were ineffective against wood. (TV: Night Terrors, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, The Time of the Doctor, Empress of Mars) It didn't work in the presence of some models of hairdryers, although the Tenth Doctor stated he was working on it. (TV: Forest of the Dead, PROSE: Catastrophea)

Individual sonic screwdrivers[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor's screwdriver[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: The Doctor's sonic screwdriver

The Doctor, throughout many of their lives, possessed a sonic screwdriver. They originally used a basic model in their first (PROSE: Venusian Lullaby) and second incarnations, (TV: Fury from the Deep) before upgrading in their third. (TV: The Sea Devils) However, according to one account, the First Doctor was unfamiliar with the sonic screwdriver when he met the Twelfth Doctor. (TV: Twice Upon a Time) Similarly the accounts depicting the Doctor's life as the Timeless Child prior to their first incarnation showed at least one of them as being unfamiliar with the sonic screwdriver and dismissive of it. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon) The Doctor continued to use the model introduced during his third incarnation until it was destroyed in their fifth by a Terileptil leader. (TV: The Visitation) It wasn't until they were in their seventh incarnation before they began to use a screwdriver again, taking on various different models throughout the years. (TV: Doctor Who, Rose, The Eleventh Hour, Hell Bent, The Woman Who Fell to Earth, WC: The Fourteenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver [+]Loading...["The Fourteenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver (webcast)"], AUDIO: The World Tree [+]Loading...["The World Tree (audio story)"])

The Third Doctor wields an early model of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. (GRAPHIC: Doctor Who Evergreen)

Early versions of their sonic screwdriver were used mainly for the picking of locks and for projecting sound so as to, for example, detonate objects and fry circuitry. (TV: The Sea Devils) By the time of the Ninth Doctor, the sonic was able to also be used as a sophisticated scanning device, with medical applications. (TV: The Empty Child) Subsequent incarnations gave it even wider functionality, such as the ability to hack into computers, (TV: Smith and Jones) provide geolocation (TV: Evolution of the Daleks) and actively defend against some types of assault weapons by frying their internal mechanics and causing the weapons to burst into flames and spark from the inside. (TV: Cold Blood) The tool could create powerful frequencies and signals, (TV: Partners in Crime, Thin Ice) as well as use sound to carry out its functions, even to the point where three of its latest incarnations where able to create a sonic force blast powerful enough to repel and destroy a Dalek while working together, (TV: The Day of the Doctor) as well as shoot green sonic energy waves to briefly incapacitate or stun a target. (TV: The Doctor Falls)

All of these incarnations utilised the same core software, though they used different hardware. While it was different individual model, for all intents and purposes the War Doctor's sonic was the same as the Eleventh Doctor's some 400 years later. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) However, the Thirteenth Doctor, having lost the Twelfth Doctor's sonic screwdriver, created her own version. As such, hers used unique software, and was made from 21st century Earth components, as well as part of a Recall Circuit from the Stenza Homeworld. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth) Although, by the time of the Fifteenth Doctor, his screwdriver featured the same software as previous models. (AUDIO: The World Tree [+]Loading...["The World Tree (audio story)"])

Romana's screwdriver[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: Romana's sonic screwdriver
The Fourth Doctor compares his sonic screwdriver with Romana's. (TV: The Horns of Nimon)

Romana II constructed her own sonic screwdriver, which was so impressive that the Doctor attempted to substitute his own with hers, but she noticed the switch. (TV: The Horns of Nimon) Her version also included a silencer. (AUDIO: Luna Romana) She later gave it to the Doctor. (PROSE: Lungbarrow) Nonetheless, during the final term of her presidency, her third incarnation used a sonic screwdriver. (AUDIO: Intervention Earth)

River's screwdriver[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: River Song's sonic screwdriver
River receives her sonic screwdriver. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)

The Twelfth Doctor gave River Song another screwdriver before River's final date with him at the Singing Towers of Darillium. (TV: The Husbands of River Song, Silence in the Library) This version of the sonic screwdriver somewhat resembled the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's model, which was notable when she met the latter in the Library, though it looked elaborately decorated and modified, featuring increased and enhanced functionality, including "dampers" and a "red setting" that allowed it to work without interference from the Doctor Moon. The Doctor gave it to River so she would be ready when she met his tenth incarnation in the Library. (TV: Forest of the Dead, PROSE: Time Lord Technology [+]Loading...{"page":"56","1":"Time Lord Technology (feature)"})

Other screwdrivers[[edit] | [edit source]]

Quadrigger Stoyn possessed a sonic screwdriver in his workcase aboard the Doctor's TARDIS, which he had been working on shortly before the First Doctor stole the ship. (AUDIO: The Beginning)

A clone of the Second Doctor also possessed his own sonic screwdriver, which he used along with the Fourth Doctor's to send Hexford home. (AUDIO: Survivors in Space)

Narvin had a sonic screwdriver made, based on the Doctor's design, after seeing its utility when carried by the Doctor. At first he objected, preferring to call it a sonic lockpick, but then admitted the nature of his new device. (AUDIO: The Quantum Possibility Engine)

Ace had a sonic screwdriver which she took with her to Outpost Delta. (AUDIO: Enemy Lines)

Doctor Ogron built his own sonic screwdriver. (AUDIO: Planet of the Ogrons)

Jackson Lake carried a regular screwdriver from the 19th century which he claimed was sonic by virtue of it making a sound when it was struck against a surface. (TV: The Next Doctor)

While trapped on Apalapucia for thirty-six years, Amy Pond cobbled together a sonic device from various pieces of technology, but insisted upon calling it a sonic probe. She later conceded that it was a "sonic screwdriver". (TV: The Girl Who Waited)

Vastra had a sonic screwdriver that was a gift from the Doctor. She used it to shatter the glass of the Crystal Palace. It had a red tip, and was similar in design to that used by the Doctor's eleventh incarnation. (COMIC: The Crystal Throne)

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

According to the fiction source REF: Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary, a sonic screwdriver was a common and basic Time Lord device. If needed, a Time Lord could make one from scratch in very little time.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

v • e
Sonic devices and sonic technology
Used by the Doctor
Used by the Doctor's companions
Used by River Song
Used by Iris Wildthyme
Used by the Paternoster Gang
Used by the Doctor's enemies
Dalek technology
Weapons
Other
From Non-valid stories
Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Sonic_screwdriver&oldid=3877096"