Talk:Sonic screwdriver

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Marks

I'm starting to see our section headers being used as "official" names for the various iterations. Other articles are now using terms like "the Mark IV sonic", as if that means something.

Is there any source for this mark business? If not, it needs to be stripped from the article, replaced by more defensible, plain English terms like, "the Second Doctor's screwdriver", "the screwdriver that the Tenth Doctor used" and the like.

We need to resist the fannish urge to number things that actually have no number in any valid source.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  14:49: Sun 14 Apr 2013

Additionally, the use of numbers has made the article internally incomprehensible, since Big Finish recently retroactively gave the Eighth Doctor a new sonic. This means that what was once the "Mark VI" is now the "Mark VII", and so on. There's absolutely no narrative reason why Big Finish couldn't give Five, Six or Seven a temporary sonic in future. Or why they might not give Eight another new sonic at some point. So if there is no source for the numbering of these sonics, the article needs to be wholly rewritten so as to use terms that are absolute, rather than numbers which are relative.
czechout<staff /> ☎ ✍  15:49: Sun 14 Apr 2013

Maybe we need to start a forum for changing this to your suggestions. Right now there's something of an edit war between two (or more) IP users who keep changing the "marks" back and forth. Shambala108 ☎ 16:00, May 30, 2013 (UTC)

In the book Seeing I, The Doctor builds a new sonic screwdriver, and then names it the mark 9! This shows just how inaccurate our attempts at numbering are. I think this wiki (which considers the books canon) needs to give up attempts at numbering the sonic screwdrivers. Holmes1963

Non-canon toys

There are a lot of new sonic screwdriver toys hitting the market lately, including some that aren't in the show (the "Build Your Own" and "Trans-temporal" sets, in particular). Should these be added in, and if so, how? --King Starscream ☎ 17:40, May 29, 2013 (UTC)

New uses

The uses from The Time of the Doctor should be added. Timppali ☎ 15:24, December 27, 2013 (UTC)

Non-Canon Appearances?

I notice how in the Sonic Screwdriver Page, we have a list for all the uses which it has throughout the show. Although, Not sure if this has been suggested before, but should we also inclued a small section in that page that lists the Non-Canon uses that it has? Examples being stuff like; The Shalka Doctor using it to turn the Tardis Phone into a Door or turning Catherine Tate into a Rose Figure in that Sketch Show?

Like said, I'm not sure if this hasn't been suggested before, but should there be something for that, if one doesn't exsist already?– The preceding unsigned comment was added by BabClayton (talk • contribs) .

Basically, no, because we are trying to keep non-DWU stuff off the in-universe pages. Shambala108 ☎ 21:40, December 29, 2013 (UTC)

Having been destroyed

How can the War Doctor's and the Tenth Doctor's and the Eleventh Doctor's screwdrivers be the same? The original blue, owned by the War, Ninth and Tenth (in a part of his life) was destroyed in Smith and Jones. Later Tenth acquired a new identical one that was destroyed by Eleventh's use of it in The Eleventh Hour. Then the TARDIS made a new green one to him. (If I'm not wrong it was also destroyed and replaced with an identical green one (not sure there)) How can the War Doctor's scanning be calculating in Tenth and Eleventh's sonic's?? --DCLM ☎ 13:47, May 5, 2014 (UTC)

I believe the idea is that the screwdrivers are the same 'at a software level' i.e the program(s) that the sonic screwdriver runs remains the same and as such the software (which could possibly be located in the TARDIS or something given its abilities to fart out a new sonic for the Doctor in The Eleventh Hour) carried on doing the necessary calculation. Oh, and just a heads up, but I think this kind of thing belongs in the discontinuity guide (if we still use that) rather than the talk page. ScotchAutopilot ☎ 15:12, May 5, 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. Maybe, you're right about that. The Tardis could be the answer. :) --DCLM ☎ 22:36, May 5, 2014 (UTC)

Walther pistols

The War Doctor doesn't say "water pistols", he says "Walther pistols".

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_arms

Was that supposed to be a joke or did you guys really think that?– The preceding unsigned comment was added by 174.112.212.21 (talk).

Removed Flatline example

Removed this

• Breaking a window. (TV: Flatline)

Because while technically true, it wasn't the sonic that shattered the glass in this scene, it basically released the glass chair thing from its position, and that broke the window, so Clara and Rigsy could get to safety. I don't know the best way of wording that though. -- Tybort (talk page) 16:52, October 30, 2014 (UTC)

Page protection

I don't know or care what the issue is with this article, but I do care about the edit warring. The page has been locked for one week so editors can hash out their disagreement here without violating T:NO WARS. Shambala108 ☎ 01:07, December 7, 2015 (UTC)

Other Matters Section

Someone has published the last bit to this page "Other Matters" and not finished the type. It needs to be finished or removed. I made no edit, but assume the author will make a decision poste haste.

OTHER MATTERS In the original script for The Husbands of River Song (TV story)

Series 9 Sonic

RogerAckroydLives, I understand the need to make everything fit into your vision of the DWU, but there is nothing that makes it impossible for the Doctor to use his screwdriver in Series 9. Claiming that the DWA comic stories take place in a different order than the release order is pure speculation and does not belong on one of this wiki's most popular pages. The Champion of Time ☎ 20:31, May 9, 2016 (UTC)

I'm going to chime in here and state that this page will be fully protected if this incessant edit warring does not stop. I have stressed, till I'm blue in the face, that we can't and don't try to place events in any kind of order. The writers of the DWU stories don't give a damn about any kind of continuity; as such, it is impossible for us to exactly place every event without indulging in speculation, which is not allowed on this wiki. If you want to play with timelines, go to Theory:Timey-wimey detector; otherwise, keep it off the main namespace. Shambala108 ☎ 23:33, May 9, 2016 (UTC)

Champion, everything we write is "speculation" of the sort you describe. My edits have nothing to do with "my vision". They are to do with making a coherent narrative. If in-universe info makes something apparent, I haven't any choice but to edit accordingly, regardless of whether it fits my "canon" or not. However, in cases like this, it is entirely possible that the story works to complement understood events. Perhaps I am guilty of "making things fit", but only on the same level as any editor on the wiki is when they place a 7 and Ace story on the 7 page in a place when 7 and Ace are travelling together. Popularity of page has no bearing on anything on this wiki, other than maybe when individuals wish to make large structural changes or similar technical edits.

Shambala, I think both Champion and I already know policy, but we certainly do try and place things in a kind of order: you'll find it on the page of every multi-appearance character, location, object, etc. Yep, speculation is not on, I know that and have ever since I started editing, and none is going on here. As for an "edit war", I understand a couple of reversions back and forth might not be desirable, but it is far from an ongoing battle.

P.S. Champion, if you want to address something directly to me, you would be better off using my talk page. RogerAckroydLives ☎ 05:30, May 10, 2016 (UTC)

Sonic Technology

Sonic technology could not be Time Lord technology, so The Doctor could not have engineered it. As stated in the wiki article, in the TV episode Partners in Crime, Miss Foster (Cofelia), a woman with no Time Lord connections, had a Sonic device, namely a Sonic pen. Also, in the TV episode The Sontaran Stratagem, General Staal refers to The Doctor's actions against the Teleport pod in Luke Rattigan's room as 'Primitive Sonic Trickery'. This would mean that the Sontarans had encountered sonic technology before, and not from The Doctor or the Time Lords.

82.14.15.128^{talk to me} 14:29, June 4, 2016 (UTC) 82.14.15.128

Even if there were conflict there I don't see what you would have us make of it. That would hardly be the only example of conflict on whether technology X or Y is common, or the privilege of a particular advanced species.

But beyond that, I don't see any conflict there. The Time Lords don't need to be the only ones to use sonic technology, just among the people who do; I mean, just to pick one example, the Time Lords are clearly familiar with the craft of weaving textiles, since they have robes and clothes of all kinds; I'm sure you could find a source where some other alien race is familiar with weaving and considers it rather primitive; that doesn't prove it's not part of "Time Lord technology".

Even further, just because something isn't widespread or even particularly representative of Gallifreyan Time Lords is no reason for the Doctor to be unaware of it. Time Lords also don't usually go for bowties back home, yet here we are. --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 22:55, December 18, 2019 (UTC)

Bloated uses

The uses lists are too long and bloated. Perhaps it may be prudent to keep the uses general and less detailed and specific. For example, instead of using "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." it may be better to say "Interfering with technological resources". A further article could be devoted to the uses. I say this due to the article being a chore to read and repetitive.

Duke of Skibbington 07:19, September 3, 2017 (UTC)

I've also said that a looong time ago, but no one (including myself) never got around to reducing these sections. I'm against a separate page for the uses, but definitely agree that they should be written in a less specific manner. OncomingStorm12th ☎ 21:44, December 18, 2019 (UTC)

..... somehow I missed that this was a post from two years ago. OncomingStorm12th ☎ 21:45, December 18, 2019 (UTC)

Displaying Information

Hey, I have just spent an hour scrutinizing the entire wiki looking for a point I personally find very crucial. To my tremendous suprise, the matter was never discussed or even mentioned.

Sonic screwdrivers and similar devices can be used as to scan things, but they don't visually display the scanned information. So how exactly the user receives the scanned information? Maiovez ☎ 19:16, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

Well, they're activated by "point and think", as per several Eleventh Doctor-era sources. It's not much of a stretch to suggest that the device's telepathic abilities work in both directions and it beams the data right back into the user's mind. Although I don't think this has ever been specifically spelled out. Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 19:47, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

I have consdiered it; it does explain it very well. Though technically, it isn't outright telepathy, rather a neural interface, the cybernetic equivalent of telepathy. Maiovez ☎ 21:45, 28 July 2021 (UTC)