Sonic screwdriver: Difference between revisions

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===Mark VI===
===Mark VI===


Sometime in the Tenth Doctor's personal future after [[Forest of the Dead]], the sonic screwdriver has developed to have dampers and a red setting. The Doctor gave [[River Songs Screwdriver|this mark of the sonic screwdriver]] to River Song because it contained her Data Ghost. When River met the Doctor for the first in his personal timeline, she said he had given her the screwdriver. At the end of the episode, after River's death, the Doctor realises that the screwdriver contains a data ghost chip and puts the screwdriver in to CAL's computer system. This sends River to the alternate univirse in CAL's dreams, thus making her live for ever. Other features of the Mark VI screwdriver are a finger identification ring and a TARDIS return button. See [[River Songs Screwdriver]]
Sometime in the Tenth Doctor's personal future after [[Forest of the Dead]], the sonic screwdriver has developed to have dampers and a red setting. The Doctor gave [[River Songs Screwdriver|this mark of the sonic screwdriver]] to River Song because it contained her Data Ghost. When River met the Doctor for the first in his personal timeline, she said he had given her the screwdriver. At the end of the episode, after River's [[Image:River_Song_Sonic_Screwdriver.jpg|right|thumb|130px|River Song's Sonic Screwdriver possibly made by the Doctor]] death, the Doctor realises that the screwdriver contains a data ghost chip and puts the screwdriver in to CAL's computer system. This sends River to the alternate univirse in CAL's dreams, thus making her live for ever. Other features of the Mark VI screwdriver are a finger identification ring and a TARDIS return button. See [[River Songs Screwdriver]]
:''Mark designations are used here purely for convenience. The Doctor and others only referred to the tool as "the sonic screwdriver".''
:''Mark designations are used here purely for convenience. The Doctor and others only referred to the tool as "the sonic screwdriver".''


Revision as of 10:38, 12 June 2008

The sonic screwdriver is a versatile tool and defensive weapon used by the Doctor from his second incarnation onwards. It is also part of the toolbox for the Doctor's TARDIS. The screwdriver was used many times by the third and four incarnations of the Doctor, but was destroyed when the Doctor encountered the Tereleptils and not immediately replaced (DW: The Visitation), but the Doctor (near the end of his seventh incarnation) used one just prior to his regeneration. The tool has been a ubiquitous part of the Doctor's arsenal since the destruction of Gallifrey time.

Variants

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver

Mark I

A small, simple device very like a penlight, it was first introduced by the Doctor in his second incarnation. (DW: Fury from the Deep)

Uses:

Mark II

A larger and more elaborately detailed version, the Doctor introduced in his third incarnation it has yellow and black stripes on it. (DW: The Visitation).

Uses:

Mark III

The fourth Doctor had remade his sonic screwdriver to a silver one with no yellow and black stripes and it can extend to a slightly longer bit

Mark IV

In his ninth incarnation the Doctor had a new model with a glowing blue laser-like beam at one end. It was burnt out after modifying an X-Ray scanner to give off more radiation.

Uses;

Mark V

The tenth incarnation of the Doctor had a model similar to the previous one, though somewhat larger.

uses:

Mark VI

Sometime in the Tenth Doctor's personal future after Forest of the Dead, the sonic screwdriver has developed to have dampers and a red setting. The Doctor gave this mark of the sonic screwdriver to River Song because it contained her Data Ghost. When River met the Doctor for the first in his personal timeline, she said he had given her the screwdriver. At the end of the episode, after River's

River Song's Sonic Screwdriver possibly made by the Doctor

death, the Doctor realises that the screwdriver contains a data ghost chip and puts the screwdriver in to CAL's computer system. This sends River to the alternate univirse in CAL's dreams, thus making her live for ever. Other features of the Mark VI screwdriver are a finger identification ring and a TARDIS return button. See River Songs Screwdriver

Mark designations are used here purely for convenience. The Doctor and others only referred to the tool as "the sonic screwdriver".

Other sonic screwdrivers

  • Liz Shaw had her own sonic screwdriver which she used to open the Doctor's TARDIS for him. (DW: Inferno)
This appeared like the Doctor's Mark II.
  • Romana constructed her own sonic screwdriver. The device impressed the Doctor, and he attempted, unsuccessfully, to swap sonic screwdrivers with her. (DW: The Horns of Nimon)
This resembled a smaller, slimmer version of the Doctor's Mark II.

Technology and Functions

The sonic screwdriver is apparently the product of Gallifreyan technology since other Time Lords (i.e. Romana) use the device and understand it enough to construct their own versions of it. The name of the device itself suggests that it functions using soundwaves, although the actual workings of the device have never been explicitly explained.

The different versions of the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers have exhibited different capabilities and uses, such as the interception of signals ranging from transmat beams to conscious thought; medical diagnostics and repair of organic parts; cutting, but also re-attaching together materials such as barbed wire; operating Earth machinery such as computers and even cash machines; creating a spark to light a candle. Although it is primarily a tool, it can also be used as a defensive weapon, such as when the Tenth Doctor put it in a sound board to destroy the Robot Santas. (DW: The Runaway Bride) However, according to the Tenth Doctor, the device cannot be used to wound, maim or kill living things. (DW: Doomsday)

Sonic screwdrivers and similar technology also cannot unlock a deadlock seal. (DW: School Reunion)

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver doesn't do wood (DW:Silence in the Library) and is affected by hairdryers. (DW:Forest of the Dead)

Behind the Scenes

  • The tool was retired during the Fifth Doctor serial The Visitation as it was felt it had become overused. It was absent for the Sixth Doctor TV era and all of the Seventh, except in Doctor Who: The TV Movie in which the Seventh Doctor was seen to use it to lock the Master's remains away, and 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.
  • In the CG animated television series Reboot, Bob used a keytool called Glitch.

External links

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