The Doctor's sonic screwdriver: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:50, 25 September 2022

This article needs a big cleanup.

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The Doctor, throughout many of their lives, possessed a sonic screwdriver. They ostensibly upgraded and improved each subsequent model, improving functionality and adding additional features while the design changed. Features included projecting sound waves to lock or unlock doors, frying circuitry, hacking, disabling, and activating technology. It could also be used as a scanning device, with medical applications.

Each model used the same software. Essentially, the sonic screwdriver in use by the War Doctor was the same as that in the Eleventh Doctor's possession, some 400 years later. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

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) while the Fifth Doctor attempted to collect a diothanine crystal from the planet Argentia where temporal zone met to focus sonic waveforms for a new sonic screwdriver. (AUDIO: Serpent in the Silver Mask) 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 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 to use setting 41 to send out random bursts of helicon energy to distract the Skovox Blitzer. (TV: The Caretaker) The Twelfth Doctor himself used setting 61 to knock out a cybernetically augmented dinosaur with a "sonic brainstorm". (COMIC: Spirits of the Jungle) However, at least one version of the screwdriver was able to use thoughts as well as settings. (TV: The Big Bang, Amy's Choice, Let's Kill Hitler, Death in Heaven) The same version could also be activated using the Doctor's voice. (TV: Deep Breath)

The different versions of the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers exhibited different capabilities and uses, such as medical diagnostics (TV: The Empty Child) and repair of organic parts; (TV: The Vampires of Venice) cutting, but also re-attaching materials such as barbed wire; (TV: The Doctor Dances) operating Earth machinery such as computers (TV: School Reunion) and even cash machines (at regular and high eject speeds); (TV: The Runaway Bride) creating a spark to light a candle (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace) or Bunsen burner; (TV: Evolution of the Daleks) opening and holding doors with acoustic locks; (TV: The Rings of Akhaten) and, on the rare occasion, driving screws without touching them. (TV: The War Games, The Ark in Space, The Doctor's Wife)

River Song told the Fourth Doctor that, though his current screwdriver was mostly just a screwdriver, he would later "go a bit crazy with the optional upgrades". (AUDIO: Someone I Once Knew)

Although it was primarily a tool, the sonic screwdriver could also be used as a defensive weapon, able to combine with other sonic devices to form a shield around a hostile target to either force them back (TV: The Day of the Doctor) or slow their advance. (TV: The Doctor Falls) The Tenth Doctor put it in a soundboard to destroy the Robot Santas 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)

The sonic screwdriver would, in rare occasions, be used as an offensive weapon, firing energy blasts. The Eleventh Doctor used it in this manner to help River Song defeat a group of Silents, defeating at least two of them. (TV: Day of the Moon) The Twelfth Doctor used the same model of screwdriver to blast a Hyperion, buying himself and others time to escape from it. (COMIC: The Hyperion Empire) It could also destroy ice creatures when it received the latest update. (TV: The Snowmen)

The Tenth Doctor claimed that the device could not be used to wound, maim or kill living things. (TV: Doomsday, The Doctor's Daughter) Despite this, the Third Doctor used the device to incapacitate Space Greyhounds by disrupting their brain functions, (COMIC: The Forgotten) the Eighth Doctor once claimed it could destroy a Dalek's brain if held directly against the casing when activated, (PROSE: War of the Daleks) and the Twelfth Doctor used setting 61 to knock out a cybernetically augmented dinosaur with a "sonic brainstorm". (COMIC: Spirits of the Jungle) It could destroy non-living objects or mechanisms or place living creatures in circumstances where they might die if the situation required. (TV: The Christmas Invasion) The War Doctor claimed that it was a scientific instrument rather than a water pistol, (TV: The Day of the Doctor) or indeed a magic wand. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor)

Particularly during the Time War (AUDIO: The Satanic Mill, The Thousand Worlds, The Heart of the Battle, A Thing of Guile) and in their thirteenth incarnation, (COMIC: A New Beginning, TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos) the Doctor was known on occasion to summon the TARDIS using their sonic screwdriver, though the Thirteenth Doctor noted that the TARDIS got "prickly" at being summoned too often, as she found it demeaning. (COMIC: A New Beginning)

For a time, the Twelfth Doctor abandoned sonic screwdrivers in favour of wearable technology - namely, his sonic sunglasses. (TV: The Witch's Familiar, Under the Lake) However, after briefly returning to Gallifrey and having Clara Oswald dematerialise with them still inside her TARDIS, he resumed using screwdrivers, as his TARDIS fashioned a new one for him as a gift. Furthermore, after the Doctor had lost sight of who he was, Clara left him a reminder to "be a Doctor" after leaving his company. As part of his role of being a Doctor was to use a sonic screwdriver, the Doctor accepted the TARDIS's gift (TV: Hell Bent) though he would continue to occasionally use the sunglasses as well. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)

The First and Second Doctors' sonic screwdrivers

As described by a Gowenn shuttle computer aboard the Sou(ou)shi ship, the First Doctor once used an "unknown sonic device" to crack the code for the launch sequence of said shuttle. (PROSE: Venusian Lullaby) According to one account, the First Doctor did not possess a sonic screwdriver, leaving him confused and somewhat irritated when the Twelfth Doctor utilised a future model. (TV: Twice Upon a Time) Indeed, an alternate Third Doctor did not recognise the device. (AUDIO: The Emporium At The End)

The Second Doctor using his whistle-like sonic screwdriver (TV: Fury from the Deep)

The Second Doctor used sonic screwdrivers of a different design, including one looking like a life jacket safety whistle, (TV: Fury from the Deep) or like a metal penlight (TV: The War Games) which could get a trigger attachment. (TV: The Dominators)

The screwdriver was destroyed by Skaar, leading the Doctor to decide to build a new and more advanced version. (AUDIO: Wrath of the Ice Warriors) Nonetheless, it was also used by the Eighth Doctor after being destroyed "centuries ago", with the Doctor claiming to his companion Sam Jones that this was possible because "It's a Time Lord tool. Time doesn't work the same way for Time Lord tools." (PROSE: Alien Bodies)

The Eighth Doctor also carried a similar rod model near the end of his life: Cylindrical and silver, with a blue emitter diode tip, he used it in a surgical procedure to scan his patient and to seal incisions. This model could glow with an "almost white" light and emit great heat, be used to sharpen surgical instruments and be turned "on" and "off". (PROSE: Osskah)

A rod version of this screwdriver was kept in the Twelfth Doctor's office at St Luke's University. (TV: The Pilot)

Uses

The Second Doctor using his penlight design of sonic screwdriver (TV: The War Games)

The First and Second Doctors' sonic screwdriver functioned as a conventional screwdriver, without physical contact with screws. (TV: The War Games) It was also capable of cracking codes, (PROSE: Venusian Lullaby) opening up hatches, panels, control panels, (TV: Fury from the Deep, The War Games) and unlocking prison cell doors. (AUDIO: Fear of the Daleks)

On occasion, the Doctor also used it to cut through a section of a wall (TV: The Dominators) and to override a security lock. (AUDIO: Helicon Prime) He also used it to destroy the Dalek crystal at the heart of a mind projector (AUDIO: Fear of the Daleks) and to dismantle technology. (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Mirror, TV: The War Games)

The Third, Fourth and Fifth Doctors' sonic screwdriver

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 incarnations used; its elaborately detailed silver collar featured black and yellow stripes and red trim, and could be pulled down to activate the screwdriver. It had a removable burgundy emitter head which the Doctor would change with others, each performing a different function. (TV: The Sea Devils)

On one occasion he removed the head entirely and replaced it with a small, round mirror, which spun rapidly when he tapped its edge with his finger and hypnotized anyone who looked at it. Accompanied by a yellow light on the collar of his sonic screwdriver and the Doctor singing a Venusian lullaby, it hypnotized the aggressive Aggedor into calmness. (TV: The Curse of Peladon)

The Third Doctor later 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. This refit left the metal mostly unpainted, with a dark red emitter ring. The head of this model could be extended. The sonic screwdriver was confiscated when the Doctor was sent to the Lunar Penal Colony, and he never recovered it. (TV: Frontier in Space) However, the Doctor had a spare aboard the TARDIS, which he made use of in the Dalek base on Spiridon. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)

The Fourth Doctor with the sonic. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment)

Before this model met its demise, its head was repainted twice after the original coat wore off. (TV: The Keeper of Traken, Castrovalva) It was ultimately destroyed when the Terileptil leader forced the Fifth Doctor to drop the screwdriver inside a holding cell, then incinerated it with a blast from a laser gun — causing the Doctor to remark "I feel as though you've just killed an old friend." (TV: The Visitation)

The Doctor went without a sonic screwdriver for some time after this model, with Nyssa lamenting his decision not to replace it. (TV: Snakedance) The Tenth Doctor also lightly mocked his past incarnation for going "hands-free" following this incident when their TARDISes accidentally collided. (TV: Time Crash)

This sonic operated at a frequency of 80 kilohertz. (PROSE: Light Fantastic)

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)

A version of this screwdriver was kept in the Twelfth Doctor's office at St Luke's University. His companion Nardole made use of it in a war zone where the Daleks and Movellans skirmished. (TV: The Pilot)

Uses

The sonic screwdriver was often used for opening objects such as doors, (TV: The Sea Devils, The Mutants, The Green Death, etc.) safes (TV: The Sun Makers) and display cases. (TV: The Ribos Operation) According to the Third Doctor, it, for a time, only worked on electronic locks. (TV: Carnival of Monsters) However, the Fourth Doctor later modified it to also work on physical ones as well. (TV: The Ribos Operation, etc.)

The sonic screwdriver could also be used to disable security devices, including a holographic energy barrier (TV: The Visitation) and, once, a deflection barrier generator. (TV: Pyramids of Mars) It could also scan for alarm systems, (TV: Colony in Space) radiation (TV: The Three Doctors) and electronic traps. (TV: Death to the Daleks)

On occasion, the Doctor used it to either detect, disarm or detonate explosive weapons. (TV: The Sea Devils, PROSE: Cold Fusion, etc.) He often used it to interact with or disable various forms of circuitry and technology. (TV: The Mutants, Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks, etc.) The sonic screwdriver could also be used to repair devices (TV: The Ark in Space, The Sontaran Stratagem, etc.) and perform maintenance on the TARDIS's control console. (TV: The Hand of Fear)

The sonic screwdriver also functioned as a conventional screwdriver (TV: The Monster of Peladon, The Ark in Space) and could be magnetised to remove bolts. (TV: Frontier in Space, The Android Invasion) With the screwdriver, the Doctor was also capable of creating sparks of flame, (TV: Carnival of Monsters) cutting through objects, (TV: Robot) melting artificial ivy (TV: The Android Invasion) and creating loud noises. (TV: Four to Doomsday)

The sonic screwdriver also affected alive beings: the Third Doctor used it to cure Henry VIII of his cataracts, (PROSE: Hiccup in Time) distract giant maggots, (TV: The Green Death) break a hypnotic trance (TV: Death to the Daleks) and overload the brains of Space Greyhounds. (COMIC: The Forgotten)

Using the appropriate sonic frequency, the Fourth Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to return himself, Ernestina Stott and later, his scarf, to normal size. (AUDIO: The Dead Shoes)

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) He later carried another sonic model during his adventures with Crystal, Jason, and Zog. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure)

Uses

The Sixth Doctor's screwdriver could be used to disable a video camera indefinitely, (PROSE: The Nightmare Fair) close and seal Dalek doors, (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure) and repair the TARDIS control console. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure) He once attempted to use it to free the American Envoy from the Dalek laser wall, but this failed. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure)

The Seventh and Eighth Doctors' sonic screwdriver

This section's awfully stubby.

As per Thread:133842, there is a sonic in the Doctor's possession by the time of his travels with Benny in the NAs. Info needs to be added from these sources, as well as numerous Big Finish audio dramas.

Chang Lee discovers the sonic screwdriver among the things he stole from the Seventh Doctor. (TV: Doctor Who)

The Seventh Doctor acquired a sonic screwdriver at an unspecified point of his life. Many contradictory accounts existed, including one which claimed he had acquired it at some point before meeting Bernice Summerfield, (AUDIO: Love and War) and another, which claimed he acquired it from himself on a parallel Earth where the species Homo Reptilicus had conquered the Earth and killed his third incarnation. (PROSE: Blood Heat, First Frontier) The Doctor himself claimed that he had only recently built one shortly before re-encountering Mortimus, (PROSE: No Future) and that he received it as compensation after suing the Terileptils for criminal damage. (PROSE: GodEngine) The Eighth Doctor claimed that this screwdriver was a spare model that had "rolled under the TARDIS console and remained there" until the Seventh Doctor found it. (PROSE: Frontier Worlds)

This model, identified as the "Mark 5" by the Eighth Doctor, (PROSE: Alien Bodies) looked similar to the screwdriver used up until his fifth incarnation: it was silver with a brass trim ring in the lower grip and a handle that resembled that of the previous sonic screwdrivers', now with a flat base. Its upper section was able to undergo telescopic collapse for ease of carrying, and, at its top, it held an emitter with a silver ring and a red bullet-shaped crystal at its centre. (TV: Doctor Who) The Seventh Doctor claimed he patented the sonic screwdriver. (AUDIO: The Unknown) Once, while suffering from amnesia, the Eighth Doctor was able to operate this sonic screwdriver on instinct. (PROSE: EarthWorld) This version remained in the Eighth Doctor's use throughout his life, up until its destruction at the hands of a Cyber-Leader on Earth. (COMIC: The Flood)

The Eighth Doctor had resumed using this model by the end of his life during the Last Great Time War. It was the second and final model the Doctor used thus far that bore an emitter-ring head. (TV: The Night of the Doctor) The Eighth Doctor's other choice of a diode-tipped model would become the standard for his later incarnations. (TV: The Day of the Doctor, Rose, The Christmas Invasion, The Eleventh Hour, Deep Breath)

The Eighth Doctor once commented that he felt undressed without his sonic screwdriver. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Ordeal)

A version of this screwdriver was kept in the Twelfth Doctor's office at St Luke's University. (TV: The Pilot)

Uses

The sonic screwdriver could interact with a variety of locks, including those for caskets, (TV: Doctor Who) doors, (TV: The Night of the Doctor) security gates, (AUDIO: Nightshade) and bank vaults. (PROSE: Trading Futures) It could also open service ducts (AUDIO: Excelis Decays) and create "doorways" in forcefields. (PROSE: EarthWorld)

The sonic screwdriver had a number of scanning functions, being able to analyse energy forms (AUDIO: Nightshade) and bodies for life signs. (TV: The Night of the Doctor) It could perform maintenance on the TARDIS console, (TV: Doctor Who) hack into computers, (AUDIO: The Harvest) melt ice (AUDIO: The Magic Mousetrap) and briefly disable electron bombs. (PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows) It could also disrupt control signals (PROSE: To the Slaughter) and Dalek weapons. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks)

The sonic screwdriver affected creatures in sometimes lethal ways, as it could destroy a Dalek's brain when placed against the casing's head (PROSE: War of the Daleks) and was once used to decapitate the King of Beasts. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street) It could also repel ghosts, (PROSE: Vanderdeken's Children) subdue hostile dogs, (PROSE: The Deadstone Memorial) turn Cybermen against each other (COMIC: The Flood) and hold back creatures infected by the Void. (COMIC: The Lost Dimension)

Replacement on Ha'olam

During his imprisonment by INC on Ha'olam, the Eighth Doctor's sonic screwdriver was confiscated. After his escape, he briefly used a replacement screwdriver resembling a slender metal rod with a crystal at its tip. (PROSE: Seeing I)

Uses

This screwdriver was used by the Doctor for making milkshakes and hacking into the Ubernet. (PROSE: Seeing I)

The Eighth Doctor's second screwdriver

The Eighth Doctor's second screwdriver. (COMIC: The Pictures of Josephine Day)

Later in his 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) Its handle doubled as a torch. (AUDIO: Sword of Orion) 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) He later made further modifications to the screwdriver. (AUDIO: Beachhead)

It was referred to as a penny whistle by numerous World War I medics. (AUDIO: The Great War) The Doctor had it in his possession as early on as his travels with Charley Pollard (AUDIO: The Light at the End) after Mary Shelley destroyed the Doctor's earlier model to prevent Johan Drossel and Gramm from using it as a transmitter as part of a super-light transmitter to contact Mondas. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk) The Doctor eventually replaced it after it burnt itself out whilst scanning a piece of the Doomsday Chronometer. (AUDIO: The Eighth Piece) The replacement was later left behind on Parrak by Helen Sinclair. (AUDIO: Planet of Dust) The Doctor later used another version of this screwdriver during his travels with Josie Day, (COMIC: The Pictures of Josephine Day) and in the early part of the Last Great Time War, (PROSE: Natural Regression) By the end of his life the Eighth Doctor had returned to using his original model. (TV: The Night of the Doctor)

Uses

To locate the TARDIS, but instead opening a Vess force field. (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)
Disorienting a 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)
Tracking residual energy traces. (AUDIO: The Girl Who Never Was)
Reactivating a long-dormant telegraph machine. (AUDIO: The Girl Who Never Was)
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)
Weakening a stone wall by weakening the molecular bonds between atoms. (AUDIO: The Book of Kells)
Fixing a train track. (AUDIO: The Great War)
To locate the TARDIS. (AUDIO: Fugitives)
Trying to shatter the walls of a prison. (AUDIO: Tangled Web)
Detecting a temporal intrusion. (AUDIO: X and the Daleks)
Being activated by Herbert Goring, allowing the Doctor to track the screwdriver with the TARDIS. (AUDIO: The White Room)
Breaking into the Ides Scientific Institute. (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master)
Unlocking a freezer door slowly from the inside. (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master)
Settings twelve and twenty could override security on a Ramossan spaceport. (AUDIO: The Reviled)
Cancelling an alarm. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
Tampering with a spaceship computer. (AUDIO: Masterplan)
Unlocking handcuffs. (AUDIO: The Monster of Montmartre)
Attempting to unscrew Gallifreyan bolts. (AUDIO: The Eleven)
Access information from a terminal. (AUDIO: The Satanic Mill)
Summoning the TARDIS to the Doctor's location. (AUDIO: The Satanic Mill)
To detect energy emissions. (AUDIO: Beachhead)
To detect tremors caused by the Gift. (AUDIO: The Sonomancer)
To hack into a lock with three million possible combinations. (AUDIO: The Sonomancer)
To access a Gallifreyan computer. (AUDIO: The Crucible of Souls)
To open a door. (AUDIO: How to Make a Killing in Time Travel)
Deactivating the Master’s drones. (AUDIO: Planet of Dust)
To scan for animae particles. (COMIC: The Pictures of Josephine Day)
To use a satellite dish to communicate with the Spherions. (COMIC: Music of the Spherions)
Opening the back door to a theatre in Edinburgh. (COMIC: The Silvering)
Unlocking a cell door. (COMIC: The Silvering)
Destroying the Silversmith's mirrors. (COMIC: The Silvering)
As a torch. (COMIC: Briarwood)
To escape a cell on board a Bakri Resurrection Barge. (COMIC: A Matter of Life and Death)
Scanning an Omsonii. (COMIC: The Time Ball)
As a torch when the Doctor visited Rontan 9. (PROSE: Natural Regression)
Fusing the lock of a metal door. (PROSE: Natural Regression)

The War Doctor's sonic screwdriver

The War Doctor's sonic screwdriver. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

During his battles in the Last Great Time War, (COMIC: The Clockwise War) the War Doctor used a sonic screwdriver with a simple metallic handle and a red-light-emitting diode at the end. It appeared to be a further upgraded version of the Eighth Doctor's first sonic screwdriver, which he kept strapped in a bandoleer 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)

After regenerating at the end of the Last Great Time War, the Doctor kept this model with him during the early adventures of his ninth incarnation. This version was destroyed when the Doctor rigged it to explode in order to seal a rift in interstitial space. (AUDIO: The Bleeding Heart)

Uses

The War Doctor often used his sonic screwdriver to summon the TARDIS to materialise, either around him, (AUDIO: The Thousand Worlds) or nearby. (AUDIO: The Heart of the Battle, A Thing of Guile)

With it, the Doctor could dismantle an Interstitial's possibility engine by removing its bolts, receive homing signals from the TARDIS in the TARDIS Undercroft below the Citadel (PROSE: Engines of War) and activate the memory-erasing device in the Black Archive. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

The War Doctor, along with his eleventh and tenth incarnations, used his sonic screwdriver to create a sonic force field to blast back and destroy an attacking Dalek in the Time War. He also implanted a permanent subroutine within the architecture of the sonic screwdriver's software that would begin the centuries-long calculation to disintegrate a door, as well as continuing a calculation to move Gallifrey into a pocket universe. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

His screwdriver was also capable of scanning a corpse and wiping security footage. (AUDIO: The Bleeding Heart)

The Ninth and Tenth Doctors' sonic screwdriver

The Ninth Doctor's sonic screwdriver. (TV: Boom Town)

After the destruction of his last model, the Ninth Doctor built himself a new sonic screwdriver. This one had a creamy light grey handle with a "cracked-porcelain" texture matching elements on his TARDIS console and rings around the roundels on the control room walls, silver metal at both the bottom of the handle and the top, and was capped off with a black pommel. Its emitter was blue and sat atop a silver metal section attached to a transparent tube containing black and red wires twisted around each other in the centre that was hidden inside the handle until extended by the slider on the side. The Doctor used this model far more frequently than his previous incarnations had done before. (TV: Rose, et al.) The Tenth Doctor also used this model, as he liked tinkering with technology to make devices he needed.

A replacement sonic used by the Tenth Doctor after overloading the former model. (TV: Human Nature)

This version was burnt out by accident after the Tenth Doctor used it to modify an X-ray output to over 5000%, however, and he replaced it with a similar one with a flatter slider, two yellow wires in the tube instead of the black and red ones, and a greyer handle, (TV: Smith and Jones) though it reverted to its cream handle during his time with Queen Elizabeth (TV: The Day of the Doctor) and appeared to have a blue handle following his regeneration. (TV: The Eleventh Hour) The model underwent several changes in colouration, some inadvertent. (COMIC: Laundro-Room of Doom) This version of the sonic screwdriver was also the first to be shown to have a direct connection to the Doctor's TARDIS (TV: Aliens of London) and could be used to override its functions. (TV: Utopia)

The screwdriver was damaged during the Battle of Mordeela, forcing the Doctor to use strips from his Time Lord collar to repair it, which he acknowledged was something of a “botched job”. (PROSE: All Flesh is Grass) He continued to use this variant of the screwdriver whilst in the Dark Times. (AUDIO: The Minds of Magnox)

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) It was later recovered by Charlie Sato, and taken to the Vault. (AUDIO: The Turn of the Screw)

Multiple versions of these screwdrivers were kept in the Twelfth Doctor's office at St Luke's University. (TV: The Pilot)

Uses

Security

The sonic screwdriver was capable of opening a variety of locks, including those for doors, (TV: Aliens of London, etc.) hatches, (TV: The Age of Steel) handcuffs, (TV: The Doctor Dances, etc.) and vehicles. (TV: The Runaway Bride, Planet of the Dead) It could also lock doors (TV: The Age of Steel, The Eleventh Hour) or fuse them shut. (TV: Planet of the Ood) The sonic screwdriver could also remove robot casings (COMIC: Carnage Zoo) and create "sonic cages". (TV: Partners in Crime)

The sonic screwdriver was capable of bypassing security measures, such as key locks (TV: The Runaway Bride) and air-tight seals. (TV: Gridlock) It could also interact with electronic locks and override security systems. (TV: The End of the World, The Lazarus Experiment, etc.) However, the sonic screwdriver could not bypass deadlock seals (TV: Bad Wolf, etc.) or work on wooden doors. (TV: Silence in the Library)

The sonic screwdriver could hack computer systems, including websites, (TV: The Runaway Bride) communication networks (TV: Gridlock) and record systems. (TV: The Waters of Mars) It could disable security devices, such as cameras, (TV: Bad Wolf, The Sound of Drums) security orbs, (COMIC: Wrath of the Warrior) laser grids (TV: The Doctor's Daughter) and alarms. (TV: Partners in Crime) The sonic screwdriver also was capable disabling power for an entire spaceship. (TV: The End of Time)

Medical

The sonic screwdriver could be used as a medical scanner, diagnosing physical injuries. (TV: The Empty Child) It could also dislodge and reinsert teeth, (COMIC: The Lodger) partially reverse the Abzorbaloff's absorption process (TV: Love & Monsters) and confuse the antibodies of a living planet. (COMIC: Lonely Planet) Along with 1930 technology, the Tenth Doctor once used it as a component of a DNA scanning device. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan)

Diagnostic

The sonic screwdriver had multiple diagnostic settings. It could be used to detect lifeforms, (TV: Silence in the Library) collect information about them (TV: The Runaway Bride) and check for alien influence. (COMIC: Return of the Klytode) It could even be used to confirm the identity of other incarnations of the Doctor. (COMIC: Four Doctors)

The sonic screwdriver could also detect, triangulate and deactivate signals. (TV: Rose, Army of Ghosts, etc.) It could scan pieces of technology to discover their properties and faults. (TV: Midnight, The Next Doctor) It could also analyse objects (TV: The Eleventh Hour, COMIC: Doomsilk) or detect certain materials in the area. (COMIC: The Halls of Sacrifice) These included time traces (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith) and forms of energy. (COMIC: Mortal Beloved)

The sonic screwdriver could also detect arriving spaceships (PROSE: The Pictures of Emptiness) and reveal ultraviolet characters. (PROSE: The Game of Death) It could also detect the progress of the War Doctor's calculation. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Technology

The sonic screwdriver could interact with multiple forms of technology and control them. (TV: Rose, et al.) It was able to activate, disable or destroy electronic devices, including lifts, (TV: Rose, World War Three) computers, (TV: The End of the World, etc.) cameras, (TV: Bad Wolf, The Sound of Drums) cash machines, (TV: The Long Game, The Runaway Bride) mobile phones (TV: The Runaway Bride, etc.) and holograms. (TV: Forest of the Dead) It could also perform these functions on multiple devices within a local area at once. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

The sonic screwdriver could repair devices, (TV: Gridlock, etc.) as well as modify them. (COMIC: The Screaming Prison) This included increasing a spacesuit's mesh density (TV: Forest of the Dead) and rewiring a digital painting to show a spaceship's systems. (TV: Voyage of the Damned) It was also used to construct devices, even used as a component when necessary. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan, The Poison Sky)

The sonic screwdriver could transmit signals, (TV: Evolution of the Daleks) tune into, create and control broadcast channels, (TV: The Poison Sky, The Eleventh Hour) and re-establish connections, even over different time-frames. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace) It could also grant mobile phones the ability to call across time and space. (TV: The End of the World, 42, etc.)

The sonic screwdriver was also connected to the Doctor's TARDIS, allowing him to activate the controls from the outside. (TV: The Parting of the Ways, etc.) This included sending it to a predetermined point in space-time, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) fusing the navigational coordinates, (TV: The Sound of Drums) and changing course mid-flight. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

The sonic screwdriver could detonate explosives, (TV: Doomsday) charge batteries, (TV: Father's Day) reverse teleportation devices, (TV: Boom Town) and let phones call others without their number. (TV: The Runaway Bride) It could scan computer systems for information (TV: Smith and Jones, etc.) and download entire journals. (PROSE: The Colour of Darkness)

The sonic screwdriver could also dismantle firearms, (PROSE: Peacemaker) shatter robot assassins, (COMIC: A Suitable Showdown) loop temporal energy into additional device, (COMIC: Blooms of Doom!) cancel out phonic blasts, (COMIC: We Will Rock You) and open a "crack in space-time". (TV: The Eleventh Hour)

Amplification

The sonic screwdriver could amplify sound waves to become hypersonic from various audio devices, including radios, speakers and, once, a pipe organ. (TV: The Runaway Bride, Evolution of the Daleks, The Lazarus Experiment) In conjunction with Miss Foster's sonic pen, it created an ultra-high sonic frequency. (TV: Partners in Crime) The sonic screwdriver could also calculate resonation patterns for materials like concrete, (TV: The Doctor Dances) and increase the radiation output of an x-ray scanner, though the latter burned out the device. (TV: Smith and Jones)

Utility

The sonic screwdriver could create sparks or flames to light candles (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace) or ignite flammable gasses. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks, COMIC: The Hunt of Doom) It could also cut through rope, (TV: The Age of Steel, The Runaway Bride, The Fires of Pompeii) corrode and reconnect thin metal objects, such as barbed wire, (TV: The Doctor Dances) and shatter glass and ice. (TV: Army of Ghosts, COMIC: Arctic Eclipse) It could also be used as a conventional screwdriver without touching screws. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter, Dreamland)

The sonic screwdriver was capable of sending out resonance frequencies to corrode or destroy objects. (TV: The Doctor Dances, COMIC: Operation Lock-up) It could increase the power of devices, such as torches. (COMIC: Crimes and Punishment) It could also uncork bottles, (TV: Voyage of the Damned) melt and solidify tarmac, (PROSE: The Last Dodo) attach horseshoes onto horses, (AUDIO: Death and the Queen) knock over objects (TV: The Fires of Pompeii) and explode fire hydrants. (COMIC: Creature Feature)

The Tenth Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to strip off pieces of Dalekanium from the Empire State Building, (TV: Evolution of the Daleks) tint his glasses to turn them into sunglasses, (TV: Planet of the Dead) and once used it as a soldering iron for perception filters. (TV: The Sound of Drums) It could also be used to fix hairstyles in place, (PROSE: Rose and the Snow Window) prevent Mirrorlings from emerging (COMIC: Mirror Image) and illuminate people. (COMIC: Warfreekz!)

The sonic screwdriver could also create force fields made out of sound waves, capable of deflecting bullets and sonic cannon blasts, (PROSE: Peacemaker, COMIC: Agent Provocateur) and stasis beams. (COMIC: School of the Dead) Combined with multiple others, it could create a beam powerful enough to push back and destroy Daleks. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

The sonic screwdriver was also capable of tickling lions, (PROSE: The Slitheen Excursion) overloading Cybermen, (COMIC: The Power of the Cybermen) repel birds (AUDIO: The Skies of New Earth) and incapacitating a Gizou. (COMIC: Fugitive) It could also teleport both the user and others to destinations. (TV: Music of the Spheres, COMIC: The Day the Earth Was Sold, The King of Earth)

The sonic screwdriver could crash aircars (COMIC: Time of the Cybermen) and sink ships. (COMIC: Second Wave) It could also create toast and butter, (AUDIO: Dead Air) and cause atmospheric excitation to create rain. (COMIC: Mudshock)

The Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors' sonic screwdriver

The Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver (TV: 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, with its extendable "claws" and green crystalline emitter resembling the inner structure of the TARDIS's new time rotor, 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. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler, Death in Heaven) Having been mentioned to be more than sonic, (TV: Night Terrors) this screwdriver also shot beams of green energy in the shape of sonic waves. (TV: Day of the Moon, Closing Time, The Time of the Doctor) 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) 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)

Retaining ineffectiveness against wood, it also didn't work against Peg Dolls (TV: Night Terrors) or the Wooden King and Queen. (TV: 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) He also once defended this weakness, saying "Oi! Don't diss the sonic!" (TV: The Hungry Earth) At some point it had an anti-freeze setting. (TV: The Snowmen) This screwdriver was also shown to have a "red setting", (TV: Cold War) similar to River's sonic screwdriver.

The sonic screwdriver and psychic paper on the TARDIS console. (TV: Flatline)

This model was lost and replaced by the Doctor repeatedly, having been bitten in half by a sky shark and left behind, (TV: A Christmas Carol) left with the Ganger Doctor, (TV: The Rebel Flesh) destroyed by Danny Fisher (COMIC: The Blood of Azrael) and, in one instance, simply burnt out due to overuse. In the latter instance, a replacement was given to him by Santa Claus. (COMIC: Silent Knight) One of the Twelfth Doctor's sonic screwdrivers was incinerated by the 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. To circumvent this, the Doctor created a sonic spoon in the interim for the time being. (PROSE: The Blood Cell) The Doctor had given Clara one of his screwdrivers when they faced the Fractures but had forgotten to reclaim it, leading his companion to keep it for herself. (COMIC: Clara Oswald and the School of Death) Ultimately, he left one of his screwdrivers with Davros after abandoning him as a child. Davros had it in his possession for many years after, until Colony Sarff returned it to the Doctor. By this point, it was no longer of any real use to him, as it had become heavily damaged and inoperable, visibly weather-beaten from exposure to war and conflict, and with one of the clawed prongs broken off. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar)

The Doctor eventually declared that he was "over" sonic screwdrivers, saying that they "spoil the line of your jacket". He replaced the screwdriver with a pair of sonic sunglasses. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)

However, he did not keep this promise, as he used this sonic screwdriver several times afterwards. (COMIC: Clara Oswald and the School of Death, The Fourth Wall)

The Twelfth Doctor's blue version. (COMIC: Tulpa)

When the Eleventh Doctor met the Tenth Doctor in England, 1562, upon the latter realising that the former was a future incarnation of himself, they both got out their sonic screwdrivers. The Eleventh Doctor immediately showed off how much bigger his was, to which the Tenth Doctor claimed that his future incarnation was compensating, remarking that "regeneration, it's a lottery." (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

A version of this screwdriver was kept in the Twelfth Doctor's office at St Luke's University. (TV: The Pilot)

At one point during his travels with Bill Potts, the Twelfth Doctor had a version of this sonic design in the colour scheme of his second sonic screwdriver. (COMIC: Tulpa)