Sonic screwdriver

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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 fourth 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, first used by the Doctor in his second incarnation. (DW: Fury from the Deep)

Known Uses:

Mark II

A larger and more elaborately detailed version, the Doctor began using this model in his third incarnation. It has yellow and black stripes. (DW: The Visitation).

Known Uses:

Mark III

The Fourth Doctor remade his sonic screwdriver into a silver version that lacked the yellow and black stripes. It was capable of extending its tip.


Mark IV

In his ninth incarnation the Doctor had a new model with a glowing blue laser-like beam at one end. At the beginning of his tenth incarnation his also carried this model until it was burnt out after modifying an X-Ray scanner to give off more radiation. (DW:Smith and Jones)

Known Uses:

Mark V

The Tenth Doctor remade his screwdriver after the X-Ray incident, it was very similiar to the mark IV although somewhat larger.

Known Uses:

File:Sonic Screwdriver Mark 2.jpg
The Tenth Doctor's new Sonic Screwdriver

Mark VI

In the Doctor's future, he will build a new version of the screwdriver with, in addition to the Mark V settings, will also boast red settings and damper settings. (The nature of these settings is not yet clear.) He gave it to River Song, both for her use and because it served as a way to save River's Data Ghost for uploading into the Library's main computer. (DW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead).

The Doctor's future screwdriver which he gave to River Song

Related Tools

  • 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. Her version so impressed the Doctor that 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 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 (at regular and high eject speeds); 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 cannot unlock a deadlock seal. (DW: School Reunion) Some or all versions may be ineffective against wood, or in the presence of some models of hairdryers. (DW:Silence in the Library/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.
  • For unexplained reasons, the Tenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver had a green casing in The Infinite Quest

.

External links