Due to losing everything in her pockets following her regeneration and fall, the Thirteenth Doctor lost her previous incarnation's sonic screwdriver (and sonic sunglasses). As a result, the Doctor chose to build one of her own in a workshop in Sheffield. This one was far simpler in appearance than the last screwdriver with a simple steel body, and a crystal on the tip that glowed amber while in use, taken from a Stenza transport chamber. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"])
This version's emitter now glowed yellow and orange (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"]) when had previously been red, (TV: The Sea Devils [+]Loading...["The Sea Devils (TV story)"] - The Visitation) blue, (TV: Smith and Jones [+]Loading...["Smith and Jones (TV story)"] - The Eleventh Hour [+]Loading...["The Eleventh Hour (TV story)"]) and green with "claws" deployed, (TV: The Eleventh Hour [+]Loading...["The Eleventh Hour (TV story)"] - Last Christmas [+]Loading...["Last Christmas (TV story)"]) or a large emitter glowing in a rotating fashion. (TV: Hell Bent [+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"] - Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"]) It was also the first of the Doctor's sonic devices to have a curved handle, allowing for a more natural grip as it fitted around one's palm. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"])
Comparing it to a Swiss Army knife, but without the knife, the Doctor explained that it functioned not only as a screwdriver, but as a scanner and a tin opener, and it could be used for diagnostics. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"]) Following its loss, the Fourteenth Doctor remembered it as the Swiss Army sonic. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks)
It had a self-rebooting feature, allowing it to restore power if drained. (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum [+]Loading...["The Tsuranga Conundrum (TV story)"]) It could not work on machinery if the power cells were fluctuating. (TV: Kerblam! [+]Loading...["Kerblam! (TV story)"])
When a Thijarian remnant sample overloaded the sonic, for having too many inputs, the Doctor noted that this had never happened before. This was because of the immeasurably high density of this substance, containing the remains of Thijar and all their ancestors. (TV: Demons of the Punjab [+]Loading...["Demons of the Punjab (TV story)"]) On another occasion, the sonic could calculate such an impossible density, but that "density [blew its] mind". (TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos [+]Loading...["The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (TV story)"])
To the Doctor's extreme surprise, her sonic could be rendered inoperative by recon scout Daleks. (TV: Resolution)
Uses[[edit] | [edit source]]
Diagnostic[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Scanning technology, like the Stenza transport pod. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"])
- Scanning for artron energy. (TV: Rosa [+]Loading...["Rosa (TV story)"], Demons of the Punjab [+]Loading...["Demons of the Punjab (TV story)"])
- Determining the current location as Northern Punjab. (TV: Demons of the Punjab [+]Loading...["Demons of the Punjab (TV story)"])
- Scanning reanimated corpses to find out what is animating them. (TV: The Witchfinders [+]Loading...["The Witchfinders (TV story)"])
- Scanning objects to understand their components and properties. (TV: Kerblam! [+]Loading...["Kerblam! (TV story)"], The Witchfinders [+]Loading...["The Witchfinders (TV story)"], The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos [+]Loading...["The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (TV story)"])
Security[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Unlocking a padlocked door. (TV: Rosa [+]Loading...["Rosa (TV story)"])
- Unlocking an apartment door. (TV: Arachnids in the UK [+]Loading...["Arachnids in the UK (TV story)"])
- Reactivating the Morax prison lock. (TV: The Witchfinders [+]Loading...["The Witchfinders (TV story)"])
Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Removing DNA bombs from Graham, Grace, Ryan and Yaz's collarbones and installing them into a Stenza gathering coil. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"])
- Signalling and summoning the TARDIS. (TV: The Ghost Monument [+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"], COMIC: A New Beginning [+]Loading...["A New Beginning (comic story)"], TV: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos [+]Loading...["The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (TV story)"])
- Accessing spacecraft databases. (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum [+]Loading...["The Tsuranga Conundrum (TV story)"], Demons of the Punjab [+]Loading...["Demons of the Punjab (TV story)"])
- Reprogramming a robot. (COMIC: A New Beginning [+]Loading...["A New Beginning (comic story)"])
- Operating a transmat or teleport. (TV: Demons of the Punjab [+]Loading...["Demons of the Punjab (TV story)"], Kerblam! [+]Loading...["Kerblam! (TV story)"])
- Creating false data on a computer. (TV: Kerblam! [+]Loading...["Kerblam! (TV story)"])
- Blocking a Dalek's connection to its gunstick while not fully synchronised. (TV: Resolution [+]Loading...["Resolution (TV story)"])
Utility[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Opening a hatch. (TV: The Ghost Monument [+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"])
- Untying a knot in a rope. (TV: Demons of the Punjab [+]Loading...["Demons of the Punjab (TV story)"])
- Lighting a candle. (COMIC: Dr. Thirteenth [+]Loading...["Dr. Thirteenth (novel)"])
Other[[edit] | [edit source]]
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
When the Twelfth Doctor regenerated, (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"]), his screwdriver and sonic sunglasses fell from the Thirteenth Doctor's pockets as she fell to Earth. During her investigation of Tzim-Sha, she built her new sonic screwdriver out of Stenza technology and Sheffield steel. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"])
The Doctor used her screwdriver to track where her TARDIS had ended up. Following it to Desolation, the Doctor used the sonic as a beacon for the TARDIS engines, allowing the ship to properly materialise. (TV: The Ghost Monument [+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"])
When on the Tsuranga, the screwdriver was briefly snacked on by a Pting who drained the device of power. (TV: The Tsuranga Conundrum [+]Loading...["The Tsuranga Conundrum (TV story)"])
When facing off against a rebuilt Reconnaissance Dalek in the Recon Scout Incident, the Doctor used her screwdriver to briefly override the Dalek's gunstick. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Revolution of the Daleks (TV story)"]) When the Doctor was targeted by Dalek Executioners, she attempted to repeat the trick but found that the Daleks had overcome this weakness. (TV: Eve of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Eve of the Daleks (TV story)"])
Following the Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration, (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]) the screwdriver was briefly used by the Fourteenth Doctor only to be destroyed by a psychoplasmic Supreme Dalek at the Dalek Dome. This came to the dismay of the Doctor, who reflected on the screwdriver's construction in Sheffield. Soon after, as part of a deal to retrieve the TARDIS from the Golden Emperor during the 2323 Dalek invasion of Earth, the Doctor had the Old Skaro Emperor craft an identical, replacement sonic which included an integral teleporter.
The Doctor used the screwdriver to override the controls of an escape rocket to collide with the Mathematicians' Moon which sustained the psychoplasmic Daleks in the real universe. The Golden Emperor then wrested the screwdriver from the Doctor's grasp before destroying it, with the Doctor lamenting "not again!" (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) Following the ordeal, the Doctor replaced the screwdriver with a new model. (WC: The Fourteenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver [+]Loading...["The Fourteenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver (webcast)"], PROSE: Super Sonic [+]Loading...["Super Sonic (feature)"])
Melanie Bush once found this sonic in a drawer in the Remembered TARDIS. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"]) It was also found in a drawer of a remembered console by Jo Jones. (TV: The Three Doctors [+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TotT TV story)"])
Undated events[[edit] | [edit source]]
The screwdriver was laying on a boulder when an individual travelled though a forest towards the Thirteenth Doctor. (EXHIBIT: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)"])