Sonic screwdriver

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The sonic screwdriver was a versatile tool and defensive "weapon" used by the Doctor. He used it primarily as a non-offensive tool to assist him during his adventures. During the course of his travels, most versions were either replaced or destroyed, with the latter being the most frequently occuring of the two (DW: The Visitation, Smith and Jones, The Eleventh Hour, A Christmas Carol, The Almost People). All were ineffective against wood - something he found embarrassing and wished to someday overcome.

Technology and functions

The sonic screwdriver was considered to be very advanced Gallifreyan technology. (PDA: Heart of TARDIS) The Eleventh Doctor made a tongue-in-cheek implication that he built the first sonic screwdriver (or an innovative model of one) instead of wooing a woman, something he considered a mistake. (DW: A Christmas Carol) Other alien races had similar devices, such as the sonic pen used by Miss Foster (DW: Partners in Crime) and the sonic blaster obtained by Captain Jack Harkness and River Song. (DW: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead) The name of the device suggests that it functioned using sound waves, although its actual workings were never truly explained.

The Mark IV sonic screwdriver used a crystal similar to the Metebelis Crystal sought after by the Eight Legs of Metebelis III. (IDW: The Forgotten) There were also electrical components. (DWA: 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 (DW: Army of Ghosts) and used 34-H to sink a ship (DWBIT: Second Wave). It had a setting 85 that undid security codes to unlock doors. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment) The Ninth Doctor told Rose to use setting 2428D to re-attach barbed wire. (DW: The Doctor Dances) Sarah Jane used the Theta Omega setting to melt plastic vines. (DW: The Android Invasion)

The different versions of the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers exhibited different capabilities and uses, such as the interception of signals ranging from transmat beams to conscious thought; (DW: The End of the World) medical diagnostics and repair of organic parts; (DW: The Empty Child, The Vampires of Venice) cutting, but also re-attaching materials such as barbed wire; (DW: The Doctor Dances) operating Earth machinery such as computers and even cash machines (at regular and high eject speeds); (DW: School Reunion, The Runaway Bride) creating a spark to light a candle (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace); and, on the rare occasion, driving screws without touching them. (DW: The War Games, The Ark in Space, The Doctor's Wife)

Although it was primarily a tool, the sonic screwdriver could also be used as a defensive weapon. The Tenth Doctor put it in a sound board to destroy the Robot Santas by overloading their sensors. (DW: The Runaway Bride) Although the Eighth Doctor once claimed the device could destroy a Dalek's brain if held directly against the casing when activated, (EDA: War of the Daleks) according to the Tenth Doctor, the device could not be used to wound, maim or kill living things. (DW: Doomsday, The Doctor's Daughter) It could destroy non-living objects or mechanisms or place living creatures in circumstances where they might die, if the situation required. (DW: The End of the World, The Christmas Invasion)

From time to time, the sonic screwdriver needed to be recharged. (NSA: The Monsters Inside, DWA: Bizarre Zero) It was self-repairing and could send out a homing signal to any parts that had been separated. (DW: A Christmas Carol) However, it was up to the owner to collect the parts for reassembly.

Sonic screwdrivers and similar technology could not unlock a deadlock seal. (DW: School Reunion) One of few exceptions was Miss Foster's sonic pen, which opened the deadlock seals on and within her own facility when the Doctor's sonic screwdriver could not. (DW: Partners in Crime) Some or all versions were ineffective against wood, or in the presence of some models of hairdryers. (DW: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead, The Hungry Earth, PDA: Catastrophea)

Variants of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver

The earliest known version of the sonic screwdriver in use. (DW: The War Games)

Mark I

The first version was a small, simple device similar to a penlight, used by the First (MA: Venusian Lullaby) and Second Doctor. (DW: Fury from the Deep) It was used by the Eighth Doctor after it was destroyed "centuries ago". He explained how this occurred to his companion Samantha Jones: "It's a Time Lord tool. Time doesn't work the same way for Time Lord tools." (EDA: Alien Bodies)

Known uses

The "Door Handle"

File:Doorhandle.jpg
Suspiciously sonic: the "door handle.". (DW: Inferno)

Early in his third incarnation, the Doctor employed a silver tool slightly larger than the Mark I sonic screwdriver but with a round emitter head similar to the Mark II. (DW: Inferno) Although he never referred to as a sonic screwdriver, its appearance and in-hand use were uncanny. The Doctor described it as a "door handle" to a UNIT soldier.

Known uses

Mark II

File:CarnivalMonsters sonic screwdriver.jpg
Variation used during and following the Third Doctor's exile on Earth. (DW: Carnival of Monsters)

The Third Doctor's most-used model of the sonic screwdriver was much larger than the Mark I; its elaborately-detailed silver shape featured black and yellow stripes and red trim. It had a removable head which the Doctor would change with others, each performing a different function. (DW: The Sea Devils)

Known uses

Mark III

File:Frontiersonic.png
The sonic stripped down to its metallic elements. (DW: Frontier in Space)

The Third Doctor 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. (DW: Frontier in Space) This refit left the metal mostly unpainted, with a dark red emitter ring. The head of this model could be extended. Before this model was destroyed (DW: The Visitation), its head was repainted twice after the original coat wore off. (DW: The Keeper of Traken, Castrovalva) The Doctor went without a sonic screwdriver for some time after this model and Nyssa lamented the Fifth Doctor's decision not to replace it. (DW: Snakedance)

Known uses

Mark IV

Chang Lee discovers the sonic screwdriver amongst the things he stole from the Doctor. (DW: Doctor Who)

Towards the end of his seventh life, the Doctor fished a fourth type of sonic screwdriver from one of the tool kits in the TARDIS. This model looked similar to the Mark III seen at the end of his fourth incarnation; it was completely silver. The handle resembled a small torch. The tip was a circle with a red tip in it. To use this model, the tip was pointed at the object in question. This version remained in the Eighth Doctor's use throughout his life. There was a torch built into the handle. Once, while suffering from amnesia, the Doctor distracted himself and operated this sonic screwdriver on instinct.

Known Uses

Mark V

File:Sonic screwdriver - Doomsday.png
The version used by the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. (DW: Doomsday)

Towards the end of his eighth incarnation, the Doctor had a new model with a glowing blue diode at one end. The first known individual known to use it was the Eighth Doctor. (ST: Osskah) The Ninth Doctor carried this model, but used it far less frequently to assist himself during adventures like his previous incarnations had done before. The Tenth Doctor also used this model, as he liked tinkering with technology to make devices he needed. However, this version was burnt out by accident after the Doctor used it to modify an x-ray radiation output to over 5000%. (DW: Smith and Jones)

Known uses

Mark VI

Following his first adventure

File:Mark VI sonic - The Eleventh Hour.png
Mark VI Sonic screwdriver being used by the Eleventh Doctor. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

with Martha, the Doctor created a similar screwdriver. The only visible difference was the colour scheme of the handle. He relied upon just as much as his last sonic screwdriver, to help him out of tight spots. It was damaged repeatedly after his regeneration, which lead to 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. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)


Known uses

Mark VII

The Mark VII sonic screwdriver (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

Following the Mark VI's destruction, the Doctor received a new Sonic screwdriver from the TARDIS, which had undergone a regeneration of its own. It differed radically from the previous model. It had “claws” and a green diode, rather than blue. It also had copper plating in various places, similar to the new TARDIS interior. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) Unlike the previous marks, which had "settings", this version had a psychic interface which let the user simply point and think of what they wanted it to do. Though it may have been a secondary way of using it. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler) This version of the screwdriver was destroyed when a sky shark bit it in half and swallowed the top half. The Doctor left it with Kazran Sardick, saying that he was "going to need a new one." (DW: A Christmas Carol)

The replacement Mark VII was left with the Ganger Doctor. However since the Doctor was seen with it immediately after, it can be assumed the TARDIS created a new one for him again. He also mentioned that the Mark VII was more than just sonic, but did not mention what else it was. (DW: Night Terrors) Retaining ineffectiveness against wood, it also didn't work against Peg Dolls; "I've got to invent a setting for wood; it's embaressing!" (DW: Night Terrors) This fault was brought up in a similiar situation, where the Doctor told the Mark VII in a panic "Aliens made of wood, you know this always going to happen!" He also said in desperation to open a door in a tower grown from a group of trees, "Yes, I know it's wood. Get over it!" (DW: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)

Known Uses

River's Screwdriver

The Eleventh Doctor created this version at an unknown point in his life before River's final date with him at the Darillium Singing Towers. This version of the sonic screwdriver had the Mark VI's settings along with "dampers" and a "red setting" that allowed it to work without interference from Doctor Moon. The Doctor gave it to River Song so she would be ready when she met his tenth incarnation in the Library. Unknown to her, this version included a Neural Relay which would save her Data Ghost for uploading into the main computer of the Library. (DW: Silence in the Library, Forest of the Dead).

Known uses

Related tools

Behind the scenes

  • The sonic screwdriver was retired during the Fifth Doctor serial The Visitation, as it was felt that it had been overused. It was absent for the Sixth Doctor era and all of the Seventh, except in Doctor Who, in which the Seventh Doctor used it to lock the Master's remains away; 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. It has since appeared in many Seventh and Eighth Doctor audio adventures from Big Finish Productions.
  • For unexplained reasons, the Tenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver had a green casing in The Infinite Quest.
  • During early production of Series 1 (2005), the production crew decided to switch from their original prop to one based on the toy Sonic Screwdriver because the first prop was prone to falling apart. The production team secured moulds of the toy replica to make a more reliable prop for the next season.
  • Early conceptual art of the modern era Sonic Screwdriver feature a different "tube" section. Notes refer to "glowing organic circuitry" and a movable ball-joint on the emitter to allow use around corners and in tight spaces. Instead of the "glowing circuitry," the actual prop and toy reproductions featured a black "swivel" like a simple helix. When given a personal copy of the concept art, David Tennant himself commented on the lack of the swivelling emitter.
  • Another early piece of concept art, similar to a simple Bitmap drawing, reveals that the black "cap" at the reverse end of the Sonic Screwdriver was intended to be an opening set of "feet," allowing the Sonic Screwdriver to plug into a section of the TARDIS console. This feature was also dropped from the eventual prop model.
  • There are two main versions of the Mark VI Sonic Screwdriver - one has a slide feature with button, and one which does not slide and has a fixed button. The two prop types varied each episode.
  • When the Doctor handles the screwdriver, the clinking noises produced (when he throws and catches it) are created by repeating the motions with a corkscrew, the handles of which bump against the casing to produce the required noise. These noises are dubbed over the footage.
  • A toy of the Mark VII (Matt Smith version) was seen in "Light Echoes", an edition of "The Sky at Night" broadcast on BBC4 on Wednesday 5th October 2010. The screwdriver was (jokingly) used to scan a part of the LOFAR radio telescope, then under construction in Chilbolton, Hampshire, UK.
  • In the original script for The Eleventh Hour, the Doctor referred to the Mark VI Screwdriver as "Level 4000" technology.
  • The Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver toy has a total of four sound effects, two of which alternate with every other button press. The third is activated by pressing twice and holding on the third button push. The fourth is activated with three presses and a hold on the fourth push. However, in some models of the toy, over-use of the hidden sound effects causes the sound functions to eventually break, leaving only the LED functional.
  • According to the non-fiction source REF: Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary, the sonic screwdriver was a common and basic Time Lord device. If needed, a Time Lord could make one from scratch in very little time.
  • Scientists at the University of Dundee invented a device which turns objects with ultrasonic waves, an invention which has been described as a real-world version of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.[1]

External links

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