Thread:133842 establishes there's some inconsistency among the writers, but there is nonetheless a sonic in the Doctor's possession by the time of his travels with Benny in the NAs.
These omissions are so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Check out the discussion page and revision history for further clues about what needs to be updated in this article.
The sonic screwdriver — often called the sonic — was a highly versatile tool used by many, but not all, incarnations of the Doctor. The Doctor modified and ostensibly upgraded it over the years, giving it an increasing number of applications. Early versions were used mainly for the picking of locks and for projecting sound so as to, for example, detonate bombs. By the time of the Ninth Doctor, the sonic was able to also be used as a sophisticated scanning device, with medical applications. Subsequent incarnations gave it even wider functionality, such as the ability to hack into computers, provide geolocation and actively defend against some types of assault weapon.
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)
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. (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 Doctor also used it to try and help River Song defeat a group of Silents although River teased him by saying it would be better if he used it to "build a cabinet". However the Doctor implied that although it couldn't actually hurt the Silent's it could weaken the power of their electricity, therefore allowing him to provide River with a certain degree of protection while she shot down their foes. (TV: Day of the Moon)
Although the Eighth Doctor once claimed the device could destroy a Dalek's brain if held directly against the casing when activated, (PROSE: War of the Daleks) according to the Tenth Doctor, the device could not be used to wound, maim or kill living things. (TV: 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. (TV: The End of the World, The Christmas Invasion)
Sonic screwdrivers and similar technology could not unlock a deadlock seal. (TV: School Reunion) To undo one of these seals, the user would need at least two sonic devices. One such instance was when the Tenth Doctor used his own sonic screwdriver in conjunction with Miss Foster's sonic pen to open the deadlock seals on and within her own facility when the Doctor's screwdriver alone could not. (TV: Partners in Crime) Some or all versions were ineffective against wood, or in the presence of some models of hairdryers. (TV: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead, The Hungry Earth, Night Terrors, PROSE: Catastrophea)
Variants of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver
The earliest known version of the sonic screwdriver in use. (TV: The War Games)
The Third Doctor's most-used model of the sonic screwdriver was much larger than the one his first and second incarnation used; 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. (TV: The Sea Devils)
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. (TV: 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, (TV: The Visitation) its head was repainted twice after the original coat wore off. (TV: 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. (TV: Snakedance)
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)
Towards the end of his seventh life, the Doctor fished another type of sonic screwdriver from one of the tool kits in the TARDIS. This model looked similar to the screwdriver seen at the end of his fourth incarnation; it was silver with a brass trim ring in the lower grip. The handle resembled the previous sonic screwdrivers with the upper section being able to collapse in similar fashion as a telescope into itself for ease of carrying. At the top, the emitter has a silver ring with a red bullet shape in the center. This version remained in the Eighth Doctor's use throughout his life. Later, a torch was built into the handle. Once, while suffering from amnesia, the Doctor distracted himself and operated this sonic screwdriver on instinct. [source needed]
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)
After Lucie and Tamsin
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) 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) It was called a pennywhistle by World War I medics. (AUDIO: The Great War)
The Ninth & Tenth Doctor's Screwdriver (TV: Doomsday)
The Doctor had yet another screwdriver during his eigthth incarnation, this one with a glowing blue diode at one end. Although the Eighth Doctor was known to have used it as well, (PROSE: Osskah) this model was much more ubiquitous as the model carried by the Ninth Doctor, who used it far less frequently 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. This version was burnt out by accident after the Doctor used it to modify an X-ray output to over 5000%, but had replaced it with a near-identical model. (TV: Smith and Jones) The only visible difference was the colour scheme of the handle. The tenth incarnation had this screwdriver on his person during his regeneration, and was damaged repeatedly afterwards, which led 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. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
Reversing the polarity of Lazarus's machine, sending an energy pulse out to knock Lazarus unconscious and revert him to human form. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment)
Completing the propulsion system for the ship destined for Utopia (TV: Utopia)
Fusing the TARDIS' navigational coordinates, allowing only travel between its current position and the previous one. The fusion was imperfect; at least 18 months before or after take-off were allowed as destinations. (TV: Utopia)
Unsuccessfully trying to bypass the Sontarans' control of the ATMOS, forcing the Doctor to use reverse-psychology with the machine to avoid drowning. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
Changing the destination of a Sontaran teleport. (TV: The Poison Sky)
Switching a radio between several international channels to determine that the Atraxi were broadcasting their warning for Prisoner Zero to surrender or be destroyed along with the "human residence" to the entire Earth. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
After the loss of the sonic screwdriver, the TARDIS gifted the Doctor with this new model. Differing radically from the last due to having "claws" and a green diode, rather than blue, it also had copper plating similar to the control room which had built itself following the TARDIS' crash landing in Leadworth. (TV: The Eleventh Hour) A psychic interface allowed its user to point it at a target and think of the function they wanted, instead of "settings"; however, it may have been a secondary way of using it. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler) Having been mentioned to be more than sonic, (TV: Night Terrors) this screwdriver also shot beams of green energy. (TV: Day of the Moon, Closing Time)
On the right "prozatic setting", can stun any creature; however, because the Doctor couldn't see the Krafayis, he couldn't get the seting right and ended up pleasing the creature instead. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)
Used to help with rewiring the TARDIS; he told Lilly it was because the light in his "wardrobe" wasn't working, claiming it was the reason he dressed as he did. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
Setting the TARDIS on its "adventure setting". (TV: Gold as Gold)
Deleting an answering machine message from the phone the message was made from. (WC: Pond Life)
Activating the reverse in a badly damaged, insane Dalek's casing to send it into other insane Daleks (as it was going to self-destruct). (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
Attempting self-reconstruction via signalling its other half; it failed at this and was left behind by the Doctor to be replaced by a similar sonic screwdriver. (TV: A Christmas Carol)
Activating for unknown reasons on the Ice Governess while she was locked on the stairs and then pointed it at Vastra when she commented that he was "enjoying this." (TV: The Snowmen)
Tracking the location of the Martian Ice Warrior as he sneaked around out of his armour. (TV: Cold War)
Threatening to detonate the Nuclear Warheads inside the Submarine, to stop the Martian Ice Warrior from launching them. The Screwdriver opened up wide and the tip glowed bright red, rather than green. (TV: Cold War)
Receiving a signal from the TARDIS indicating that it had returned and indicating its location. (TV: Cold War)
Enhancing the power of an arsenal of bombs (TV: Cold War)
Romana II constructed her own sonic screwdriver. Her version was so impressive, that the Doctor offered to swap sonic screwdrivers with her. (TV: The Horns of Nimon) She later gave it to the Doctor. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)
The Fifth Doctor also kept a Molenski Univarius in the TARDIS for repairs. He described it as a Gallifreyan "Swiss Army knife". While exploring the Axis, he carried it with him and used it in the same fashion as later models of the sonic screwdriver, even using the sonic properties to fend off creatures with sound waves before it ran out of power and was discarded. (AUDIO: The Axis of Insanity)
While trapped on Apalapucia for thirty-six years, Amy Pond cobbled together a sonic screwdriver from various pieces of technology, although she insisted on calling it a "sonic probe". She later admitted it was a sonic screwdriver. (TV: The Girl Who Waited)
Jackson Lake carried what is likely the most primitive iteration of the sonic screwdriver. His version was a regular 19th century screwdriver, which he claimed was sonic by virtue of it making a sound when it was struck against a surface. (TV: The Next Doctor)
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 and Seventh Doctor's eras, except in the TV Movie, 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.
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.
There are two main versions of the Eleventh Doctor's 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.
Concept art
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.
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.
Sonic screwdriver toy
A toy of the Eleventh Doctor's 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.
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.
The Visual Dictionary
According to the non-fiction source, REF: Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary, which this wiki does not count as a valid source, 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.
Attack of the Graske
In NOTDWU: Attack of the Graske, the Tenth Doctor appears to break the fourth wall by noting the player at home's been watching his adventures. Later, he points the sonic screwdriver at the television screen, transferring its powers to the player's digital remote control. This, along with having the player choose multiple endings to this game, disqualifies it as a valid source on this wiki.
Other matters
In the original script for The Eleventh Hour, the Doctor referred to his screwdriver as "Level 4000" technology.
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]
The Poldigon scientists the Seventh Doctor encountered on Celdor knew of Sonic screwdrivers, but not of The Doctor himself. This suggests they were at least partly a Gallifreyan invention and not entirely of the Doctor's creation. (AUDIO: The Doomsday Quatrain)
