Sonic screwdriver

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The Sonic Screwdriver was a versatile tool and defensive weapon used by the Doctor.

Technology and functions

The sonic screwdriver was a common and basic Time Lord device. If needed, a Time Lord could made one from scratch in very little time. (REF: Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary (2010)) It is possible the First Doctor himself likely created the first sonic screwdriver during his adolescence, rather than wooing a woman. (DW: A Christmas Carol) Other alien races were known to possess similar devices, such as the sonic pen used by Miss Foster (DW: Partners in Crime) and the sonic blaster obtained by Captain Jack Harkness. Sonic blasters were known to be made in the Villengard factory. (The Empty Child) The name of the device itself suggests that it functioned using sound waves, although the actual workings of the device were never fully explained.

A crystal similar to Metebelis Crystal sought after by the Eight Legs of Metebelis III was used in the Mark VI sonic screwdriver. (IDW: The Forgotten) There were also electrical components. (DWAM: The Halls of Sacrifice)

The screwdriver had a multitude of settings, along with different versions of settings, as the Doctor told Rose to use "setting 15B" to help him triangulate the source of the ghosts (DW: Army of Ghosts) and used 34-H to sink a ship (DWBIT: Second Wave). It is also said to have a setting 85. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment) The Doctor told Rose to use setting 2428D to re-attach barbed wire. (DW: The Doctor Dances)

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; 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; and, on the rare occasion, driving screws without touching them. Although it was primarily a tool, it could 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) Although the Eighth Doctor once claimed that 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) It could still be used to destroy non-living objects or mechanisms or place living creatures in circumstances where they might die, if the situation required.

From time to time, the sonic screwdriver needed to be recharged. (NSA: The Monsters Inside, DWAM: Bizarre Zero) The sonic screwdriver was self-repairing and could send out a homing signal to any parts that had been severed. (DW: A Christmas Carol)

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 was able to open the deadlock seals on and within the Adipose Industries building when the Doctor's sonic screwdriver could not. (DW: Partners in Crime) 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, The Hungry Earth, PDA: Catastrophea)

Variants of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver

Earliest known sonic screwdriver in use. (DW: The War Games)

Mark I

A small, simple device similar to a penlight, first used by the Doctor in his first (MA: Venusian Lullaby) and second incarnations. (DW: Fury from the Deep)

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)

A larger and more elaborately detailed version, the Doctor began using this model in his third incarnation. In addition to a redesign on the tip which remained the norm for the next two versions, it had a silver handle, and black and yellow stripes. It had a removable head which the Doctor would change with other heads, each doing a different function. (DW: The Sea Devils)

Known uses

Mark III

The Fourth Doctor remade his sonic screwdriver into a silver version that lacked the interchangeable heads. It was capable of extending its tip.

Known uses

Mark IV

Chang Lee discovers the sonic screwdriver the Seventh Doctor had at regeneration. (DW: Doctor Who)

Towards the end of his Seventh Incarnation The Doctor used a model quite similar to his Mark III except that instead of the ring around the tip being red, the tip itself was red. This was used during the Eighth Doctor's life and had a torch built in the handle.

Known Uses

Mark V

In his ninth incarnation, the Doctor had a new model with a glowing blue diode at one end. The tenth incarnation of the Doctor also carried this model, until it was burnt out after modifying an x-ray scanner to increase the radiation output. (DW: Smith and Jones)

File:Sonic screwdriver - Doomsday.png
The version used by the ninth and tenth incarnations of the Doctor. (DW: Doomsday)

Known uses

Mark VI

The tenth incarnation used another screwdriver after the X-ray incident. This model was damaged during the Doctor's tenth regeneration and the TARDIS' subsequent crash, as well as by Prisoner Zero and was ultimately destroyed when the Doctor used it to overload technology to alert the Atraxi. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

Known uses

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

Mark VII

The Mark VII in the TARDIS console. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

Following the Mark VI's destruction, the Doctor received a new Sonic Screwdriver from the TARDIS. It was radically different to the previous model, having “claws” and a green diode, rather than blue. It also had copper plating in various places, both of which were similar to the new TARDIS interior. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) This version of the screwdriver was destroyed when a sky shark bit it in half and swallowed the top half. (DW: A Christmas Carol) At some point off-screen, the Doctor either made a nearly identical model or repaired the old one, as he had another later. (DW: Day of the Moon)

Known uses

Mark ?

In the Doctor's personal future, he upgraded the screwdriver with, in addition to the Mark VI settings, "red settings" and "damper settings". He gave it to River Song, both for her use and, unknown to River, a Neural Relay, which saved River's Data Ghost for uploading into the main computer of the Library. (DW: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead)

Known uses

  • Activating and disabling gravity platforms. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
  • Fixing light bulbs. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
  • Storing the consciousness of a human (specifically River's). (DW: Forest of the Dead)
  • Increasing mesh densities to over 800%. (DW: Forest of the Dead)

Related tools

Behind the scenes

  • The sonic screwdriver was retired during the Fifth Doctor serial The Visitation, as it was felt that it had become overused. It was absent for the Sixth Doctor era and all of the Seventh, except in Doctor Who, in which the Seventh Doctor was seen to use 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. So, the production team secured molds from the toy replica in order to make a more reliable prop for the next season.
  • Early conceptual art of the modern era Sonic Screwdriver feature a different "tube" section, with notes referring 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 feature 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. The "claws" on the Series 5 model of the sonic screwdriver may be a re-imagining of these "feet".
  • 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.
  • The sound effect heard when the Sonic Screwdriver is used is made by a Cork Screw, and then edited to form the signature sound of the screwdriver.
  • 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.

External links

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