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 make one from scratch in very little time. (REF: Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary) The Eleventh Doctor implied that he chose to make the first sonic screwdriver (or an innovative model of one) instead of 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. The name of the device suggests that it functioned using sound waves, although its actual workings were never 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. (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 was also said to have a setting 85. (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; [source needed] 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; [source needed] 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, it could also be used as a defensive weapon. 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 be used to destroy non-living objects or mechanisms or place living creatures in circumstances where they might die, if the situation required. [source needed]

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)

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 the Adipose Industries building 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

Earliest known 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 Doctor in his first (MA: Venusian Lullaby) and second incarnations. (DW: Fury from the Deep)

Known uses

The "Door Handle"

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 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 but this was probably humour since Liz Shaw recalled his strange use of the term when operating her own copy of the device.

Known uses

  • Operating the automatic door to the Doctor's workshop at Project Inferno (DW: Inferno)

Mark II

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

{C}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

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 and the Fourth Doctor even removed it once, using the headless device as a mine sweeper. Before this model was destroyed its head was repainted twice after the original coat wore off. (DW: 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 the Seventh Doctor had at regeneration. (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 was visually quite similar to the Mark III seen at the end of his fourth incarnation. It remained in use during the Eighth Doctor's time and had a torch built into the handle. Once, while suffering from amnesia, the Doctor was able to distract himself and operate this sonic screwdriver on instinct.

Known Uses

Mark V

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

Towards the end of his eighth incarnation, the Doctor had a new model with a glowing blue diode at one end. The Ninth Doctor carried this model, but rarely used it unless absolutely necessary as he preferred direct confrontations with his foes. Unlike his predecessor, the Tenth Doctor used this model often 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

The tenth incarnation made a similar model of the screwdriver after losing the previous version in the X-ray incident, visibly modifying only the colour scheme of the handle. It was heavily relied on by the Tenth Doctor to help him get out of tight spots. 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 Eleventh 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 sonic screwdriver (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

Following the Mark VI's destruction, the Doctor received a new Sonic Screwdriver from the TARDIS. It differed radically from the previous model, having “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, in which the user simply pointed and thought of the function they wished it to perform. (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. (DW: A Christmas Carol) The Doctor left it with Kazran Sardick , saying that he was "going to need a new one." (DW: A Christmas Carol) The Doctor had duplicates of this screwdriver, which he continued to use throughout his travels. When the Shansheeth took his TARDIS, the Doctor mentioned that they took it from him. He also mentioned that this screwdriver was more than just sonic, but did not mention what else it was. (DW : Night Terrors)

Known uses

Mark ?

In the Doctor's personal future relative to being called to the Library in the 51st century, he upgraded the screwdriver with, in addition to Mark VI settings, "red settings" and "damper settings". He gave it to River Song and, unknown to her, included 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

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 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 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 then 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.

External links

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