Sonic screwdriver

File:Sonic Collection.png

Toy sonic devices manufactured by Character Options (Note that the far right depicts a laser screwdriver, not sonic).

The sonic screwdriver is a fictional tool in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spinoffs. Its most common function is to operate virtually any lock, mechanical or electronic. It has also been used for repairing equipment. Like the TARDIS, it has become one of the icons of the programme and is closely associated with the Doctor.

History

1968–1996

The First Sonic Screwdriver from Season 6 Episode 3 of The War Games.

The sonic screwdriver made its first appearance in the serial Fury from the Deep, written by Victor Pemberton. It was used thereafter by the Second Doctor as a multi-purpose tool, with occasional variations in appearance over the course of the series. Ownership of the concept was retained by the BBC; Pemberton later told an interviewer for Doctor Who Magazine, "I'm very cross that the sonic screwdriver—which I invented—has been marketed with no credit to myself. ... It's one thing not to receive any payment, but another not to receive any credit."

Its abilities and overall appearance varied greatly during the classic series. The name implies that it operates through the use of soundwaves to exert physical forces on objects remotely. During the Second Doctor's tenure, it functioned much as its name implied—using sonic waves to dismantle equipment or to bypass locks. In the audio commentary for The Sea Devils, Michael Bryant claims to have suggested it as a one-off gadget in 1968.

During the Third Doctor's tenure, producer Barry Letts was adamant that the device not become a cure-all for the series, and limited its use to avoid writers becoming over-reliant on it. During this time, the device underwent significant design changes. In The Sea Devils, the Doctor used it to detonate landmines; Michael Bryant explains that this was feasible, stating that the sonic waves shook the mines. In The Three Doctors, a device which appears to be the sonic screwdriver is used to detect radiation, though in the DVD commentary, Letts remarks that it may have actually been a separate device.

During the first three years of the Fourth Doctor's tenure, producer Philip Hinchcliffe further reduced the use of the sonic screwdriver. Exceptions include Robot, where it was again used to detonate mines, and as a "miniature sonic lance" to cut out a lock. Aside from unlocking doors, the device was greatly downplayed during the Fourth Doctor's second and third seasons. It saw a resurgence once Graham Williams took over as producer in 1977. In the final story of season 15, The Invasion of Time, the Fourth Doctor conceded, "It looks like not even the sonic screwdriver can get me out of this one."

It featured regularly in season 16 during the Key to Time saga. The Doctor's Time Lady companion Romana constructed a sonic screwdriver of her own, first seen during the City of Death. It was smaller and sleeker than the Doctor's, and he was sufficiently impressed with her design that he attempted (unsuccessfully) to swap screwdrivers with her in Horns of Nimon. By season 18, both script editor Christopher Bidmead and producer John Nathan-Turner were eager to downplay the device as much as possible.

The sonic screwdriver was written out of the series late in season 19, in the Fifth Doctor serial The Visitation. It is destroyed by a Terileptil to prevent the Doctor from escaping a holding cell; in response, the Doctor remarked, "It feels like you just killed an old friend." Eric Saward later explained in a 2005 DVD interview that this was done on the instructions of producer John Nathan-Turner. Saward had written out the sonic screwdriver, believing that the Doctor had "a cupboard full of them" in the TARDIS. On the basis that a device that could help in any situation was very limiting for the script, Nathan-Turner decided that it would not return. The Tenth Doctor joked about the Fifth Doctor's lack of sonic screwdriver in the mini-episode Time Crash, commenting that he "went hands-free" and could "save the universe using a kettle and some string." The device did not appear again for the remainder of the original series.

In the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie, the Doctor was seen to have a new sonic screwdriver with a telescopic design.

2005–2024

File:Toy sonic screwdrivers.png

Toys based on the ninth and tenth Doctors' Sonic Screwdrivers, both manufactured by Character Options

A redesigned sonic screwdriver appears in the new series, with a blue light in addition to the sound effect. In its first incarnation, the prop used in the new series was fragile and prone to breakage. The toy version (made by Character Options Ltd.) was slightly larger to accommodate a pen (with swappable standard and ultraviolet ink nibs) and batteries. It also includes an ultraviolet light for viewing messages written in the ultraviolet ink. The Doctor Who production team at BBC Wales were so impressed by how much more resilient the toy sonic screwdriver was than the real prop, that they obtained moulds of the original prototype of the toy to use in the 2006 series.

In contrast with Nathan-Turner's attitude that the sonic screwdriver should not be used as a cure-all, the new production team gave it even more functionality than previous versions. Some of the uses in the new series include: repairing electronic equipment; detecting, intercepting and sending signals; remotely operating the TARDIS; burning, cutting, or igniting substances; fusing metal; scanning and identifying substances; amplifying or augmenting sound; modifying mobile phones to enable "universal roaming”; disabling alien disguises. It is sometimes used to disassemble robotic enemies or turn other objects into weapons. In "The Long Game", "The Parting of the Ways" and "Utopia" it is used to operate the TARDIS controls remotely; when the Doctor attempts to counteract the Master's theft of the TARDIS, it is used to limit the TARDIS' destination. In "Doomsday", the Doctor states that the sonic screwdriver does not kill, wound or maim; however, it is sometimes brandished in a threatening manner, such as in "The Christmas Invasion", "The Runaway Bride", "The Lazarus Experiment", The Infinite Quest and The Impossible Planet. In "World War Three", when confronted by a group of Slitheen, the Doctor threatens to "triplicate the flammability" of a bottle of port wine with the sonic screwdriver, though one of the Slitheen realises he is bluffing.

The sonic screwdriver has been the subject of jokes: in "The Doctor Dances", Jack Harkness mocked the concept by asking, "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?", and later exclaims to the Doctor that "in a pinch, you could put up some shelves!" In "Smith and Jones", Martha Jones asked if the Doctor also had a "Laser Spanner", to which he replied that he had, until it was stolen by Emmeline Pankhurst.

In "Smith and Jones", the sonic screwdriver burns out after the Doctor uses it to amplify the radiation output of a hospital X-ray machine. In the "Series Three concept Artwork Gallery",[1] [2] when referring to the burnt out sonic screwdriver, Peter McKinstry says "the green crystal structure visible under the shattered dome refers back to the TARDIS console crystal. It's the same technology - the TARDIS's little brother." Though initially saddened at the loss of the screwdriver, the Doctor obtains a new one at the conclusion of the episode.

In "The Eleventh Hour", the malfunctioning sonic screwdriver is destroyed when the Doctor tries to signal the Atraxi ships. The Doctor later receives a new one, which emerges from the newly-regenerated TARDIS console. The Eleventh Doctor's sonic screwdriver is larger than its predecessor; it has a green light and metal claws that extend with a flick of the wrist. A toy version of this (also by Character Options) is available.

Limitations

The sonic screwdriver is unable to open a "deadlock seal", used as a plot device to prevent an easy solution. In "Silence in the Library", while trying to open a wooden door, the Doctor tells Donna that the sonic screwdriver won't work because the door is made of wood. In the same episode, the Doctor mentions that when Emergency Program One was activated, the sonic screwdriver would receive a signal from the TARDIS. In the following episode, "Forest of the Dead", he claims that a few hair-dryers can interfere with the device, though he states that he is "working on that".

Other appearances

Licensed media

The sonic screwdriver is mentioned frequently in licensed spin-off media. The canonicity of spin-off fiction is unclear.

BBC Books

• The Past Doctor Adventures novel The Murder Game, set after The Power of the Daleks, has the Second Doctor escaping from a locked room with a box-shaped sonic device, in which he muses on the advantages of building a smaller model. The novel Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards, set after The Ice Warriors and before Fury from the Deep, features the Second Doctor utilizing the device to break through a concrete wall. Stories with the device used by the Second Doctor before the screwdriver's first on-screen appearance are plausible as the Doctor in that story indicates that the machine "never fails", implying its successful use before that adventure.
• The More Short Trips short story Special Weapons, set late in season 24, indicates that the Seventh Doctor has a sonic screwdriver.
• The Eighth Doctor Adventures novel, Father Time, features an amnesiac Doctor attempting to recreate the sonic screwdriver with 1980s technology, eventually producing a bulky device nicknamed the "sonic suitcase".
• In the Ninth Doctor Adventures novel The Clockwise Man the sonic screwdriver is used to cauterise wounds, as a soldering iron, and to stop a clockwork mechanism. In The Monsters Inside it is used to provide light, but runs out of power in the process. In Winner Takes All the Doctor fails to open a lock with it and concludes that it "hints at alien involvement". It is used to examine electronic standing stones in The Deviant Strain. In Only Human it is used to restrain someone by welding wires to a chair; in the same novel the Doctor informs Quelly that the device contains 29 computers.
• In the Tenth Doctor Adventures novel The Stone Rose, the sonic screwdriver is used to sedate animals. In The Nightmare of Black Island it is used to provide light. In The Last Dodo it is used to distract animals, and to liquefy and re-solidify tarmac. In Peacemaker, it is used to stop bullets and to dismantle guns.

Big Finish audio dramas

• In the Big Finish audio drama Pier Pressure, Evelyn Smythe mentions that although the Sixth Doctor didn't possess a sonic screwdriver, he fondly remembered it as his "door key". The Sixth Doctor uses his fingernails as a stand-in for the screwdriver as an escape method in The Nowhere Place.
• The Seventh Doctor uses the device in The Harvest and Dreamtime. His companions Ace and Hex use the device in the Doctorless audio drama, The Veiled Leopard.
• In Sword of Orion, the Eighth Doctor reveals that his sonic screwdriver has a torch built into the handle. In The Dying Days he uses the device to reflect the sonic cannon of an Ice Warrior back at his attacker. In Blood of the Daleks he uses it to trace a transmission beam.

Doctor Who comics

• In an untitled story by Gary Russell featured in the first issue of IDW Publishing's Doctor Who comic book (published February 2008), the Tenth Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to destroy a sword and later sacrifices it in order to defeat a Sycorax hunter. Later, he indicates that he needs time to "grow" a new sonic screwdriver.

Virgin Adventures

• The Seventh Doctor regained his sonic screwdriver in the Virgin New Adventures novels, with its first reappearance in The Pit.
• The Virgin Missing Adventures novel Venusian Lullaby established that the First Doctor had a sonic screwdriver.

Red Nose Day

• In the non-canonical Red Nose Day special, The Curse of Fatal Death, the final regeneration of the Doctor, played by Joanna Lumley, enthusiastically remarks that the sonic screwdriver "has three settings".
• In a non-canonical The Catherine Tate Show sketch, Catherine Tate's teenage character Lauren Cooper accuses her English teacher (played by David Tennant) of being "the Doctor". After much provocation, the teacher uses the sonic screwdriver to transform Lauren into a Rose Tyler action figure.

Unlicensed media

• The unlicensed fan fiction novel Time's Champion speculates that the Sixth Doctor has re-built the sonic screwdriver. He used a similar device in The Nightmare Fair, a script which was never produced for television but has been adapted twice.
• Sonic Screwdriver is the name of a fanzine published by the Doctor Who Club of Victoria.
• In the video game Daleks (published for operating systems of the early 1980s), the Doctor can use the sonic screwdriver to teleport and to defend himself against the Daleks.

Related devices

Doctor Who

• The Doctor has used other sonic devices similar to the sonic screwdriver, including the "door handle" of Inferno (Liz Shaw having one of her own) and a pen-sized white noise generator in Four to Doomsday.
• In the 1965 episode "Trap of Steel", the Doctor uses an apparently ordinary screwdriver to examine the metal of the Drahvin spaceship and other tasks.
• In the 1979 serial "City of Death", Count Scarlioni's henchmen use a "sonic knife" to cut the glass in front of the Mona Lisa.
• The Sixth Doctor used a hand tool called a sonic lance in Attack of the Cybermen.
• In the 2005 episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances", Jack Harkness uses a "sonic blaster", referred to by Rose Tyler as a "squareness gun", capable of "digitizing" structures by disintegrating them and then reversing the process, among other functions. In "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead", River Song wields a similar device, also referred to by the Doctor as a "squareness gun". Steven Moffat stated in an episode of Doctor Who Confidential that he considered the devices to be one and the same.
• In "Smith and Jones", the Doctor claims to have once owned a "laser spanner" until it was stolen by Emmeline Pankhurst, described by the Doctor as a "cheeky woman".
• In "The Sound of Drums", the Master reveals his laser screwdriver. Unlike the sonic screwdriver, it is used as a weapon that can kill as well as artificially age its target, using technology developed by Lazarus Laboratories originally seen in "The Lazarus Experiment". It includes isomorphic controls, allowing only the Master to use the device. The design of the prop was meant to imply that the Master constructed it on Earth, and it was deliberately made larger than the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. Like the Doctor's screwdriver and Sarah Jane's lipstick, the Master's laser screwdriver was also created as a children's toy with sound effects.
• In the series 4 episode "Partners in Crime", the antagonist Miss Foster is shown using a sonic device identified by her as a sonic pen, which the Doctor describes as having identical functionality to his screwdriver. After confiscating and briefly using it, the Doctor throws the sonic pen into a bin.
• In "Silence in the Library", Professor River Song possesses a slightly bulkier sonic screwdriver, which she claims the Doctor gave to her in his future. The Doctor mentioned that he does not give his screwdriver to anyone. In the following episode, Professor Song mentions that her screwdriver is augmented with a "red setting" and "dampers". It also contains a hidden neural relay linked to River Song, saving her at the episode's conclusion—the purpose for which the future Doctor gave Professor Song the device. A toy version is available.
• In the Christmas special The Next Doctor, Jackson Lake claims to possess a sonic screwdriver, though it is a regular screwdriver. When the Doctor asks "How is it sonic?", Lake replies, "It makes a noise," which he demonstrates by tapping it against a door frame.

The Sarah Jane Adventures

In the Doctor Who spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane Smith uses a "sonic lipstick", which is a gift the Tenth Doctor gave her alongside a new model of K-9. It functions much like the sonic screwdriver, used primarily for opening and closing locked doors. A toy version is available.

• In Enemy of the Bane, Mrs Wormwood (Samantha Bond) possesses a sonic device disguised as a ring called the "phonic disruptor".

Torchwood

• In the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood episode "Fragments", genius Toshiko Sato's backstory reveals that she stole faulty designs from the Ministry of Defence and UNIT, which she used to construct a sonic device, referred to as a "sonic modulator", to trade to a terrorist organisation in exchange for her mother. The device is confiscated by UNIT, which imprisons Sato until she is pardoned and recruited into Torchwood by Jack Harkness.
• In the episodes "Day One" and "End of Days", Captain Jack Harkness uses a green device somewhat similar to a sonic screwdriver. Its origins and function are unknown.
• In "Greeks Bearing Gifts" a replica of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver can be seen on Toshiko Sato's desk. Toshiko also uses a "lockpick" device in a number of episodes which replicates the door-opening function of the screwdriver.
• In Children of Earth, Gwen Cooper uses a similar device to deactivate CCTV cameras.

BBC Books

• In the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Alien Bodies, the Time Lord Homunculette has a sonic monkey wrench.

Parodies

• The The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure game parodies the sonic screwdriver with tools such as the ultra-plasmic awl.
• In the BBC Radio 4 science-fiction comedy Nebulous, there is a parody of the sonic screwdriver: the sonic crowbar.
• A sonic screwdriver briefly appears as an obtainable item (although it is never used for anything in the book) in the 1980s Fighting Fantasy book Sky Lord.
• A sonic screwdriver is the name of an alcoholic drink made from Vodka, Blue Curaçao and flavoured soda water.
• In the online game World of Warcraft, a item named "The Ultrasonic Screwdriver" is used to reprogram robots in a quest.
• In the Iron Man novel Femme Fatales Tony Stark uses a sonic screwdriver.

External links

• Sonic screwdriver diagram
• List of appearances and functions in the classic series
• List of appearances and functions in the 2005-2009 series at SFX
• Sonic screwdriver sound effect from the current series (MP3)