Doctor Who: The Sonic Screwdriver

Hi there! As you read this, I expect to be nursing a bandaged up arm after Friday's surgery, a procedure that as I actually write this is a few days away.

Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. 

Anyway...

This is my weekend Doctor Who post. Today, we look at the Doctor's signature tool of choice, the sonic screwdriver. 

This topic was brought to mind by the recent passing of Victor Pemberton at the age of 85. Pemberton was an actor and a writer who contributed in both roles to Doctor Who during the time of the 2nd Doctor portrayed by Patrick Troughton. In Pemberton's story from 1968 , "Fury from the Deep", we are first introduced to the sonic screwdriver.

The principal function of the sonic screwdriver was that of a screwdriver, a tool used to drive screws but with sound waves. The functions of the sonic screw driver would expand somewhat. 

The 3rd Doctor used the sonic to set off land mines in The Sea Devils while the 5th Doctor used it to disrupt monitor cameras in Four To Doomsday. 

While not typical functions of a screwdriver, the use of sonic waves made these expanded functions somewhat plausible.

There were concerns that the sonic screwdriver was too easy a way out for writers so the sonic was destroyed in 1982 in the 5th Doctor episode, The Visitation, and was not replaced.  The 6th Doctor did employ a "sonic lance" in one episode.

The sonic screwdriver was reintroduced in the 1996 TV movie and was a regular feature when the TV show was revived in 2005. During the course of the new series, the functions of the sonic screwdriver have expanded greatly beyond "sonic" or "screwdriver". 

From Wikipedia, here is a list of some of the things the sonic screwdriver can do. 

• Unlocking or locking a door
• Burning or cutting any kind of substance
• Remotely detonate certain machines or explosives
• Amplify sound-waves and the power of an X-ray machine beyond its normal capacity
• Disarm weapons and electronics
• Flashlight
• Intercept and conduct teleportation
• Hack an ATM
• Regenerating razor wire on a fence
• Darken eyeglass lenses to transform them into sunglasses
• Microphone (when connected to an audio amplifier)
• Detect and interpret signals
• Conducting medical scans
• Locking the coordinates of the TARDIS
• Tracking alien life
• Using red setting or dampers
• Control atoms and molecules on a small scale
• Operate computers, whether their origin is alien or human
• Provide Geo-location
• Get cash from an Automated teller machine
• Light candles
• Modification of a mobile phone
• Disclosure and deactivating camouflage
• Disarm Robotics
• Scan and classify matter
• Shatter glass
• Shocking neural centers of a living creature

And amazingly enough, the sonic screwdriver can also:

• Tighten and loosen screws

Recent Doctors have taken to brandishing the sonic screwdriver as a defensive weapon although that has been greeted with derision by none other than the Doctor himself. 

War Doctor to the 10th & 11th Doctors:
"They're scientific instruments, not water pistols." 
"Are you going to assemble a cabinet at them?"  

If it seems like the modern sonic screwdriver basically does what ever the Doctor thinks it should, you may well be right. 

In "Let's Kill Hitler", it is explained that instead of having settings, this version operates through a psychic interface, basically doing whatever the user thinks of while pointing and holding down the button.

In "Death In Heaven", Clarta confirms with the 12th Doctor the functioning of the the sonic screwdriver involves "point and think".


The BBC owns the sonic screwdriver, a point of some contention for it's creator.  Victor Pemberton 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."

Which is a shame. There should be some recognition of Pemberton's role in creating a part of the Doctor Who mythos that is as much apart of the Doctor's legend as the police box exterior of his TARDIS.   

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OK, that's that for now. I have another post or two in the chute while I recover from my arm surgery.  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.