Sonic Screwdriver

The sonic screwdriver is 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 program and is closely associated with the Doctor.

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", 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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_screwdriver

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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:
Sonic screwdriver created after its predecessor was destroyed at Royal Hope Hospital
Opening air tight seals. (DW: Gridlock)
Trying to strip off pieces of Dalekanium. (DW: Evolution of the Daleks)
Bypassing and turning off security systems. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment)
In conjunction with a pipe organ, it produced hypersonic sound waves which lead to the death of the Lazarus Creature. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment)
Scanning for the transformed Lazarus Creature after it escaped to Southwark Cathedral. (DW: The Lazarus Experiment)
Locking the TARDIS navigational systems to only allow travel between its current position and its previous position. (DW: Utopia)
Fixing a decades-broken Vortex Manipulator. (DW: Utopia)
To destroy a security camera.(DW: The Sound of Drums)
As a soldering iron to make perception filters using TARDIS keys.(DW: The Sound of Drums)
Uncorking a wine bottle. (DW: Voyage of the Damned)
Controlling a cable cart. (DW: Partners in Crime)
Breaking into a Silo on the Ood-Sphere. (DW: Planet of the Ood)
Disabling a Sontaran teleport. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem)
Scanning shadows for the presence of Vashta Nerada. (DW: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead)
Showing a hologram (of Donna Noble). (DW: Forest of the Dead)
Disabling the Crusader 50's entertainment system. (DW: Midnight)
Checking Crusader 50's control console for faults. (DW: Midnight)
Teleporting a Graske to the other side of the universe. (DW: Music of the Spheres)
An opera conductor's wand (a function which does not require engaging sonic output of the device). (DW: Music of the Spheres)
As a Sonic Toothbrush. (DWAM: The Continuity Cap)
Tickling a Lion with Sonic waves. (NSA: The Slitheen Excursion)
Tinting the Doctor's glasses. (DW: Planet of the Dead)
Opening 200 Bus doors. (DW: Planet of the Dead)
Unlocking handcuffs. (DW: Planet of the Dead)
Crack Ice (DWAM: Arctic Eclipse)
Detecting Time Traces. (SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.)
As an actual Screwdriver, without touching the screws. (DW: Dreamland)
Disabling a Shimmer. (DW: The End of Time)
Switching The Hersperus power off. (DW: The End of Time)
Changing the course of the TARDIS. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Opening a "crack" in space-time. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Overloading all technology in an area (To the point where the screwdriver itself explodes). (DW: The Eleventh Hour)

Mark VII
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 has copper plating in various places, both of which are similar to the new TARDIS interior. (DW:The Eleventh Hour)

Known Uses:
To 'check out' his new sonic screwdriver. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Scanning starship U.K.'s engine room. (DW: The Beast Below)
As a torch. (DW: The Beast Below)
To force a Star Whale to regurgitate by overloading its chemo-receptors. (DW: The Beast Below)
Making a Star Whale's voice audible to the human ear. (DW: The Beast Below)
Amplifying an electrical beam. (DW: The Beast Below)
Opening the chest plate of an Android's controls, (unsuccessfully) attempted to defuse the bomb inside it. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
To increase a signal strength. (DW: The Time of Angels)
To scan Father Octavian's Computer. (DW: The Time of Angels)
To open a mechanical door (unsuccessful when combating the Weeping Angels). (DW: The Time of Angels)
Opening the entrance hatch of a space ship. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
Isolating the lighting so that the Weeping Angels could not drain the power. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
Redirecting all the power to the doors in order to open them. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
Determining the nature of the cracks throughout time and space. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
To send a signal through to Amy's communicator to help guide her to the right spot in the forest in order to teleport her. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
Uploading software. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
Simultaneously healing and analysing wounds (successfully). (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
Sealing doors. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
To open gates. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
Block out the effects of perception filters. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
Detecting where lights are. (DW: Amy's Choice)
Exploding lightbulbs. (DW: Amy's Choice)