Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: bbc, doctor who, jon pertwee, patrick troughton, russell t davies, steven moffat

Doctor Who: The Sonic Screwdriver is The Doctor's Magic Wand & More

In Doctor Who, the sonic screwdriver is a deus ex machina and, in a Freudian sense, totally the Doctor's magic wand in so many ways.

It was a matter of time before we got a Doctor Who compilation video about the sonic screwdriver. That little device has become synonymous with Doctor Who, like Batman's Batatarang or James Bond's Walter semiautomatic pistol. It was introduced in 1968 during the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) era but became popular during the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) era when he used it a lot because Pertwee liked gadgets and cars and encouraged them in his stories. What better than a make-believe gadget to fire up kids' imaginations?

Doctor Who: Is That a Sonic Screwdriver in Your Pocket Or…?

This makes sense of Doctor Who. The Doctor is the archetype of the friendly wizard, so the sonic screwdriver is their magic wand. Under Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat, the sonic screwdriver has become a deus ex machina. It can do virtually everything. Until it can't for the plot. This is the problem with made-up stuff in Science Fiction and Fantasy, where the all-powerful thing suddenly doesn't work because of reasons. Until then, it can unlock doors, scan for signals, scan for medical conditions, burn a hole in things, make a really loud noise like a bullhorn, upgrade a cellphone, you have a problem that needs solving, pull out a sonic! It's all very Freudian when you think about it. How is the sonic screwdriver not a phallic symbol? It can extend or retract. The Doctor keeps pointing it at things and people!

The sonic screwdriver is also a perfect piece of Doctor Who branding and merchandising. It makes for a fun toy accessory for kids to bug their parents to buy for them and for hardcore adult fans to have. We have no idea how many sonic screwdriver toys have been sold in the last ten years, but given the collector market and the expensive limited edition replicas sold by prop houses, there's clearly a market hungry for sonic screwdrivers. Spoiler: the toy version only clicks and makes sounds. It doesn't scan for medical conditions or alien signals. Sorry.

The design department of Doctor Who takes this seriously. The new sonic screwdriver used by David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor has a look that references past Doctors' sonics: metal bits, retractable bits, and different colours; the magic wand has become as meta as the show itself because that's what fandom is all about. The sonic screwdriver is now its own fanfic.

And FYI, the toy of this new sonic screwdriver is already sold out.

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