Sonic Screwdriver

The sonic screwdriver is a fictional tool in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Its primary function is the ability to operate on virtually any lock and thus open doors, either for escape or for exploration. It has also been used as for repairing equipment, as an offensive weapon, and occasionally even used to drive screws. The sonic screwdriver made its first appearance in the 1968 Second Doctor serial, Fury from the Deep and was used by the Doctor as a multi-purpose tool from that point onwards, with occasional variations in appearance. Its abilities vary somewhat from story to story and the way it works is never explicitly explained. However, the name implies that it operates through the use of sound waves to exert physical forces remotely on objects, such as the mechanism inside locks. The Doctor's Time Lady companion Romana constructed a sonic screwdriver of her own, first seen during the Fourth Doctor serial The Horns of Nimon. It had a smaller form factor than the Doctor's and he was sufficiently impressed with her design that he attempted (unsuccessfully) to swap screwdrivers with her. The sonic screwdriver was written out of the series in 1982 when it was destroyed by a hostile alien in the serial The Visitation. This was done on the instructions of producer John Nathan-Turner, who felt that the device had become an easy way out for writers, since the Doctor could use it to get out of just about any situation. The series remained sonic-screwdriver-free until it ended in 1989. In the 1996 Doctor Who telemovie, the Doctor was seen to have a sonic screwdriver again. A redesigned sonic screwdriver prop, with a glowing blue light in addition to the sound effect, appears in the 2005 revival of the series. Sonic Screwdriver is also the name of a fanzine published by the Doctor Who Club of Victoria.

External links

 

<< PreviousWord BrowserNext >>
statistical regularity
statistical model
statistical inference
survey sampling
statistical theory
statistical unit
statistical assembly
stimulus response model
statistical population
statistical sample
summary statistics
range (statistics)
statistical dispersion
standard deviation
statistical assumptions
statistical independence
span
sherri austin
stratified sampling
sample
sonny bono copyright term extension act
science fiction and fantasy writers of america
soul coughing
science fiction on television
skeleton
sarah michelle gellar
slide guitar
steel guitar
sunspot
sicily
walk (sheepshead)
leasters (sheepshead)
schmear (sheepshead)
schneider (sheepshead)
long (sheepshead)
blind (sheepshead)
variations of sheepshead
stanley milgram
senegal river
subset
stonehenge
sima qian
structural geology
sperm