The latest 'Doctor Who' sonic screwdriver is finally up for sale
The sonic screwdriver is back.
Not only is Doctor's trusty tool back in on Doctor Who -- viewers saw its return after a year-long absence in last season's epic finale "Hell Bent" -- it's back in the hands of fans, too. The BBC is finally putting the brand-new design up for sale as a replica, just as it did for the previous two versions.
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With each replica (or "toy," if you must), the BBC has raised its gadget game with new bells and whistles. The first screwdriver, wielded by Chris Eccleston's and David Tennant's Doctors onscreen, made two nearly identical noises and could extend like on the show, but only manually -- you had to push it up with your thumb.
For Matt Smith's green sonic, the noises became more distinct and the extension became automatic, snapping out and opening its claw-like front end at the touch of a button. The buttons worked in a weird way (one of them only worked while retracted, for example), but there's no question it was more fun.
With the new Peter Capaldi version, the sonic gets an upgrade once again. The official Twelfth Doctor Sonic Screwdriver ($29.98 in the U.S.) actually has four different light effects, two in blue and two green. There are also four different sound effects -- a first for any sonic screwdriver toy.
As good as the new replica is, it still can't compare to the Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Remote Control that was first released a few years ago. That device is definitely no toy, featuring a weighty metal design and multiple sound modes -- not to mention the ability to control your TV almost completely via gesture controls.
For a while, it seemed Capaldi's Doctor was destined to never have his own signature sonic. In his debut season, the 12th Doctor continued to brandish the green sonic carried by his predecessor -- a sensible choice both within the show (there was nothing wrong with the device) and without (it gave the fans at least a tiny bit of connection with Smith's Doctor).
Then last season, the show experimented with a radical change: The Doctor discarded his sonic screwdriver in favor of wearable technology -- namely a pair of sonic sunglasses. Fans balked at the change, however, and, at the end of the season the Doctor received a new screwdriver directly from his time machine, the TARDIS, ostensibly as a gift.
The sonic screwdriver has been a mainstay of Doctor Who for almost 50 years. It was introduced in the episode "Fury From the Deep" way back in 1968 and has undergone many iterations before the BBC began making replicas as toys. Writers, however, would sometimes rely too heavily on it as a do-anything plot device, and the sonic screwdriver went away for a while in the 1980s. It triumphantly returned when the new series debuted in 2005, although the plot-device problem arguably came back with it.
Whatever its merits within the show, the sonic screwdriver has been a merchandising win for the BBC, and -- although Capaldi was late to the party -- it appears that whenever there's a new Doctor, there will be a new sonic to see on the show... and a new one to buy in stores. Fans don't seem to mind.
BONUS: Matt Smith shows off the Sonic Screwdriver TV Remote Control
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Topics Doctor Who
Pete Pachal was Mashable’s Tech Editor and had been at the company from 2011 to 2019. He covered the technology industry, from self-driving cars to self-destructing smartphones.Pete has covered consumer technology in print and online for more than a decade. Originally from Edmonton, Canada, Pete first uploaded himself into technology journalism at Sound & Vision magazine in 1999. Pete also served as Technology Editor at Syfy, creating the channel's technology site, DVICE (now Blastr), out of some rusty HTML code and a decompiled coat hanger. He then moved on to PCMag, where he served as the site's News Director.Pete has been featured on Fox News, the Today Show, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC and CBC.Pete holds degrees in journalism from the University of King's College in Halifax and engineering from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. His favorite Doctor Who monsters are the Cybermen.
