Doctor Who Series 10: 7 Big Questions After 'Thin Ice'
6. Is The Sonic Screwdriver A Magic Wand?
The Doctor’s trusty sonic device has often been criticised
as a plot device, a short cut like the psychic paper to keep a story moving
with minimum fuss. It’s rare that the Doctor ever has cause to say “even the
sonic screwdriver can’t get me out of this one.” And yet there are times when
the sonic is kept in the Doctor’s pocket so that the dramatic tension can be
increased.
The Doctor’s over-reliance on the screwdriver is wonderfully sent up in The Day of the Doctor when after the three Doctors set up a complex calculation that takes hundreds of years to open the door of the tower, Clara walks in because it was unlocked. It’s not so much a magic wand as a symbol of his pacifism. His ‘weapon’ of choice is an item that fixes things, just like a Doctor.
Bill asks the Doctor what makes it sonic to which he replies ‘it makes a sound.’ If you think you’ve heard that explanation before in Doctor Who, then you aren’t mistaken. It’s a line the Doctor has pinched from Jackson Lake, the man who thought he was the Doctor in the 2008 Christmas Special, The Next Doctor.
There are a couple of other interesting links between the two stories - the 1800s, snow, orphans, the companions Bill and Rosetta, and so given what we already know about series 10, is it a coincidence that The Next Doctor features Cybermen and a false new Doctor?