Doctor Who: 10 Most Ridiculous Uses Of The Sonic Screwdriver

2. Whatever Tennant's Thinking Of Doing Here

Story: "The Impossible Planet" (2006) - David Tennant Usage Rating: Davies (By default; it's his production run) Nyssa Scale: 5 - Even the First Doctor's walking stick would've made more sense here. I teased this one earlier. It's a great mystery of "Doctor Who. For those who don't know, Rose and 10 have just arrived on a space station, and are trying to figure out why there's script on the wall the TARDIS won't translate for their benefit. Suddenly, some Ood show up. Crucially, this was their FIRST appearance. No one really knew what they'd do, or who they were. Least of all Rose and the Doctor. So when they start advancing and repeating "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed", it's cliffhanger worthy stuff. Of course, we all know now that the Ood aren't bad (Unless something else is controlling them). But as the Ood advance, Rose prepares to defend herself, and Tennant... draws the Screwdriver and starts sonic-ing... something? I have to be clear here. The Sonic LIGHTS UP. The Ood continue advancing, and nothing in the room really alters. When the Ood resolve the issue (Their speech-globes stuck, and they couldn't get out the crucial last word of the sentence - "you". "We must feed you.") one visibly hits the globe to stop the glitch. So it's not the Doctor's doing. What was Tennant doing? What would he have accomplished? This smacks of the nonsense I mentioned earlier with Matt Smith, where the Sonic Screwdriver is the Doctor's default accessory so therefore he must pull it in a crisis, much like a sidearm or a magic wand. That it does NOTHING and clearly was not marketed as a weapon of any sort at this point makes this all the more confusing. The Doctor was going to do what exactly? Turn off their speech globes so he and Rose could get eaten in silence? Hurry along a strong case of tinnitus? Open a door and let more Ood in so he could get eaten more quickly? It's ultimately OK that this happens at the top of the episode, as this story turns out to be one of the best, if not THE best, of Tennant's first year. But if there's an explanation, I'd love to hear it.
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In a parallel universe where game shows' final jackpots and consequent fortunes depend on knowledge of obscure music trivia and Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker Doctor Who episodes, I've probably gone rich, insane, and am now a powermad despot. But happily we're not there, so I'm actually rather pleasant. Really.