Throughout its nearly 60-year run, Doctor Who has introduced its fair share of gadgets and gizmos to the world of sci-fi. Of course, the Doctor's trusty time machine, the TARDIS, has been there since the very beginning, but other pieces of Time Lord tech have cropped up along the way. One of the Doctor's most famous tools is the sonic screwdriver, used to pick locks, scan surroundings and meddle with other technology. But the screwdriver isn't the only gadget of its kind.

Various other sonic devices have appeared in Doctor Who, some similar to the Doctor's screwdriver, while others possess more offensive capabilities. A few of these have belonged to the Doctor themself, while others have been found in the hands of their closest allies and deadliest enemies. The versatility of Doctor Who's sonic technology has produced a colorful collection of such contraptions, which have been utilized throughout time and space as means to all kinds of ends.

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The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver

The Thirteenth Doctor using her Sonic Screwdriver in Doctor Who

First appearing in the 1968 story "Fury From the Deep," the sonic screwdriver soon became an on-and-off fixture of Doctor Who back in the classic series. While the Third Doctor made regular use of his sonic screwdriver, the Fifth Doctor's was destroyed and was not replaced until the Seventh Doctor's final appearance.

In Doctor Who's 2005 revival, the sonic screwdriver became a more or less permanent feature. The Doctor has suggested on multiple occasions that the screwdriver is their own creation, and it's certainly one they've made good use of. While its most prominent use is opening locked doors, it has also been seen interacting with computer interfaces, carrying out medical scans, repairing barbed wire and even acting as an actual screwdriver.

River Song's Sonic Screwdriver

River Song's sonic screwdriver in Doctor Who.

While the sonic screwdriver may be the Doctor's own invention, they're not the only time traveler to own one. When the Doctor first met their wife from the future, River Song, she already had her own sonic screwdriver, and during their final meeting with River, the Doctor gave her that screwdriver. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey. The screwdriver was similar to the Doctor's, but more advanced in several respects, such as the inclusion of dampers and a "red setting," increasing its functionality.

Most notably, though, this screwdriver had been modified to include a neural relay -- a device which saved a copy of River's consciousness, allowing the Doctor to save River to the computer banks of the Library upon her death, granting her a sort of virtual afterlife.

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Sarah Jane's Sonic Lipstick

The sonic lipstick in Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures

This gadget, owned by the Doctor's former companion, Sarah Jane Smith, first appeared in the spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. Sarah Jane made use of the sonic lipstick during her adventures with the Bannerman Road gang, and it appeared in Doctor Who when Sarah Jane teamed up with the Tenth Doctor and his other companions in the Series 4 finale, "Journey's End."

Functionally, the device appeared to be the same as the Doctor's own sonic screwdriver, but its lipstick disguise made it more suited to Sarah Jane's covert investigative work.

The Twelfth Doctor's Sonic Sunglasses

Twelfth Doctor The Witch's Familiar

One brief period in the modern series of Doctor Who saw the Twelfth Doctor abandoning his traditional screwdriver in favor of a more fashion-forward sonic device. When Clara Oswald reunited with the Doctor in the Series 9 premiere, "The Magician's Apprentice," he was sporting a pair of sonic sunglasses, telling his companion he was now "all about wearable technology."

The screwdriver eventually returned, but the sunglasses boasted their own set of capabilities. As well as seemingly possessing the functions of the sonic screwdriver, they allowed the Doctor to remotely share what he was seeing, to read emails and view videos, and even granted him a rudimentary form of sight when he was rendered temporarily blind.

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Miss Foster's Sonic Pen

Doctor Who - the 10th Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver and sonic pen

Not every sonic device ended up in trustworthy hands. The first episode of Series 4, "Partners in Crime," introduced the sinister Miss Foster, AKA Matron Cofelia. Foster headed Adipose Industries, who had produced a "miracle" diet pill, which in reality converted fat -- and eventually all other biological tissue -- into children of the Adipose race.

To aid her in her criminal endeavors, Miss Foster made use of a sonic pen. The device was programmed to open the deadlock seals -- normally impervious to the effects of sonic devices -- within her facility, and the Doctor noted it was a sleeker gadget than his sonic screwdriver. Taking the pen also offered the Doctor the opportunity to find out what happened when two sonic devices were held against each other. The answer was loud. Very loud.

Missy's Sonic Umbrella

Missy's sonic umbrella in Doctor Who

Another sonic device with a dubious owner, the sonic umbrella, was used by Missy, the female incarnation of the Master, encountered by the Twelfth Doctor. She was only seen using the device in her final appearance -- the two-part finale to Series 10 -- and it appeared to work similarly to the sonic screwdriver. At one point, Missy and the Doctor used their sonic devices together in order to hold back a Cyberman. In addition to the countless technical functions of the sonic screwdriver, the umbrella's size made it a handy blunt instrument -- a fact Missy made use of against both the Doctor and her own past self.

Captain Jack Harkness' Sonic Blaster

Captain Jack Harkness uses the sonic blaster in Doctor Who.

Time Agent turned con man, Captain Jack Harkness first showed up all the way back in Series 1 of Doctor Who's modern revival and most recently returned in the 2021 New Year's special, "Revolution of the Daleks." In both his first and his most recent appearances, Jack was seen carrying perhaps the most weaponized of any sonic device encountered to date: the sonic blaster. Harkness points out that it also functions as "a sonic canon and a triple-enfolded sonic disruptor."

Also dubbed a "squareness gun" by Rose Tyler, due to its ability to create a perfectly square hole in a wall, this sonic weapon was originally produced in factories on the planet Villengard, until the Doctor destroyed them. River Song also used a sonic blaster in her first appearance, with writer Steven Moffat suggesting this was Jack's, picked up by River in the future.

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