How Doctor Who Ruined the Sonic Screwdriver 

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If Chris Chibnall overused the Sonic Screwdriver, then that's a Chibnall problem not a Sonic problem.

A scene that depicts the sonic being overused is a small bit in "Silence Of The Library", where Donna and The Doctor and running away from the lights turning off. The Doctor is trying to use the sonic in the wooden door which doesn't work, then proceeds to try and do something else to the door, still using the sonic. But Donna steps in and uses her head by kicking the door instead. It's only a small example, but shows how The Doctor is over reliant on the Sonic and how things can be done in other ways.

Love watching this after the 60th specials seeing Russell use the sonic to create hardlight shields 😂

I was watching 9's run recently, and noticed how the sonic screwdriver would need a couple go's on different settings before doing what he wanted. Is it still a magic wand? Of course. But it felt different to me.

The thing that bugs me is it went from being a tool to basically a lightsaber, being used like a weapon during Matt Smith’s time

Maybe instead of a single Sonic Screwdriver, the Doctor should have a whole toolkit of alien devices to help them investigating. Much like the psychic paper grants easy access, divide up the Sonic's many uses it's gathered over the years into separate tool in order to give the Doctor's gadgets some range. Either that, or do away with it and have the Doctor do some Sherlock Holmes investigation, which he should be able to do anyways.

Cor this aged terribly now it’s a godly tool

if only this video was made after the 60th anniversary, with 14s sonic literally making screens and shields out of thin air

I always love the times when the screwdriver is used for things that could feasibly work. Things like lighting candles, opening locks, and, of course, moving screws all rely on the fact that soundwaves are just vibrations; you could _easily_ believe that precisely-tuned soundwaves can cause enough friction in an object to heat it up, shift the pins in a lock, or deflect _other_ sound-based attacks (such as in the Rings of Akhaten).

But remember one thing, it still don't work on wood.

Hot take: I really loved the sonic glasses. I REALLY hope Gatwa uses more than just one device and that the use of sonic screwdrivers are used in the same amount Eccleston uses it as you mentioned before. The Doctor's great at his BEST when he's analyzing with his wits and bare hands rather than constant magic wand - kinda like the Seventh Doctor

To be honest, all it needs is for showrunners to be pretty cutthroat with its usage. Same way as ditching the Tardis like with the 3rd Doctor would be too drastic unless well planned out.

I think the reason that The Doctor has to pull put the sonic for literally any reason later on in the show is likely just so they can sell toys. Same reason why every other important character has their own sonic screwdriver or device.

I've thought about this problem quite a bit and what I would think would be interesting is if The doctor was summoned by the shadow proclamation or some other cosmic law enforcement? And when he gets there is informed that since the screwdriver is now so heavily modified and upgraded it must be evaluated and determined if it's still a tool or if it could be classified as a weapon and if it's classified as a weapon, it cannot be on a planet as primitive as Earth which of course they find. That is what it's become and then he's told that he either has to make a more standard screwdriver or never bring his sonic device to earth again or if they want to go for the whole nine yards they could say the Sonic violates galactic law and he either makes a more traditional screwdriver or he gets incarcerated again

Just coming back to the Doctor literally now using the most OP screwdriver of all time. Forcefields, screens, teleport function, and can resonate mortar instantaneously, its just way too powerful that almost all plots can be solved in a matter of seconds

I loved 9’s and 10’s sonic, not just because it wasn’t overused but simply down to the design. It was simple and effective. Nowadays not only is it overused but the design is just too busy. I absolutely hated 12’s.

Here's an awful idea: I think thay should make the 14th doctor really forgetful and just leave his sonic in a random place every episode. then have an exchange where the doctor reaches for his sonic and then goes "No, I forgot my sonic" then cut to where he left it. In the final episode of the season he leaves it in a place where the villain finds it only to have it backfire and help him win the day.

I think John Hart(war doctor) said it best. "Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that? They’re scientific instruments, not water pistols!"

The biggest problem I see is devising a convincing narrative reason to shelf the sonic completely, like the Doctor knows it’s incredibly useful at doing so many things and then consciously decides to limit their own utility and potentially put their friends in greatest danger unnecessarily? We know the TARDIS can just whip up a new one at leisure so I can’t think of a justification for not carrying it at all, I think the best solution is continue to use it but restrict its need to be used in a writing capacity, if there’s some ridiculous thing the Doctor is just going to immediately resort to the screwdriver to solve instantly, don’t include that obstacle in the first place and use the sonic more sparingly

The Doctor needs to get back to using their brain and the Sonic, but make more situations where The Doctor has to use their brain as well. Make it a backup instead of a go to

It would be cool if the sonic screwdriver had very specific "default" settings, simple stuff it can always do like unlocking doors or unscrewing screws, maybe even basic scanning. But doing more than that would require planning and "coding" the screwdriver with the new setting. So you could have the sonic to disable one dalek's weapon system but it would require prep work and would likely not work again because daleks would write counter measures and stuff. That way you can maintain it limited and although it can be used as the solution of certain episodes it becomes way easier to just not being the end all be all of gadgets most of the time.

I think the sonic is perfectly fine with restraint or only when it's actually relevant. Also showing changing the settings, either adding tension or just making it seem less of just a fast pass button press

Regarding change, they tried that and we got the sonic sunglasses

"It's like using a rocket launcher to kill a tiny spider... ...it's overkill" Australians: Am I a joke to you?

Rather than them destroying the screwdriver or just removing it in general, i feel if it had more weaknesses we could still have the doctor use his strengths and the screwdriver without one overshadowing the other.

It’s a cool sci-fi device & its iconic. Don’t get rid of it. Just don’t over use it to solve problems. Same goes for the Doctor’s time lord psychic powers & tardis technology & psychic paper. They’re all cool concepts that can be used for interesting plot points but also used poorly. The problem is bad writing. Don’t get rid of the sonic, don’t get rid of the tardis or psychic paper.

13th doctor untying things , and opening hatches with sonic looks like some kind of doctor who parody to be honest.

I would like to see a scene where Doctor encounters (let say) an alien and immidietly pulls out the sonic crewdriver, which the alien reacts by gabbing it and snapping it in half. Followed by Doctor's shocked/confused reaction.

They can't get rid of it because of its Merchandise potential.

The 9th and 19th Doctors used the sonic screwdriver sparingly. The sonic screw driver should be used for bypassing heavily secured locked security doors locks, dealing with locked computer systems etc more like what we saw in early new who. The pysch paper should make a return.

15:29 To be fair to Thirteen, she does keep tinkering throughout her era too but it should definitely have been more!

I love the sonic.

The sonic is an extension of the tardis. It's her way of staying with the Doc.

I feel like these concerns continued in the 60th, but was kind of fixed in Ncuti Gatwa's first episode. He only used it to open locked doors, tracking and it was used nicely in the detecting a wedding ring scene

On the topic of writing, I think Doctor Who is at its best when the conflict isn’t how to open the door, but whether to open the door. But yeah they’ve gotta reel it in.

5:18 "Despite lacking that one screwtial device." Brilliant pun.

They need to make this version self destruct never bring it back and say something like "oh no the hollographic shield made the sonic-diamond unstable i cant have my sonic self destruct like that" or some technobable like that, then they burry those features and never look back

Tennant treated it as a magic wand, Jodie followed suit.

My two cents: Nothing is a crutch if you don't use it as crutch. Keeping the actual capabilities of the device vague and ensuring that it can easily be rendered useless or lost or whatever... basically means that we never have to think about it in situations where it's not about to be used. It's not a potentially-world-breaking piece of tech like half a dozen different bits of Star Trek tech. Tech is established as being janky and unreliable sometimes in the Who world in general, which I think works well. I can't think of any Who story in the modern era where the Sonic Screwdriver has been used as a total deus ex machina. If you need a Thing Amplifier or a Thing Opener, it does fine, but what matters to the story is what the Thing is, not how it's amplified or opened, right? The screwdriver is like the "Use" command in a point and click game - it fills in the blank when you need it to. I dunno, I think of it the same way I think about the fact that characters in fiction rarely trip over or stumble over their words or go to the toilet or get their sleeves caught on doorknobs. It's just economy of detail really. If a story would lose momentum without an all-purpose tool to do stuff with stuff, that wouldn't be better.

Unrelated but I love how Rose looks like that one David Tennant meme of him staring at that woman at 11:59

What I hate is the nuwho trope of some monster or menace showing up and the Doctor just waving the sonic at them as everyone flees

*The Fifth Doctor* (The original Sonic Screwdriver gets destroyed): I feel as if you've just killed an old friend.

Nah, RTD will change it to a screwdriver because he does not want the stigmatism that Sonics are percieved as evil or offensive

They won't get rid of the Sonic again because they've turned it into a brand icon. Every doctor has to have their version of it and make dramatic poses with it for marketing material. I guarantee with Disney in the mix this is only going to get worse.

i've always felt like the increased reliance on the sonic in reboot Who has always been a result of the shift to a shorter format with much more breakneck speed from major plot point to plot point. The Doctor can't stumble randomly from set piece to set piece anymore, taking time to set up and pay off how the heroes get away with it. instead they need a way to resolve every perilous moment fast and move on, and theres just not many ways they can do it without setup before they start to repeat.

Real world explanation for returning it, merchandise. Mass produce replicas, package them with plastic and cardboard, slap the show’s current logo and the name sonic screwdriver and fans will clamour to have it for personal satisfaction and cosplaying. It also affords the production team easy access to replicas when the main prop can’t be located or the actor playing the Doctor has broken it.

I believe a good running joke would be the Doctor loosing the sonic screwdriver in the tardis. Or even looking for it like we loose our phones.

bleep bloop wirrr

They don't need to get rid of the sonic screwdriver. They need to get rid of the little dance the Doctors do when they bring it out of their pockets... and stop pointing it at people like a weapon. 😀

Hearing so much about its History, makes me really appreciate the Joke about it not working on Wooden Doors

Therein lies the problem with power creep. Anything that's too powerful and has no drawbacks will always be your answer to any problem. After all, "Why wouldn't he just use the sonic screwdriver?"

Excellent video and argument. I completely agree. The sonic screwdriver was introduced as a modest gadget with very limited uses. If the writers can’t discipline themselves to stick to those limits, it would be better to get rid of it altogether. When the Doctor starts waving it around like a magic wand, it's become silly, and the show becomes silly with it.

To me, the WORST thing the screwdriver has ever done is turn a lightbulb shining through the negative space in paper cut-out stars of a child's bedside lamp, into a fully realised galaxy with independently moving satellites and colourful clouds. To me, that was the moment his Tool became a wand.

Would be cool if Harbo examined how Buffy influenced Doctor Who reboot

Ok to be fair though, the sonic lipstick was iconic. I'll allow that one

It's become a cross between a magic wand and a Tri-corder

I dont see a problem with sonic cane. It was brief , fun , and overall just served comedy of that one particular episode for a brief moment. Just a cool prop for a silly bit doctor was doing.

And then in the 60th anniversary specials he uses it to create hologram monitors and shields

Here's an intersting idea to incorporate the removal of the Sonic Screwdriver and make it actually _stick..._ What if something happened to make the Doctor view sonic devices in the same way as _guns?_ As we've seen throughout this video, the Screwdriver has gone from a simple Leatherman to a clichéd Deus Ex Machina - several situations which couldn't be solved any other way suddenly become an easy fix when the Doctor remembers they have the most powerful and versatile tool in the universe in their pocket. So why not take that to the ultimate extreme - some reality-ending threat which couldn't possibly be defeated in any other way is just neutralised at the last minute by the Sonic Screwdriver, resulting in some devastating wave which destroys all Daleks throughout space and time or something... such a huge Deus Ex Machina that it finally hits home just how _dangerous_ this seemingly-innocuous technology has become. Back in the late 1980s, Marvel had a story arc in the Iron Man comics called _"Armor Wars"_ where Tony Stark had a similar "this has gotten out of hand!" moment about his technology, and decided to eliminate all StarkTech-based equipment - a lot of villains had created gadgets over the years based on his designs and breakthroughs, and he decided he'd had enough and wanted to just destroy it all because it had become too dangerous and impossible to stop from falling into the wrong hands. So what if the Doctor had the same realisation about Sonic technology when it destroyed an entire solar system or something, and decided it needed to be eliminated...? Have the big finale of a typically-huge space-epic end with the doomsday device being turned into an amplifier for the Sonic, which then obliterates an entire race of seemingly-unstoppable aliens with some huge destructive force... with the Doctor standing there in the aftermath just staring in cold horror at the realisation of what they've done. While everyone else is bouncing around and cheering and congratulating them, the Doctor just quietly gasps at the fact that they've turned a simple tool into a weapon of mass destruction, and reaching the conclusion that _any_ sufficiently-clever person could've done the same thing. The Master, the Rani, even some non-Gallifreyan with a bit of intelligence and a lack of morals could easily do something similar with just a simple Sonic Screwdriver - if this is what the Doctor could do with the best of intentions, imagine what someone might do with Sonic technology if they used it in _anger...?_ That's an ongoing plot-thread for a whole season arc, right there... as noted in the video, it seems like _everyone_ has a Sonic something-or-other - lipstick, canes, sunglasses... the technology's everywhere, and each seemingly-harmless device is like a atom-bomb waiting to go off in someone's pocket. Maybe, after seeing the destructive potential of Sonic devices, the Doctor decides that they're even worse than guns - and sets out to erase them from reality altogether. First, they take out large-scale factories which produce the devices commercially (actively destroying manufacturing plants), then they find whoever came up with the original technological breakthrough and convinces them to destroy their research and blueprints so no mass-market Sonic devices are ever made. But then, you have people like the Master who have homemade Screwdrivers like the Doctor's own - and they're unlikely to give them up without a fight. Eventually, we reach a point where the Doctor has been basically turned into something similar to an eco-terrorist - like militant animal-rights protestors who plants bombs at testing labs and don't care that they're hurting human beings to make their point. Their companion points out the fact that the Doctor themself has done so much _good_ with their own Sonic Screwdriver in the past that if they were to remove it from history, many people would've died and many villains wouldn't have been stopped. Is the Doctor going to go back and destroy their _own_ Sonic at the moment they first created it...? And if not, why does the Doctor get to be the only person in all of Time to possess one...? Do they even have the _right_ to remove an entire technology which has the potential to _save_ lives as well as destroy them? From a meta context, it's a good excuse to remove all those extraneous Sonic devices in general from Doctor Who lore going forward - rather than every character and their dog having a Sonic Thingummybob, the technology will be contained... and we'd get a whole season arc of stories with a unifying theme, and even a moral question to answer at the climax (is it right to destroy something which has the potential for good just because it also has the potential for evil...?). We'd get to see the Doctor's obsessive personality come to the fore in their quest to eliminate all Sonic technology everywhere and every-when, posing the Baby Hitler problem by showing factories and technolgical innovations which seem like good things for the people in the present destroyed by some apparently-crazy person in a blue box who claims that "they could be bad in a possible future I'm trying to stop" but has no proof, and the dangers of allowing onesself to be blinded to the consequences of taking good intentions to extremes. If I'm honest, the actor I have in my head for this idea is Matt Smith - it feels like something his Doctor would do, starting out with an almost childlike excitement at doing the right thing but getting steadily more dark and obsessive as his morals take a back seat to his goals... like in _"A Good Man Goes To War",_ where we see him turn angry and cold. A story like this would need a similar personality for the Doctor - starting out as an optimist but descending into a dark determination and eventually coming within an inch of losing himself completely.

I don't think I agree and I think this is just a convenient talking point. It doesn't resolve any stories on its own. There's no stories where the Doctor has some big enemy and just defeats them with the sonic. I'm not clear if it even resolves plot holes really. It doesn't take up that much narrative space, it just comes up now and then. I think it should stay.

"It is not a wand" -yes it is exactly a wand mixed with tricorder from star trek

I'd like to see him use a Swiss Army Knife because "Deadlocks seals aren't immune to SAKs"

Time to bring out the sonic hammer

10:03 this is what we call merchandising opportunities

It’s never going to go, it’s only hear at this point to sell toys

Could Adric have lived had the Doctor a sonic device to leave with him?!! 😧😲😅 Yeah, I only like the sonic in sparing instances like opening doors, security things, maybe the odd detonation of bombs, but using it as a tricorder is annoying AF. Because it's become such a Crutching Bore, I've kinda hoped and campaigned for its destruction again. *I'm surprised you didn't go back and explain that the sonic screwdriver was actually a quadrigger tool found in the broken TARDIS the Doctor liberated with Susan, that the technician left lying out.

It became the lightsaber of the doctor who universe. An in universe device that becomes so iconic that every part of the franchise needs to shoehorn it in and find an excuse to use it.

I belive that it is so iconic that the only way is to make it's rules more consistent. It being able to scan things and pick locks is good enough if you ask me. Personal pocket computer ? Maybe too.

Im going to he honest here i doubt the sonic screwdriver is gonna ga any time soon especially considering 14s sonic has made Character options so much money at this point and is going to continue if the online exclusive gets nore releases along with once the Standard one gets released

I think a cool and unique way of making the sonic bit less used, is have it be a malfunctioning sonic screwdriver, every now and again it short circuits or screws up something and forces the doctor to use his brain and improvise, the way they could make it is that we have another broken down tardis after regeneration and the tardis starts making the sonic during the crash so it comes out all strangely put together, and it could be an opening for possible funny moments

They should have kept the 14th sonic

If the sonic screwdriver is used less often, or if it had limitations, then I think it would work much better for the show.

Here's the thing; you are never going to get rid of tte Sonic Screwdriver from Doctor Who at this point. It is part of the iconography of the franchise, just as important to the image of Doctor Who as the TARDIS. Getting rid of it, even temporarily for a season, would spawn massive backlash by the community. People hated the Sonic Glasses the Twelfth Doctor used because it just wasn't the same as this alien tool audiences have grown to love. I don't even mind if the sonic just has extra features or new ones like in the 60th anniversary specials. It just makes the moments when he doesn't have it that much more serious. And plus, it just makes sense for a person like the Doctor to have a tool that can do a lot really well and upgrade it over time then to not have it or just keep it the same as it always is. Yes, limit the overuse of it, but you can never really be rid of it completely. And that's besides the fact that Sonic Screwdrivers always sells well as a toy. You are never going to beat the need to have a new plaything to sell.

The newest doctors "sonic" screwdriver looks more like a sonic remote than a screwdriver and its just not the same as tennent or matt smith with the plot, feels like it will be similar to 13th doctor just a different actor :(

That's why Peter Davison's screwdriver got destroyed.

Limitations is the mother of innovation. The sonic screw driver needs to be limited in its capabilities in order for the writers and the doctor to use their brains more and find clever and creative ways out of situations. I just watched The Waters of Mars and I'm still trying to figure out how the screwdriver managed to make the robot grow rockets.

The fact of the matter is, the sonic screwdriver has become a magic wand. What the writers should do is come up with a set of rules for it: What _is_ it? How does it work? (As in, what are its mechanical components?) What can it be used for? And most importantly, what _can't_ it be used for? Here's an example: The sonic screwdriver is composed of an emitter, a tube, a handle, and inside, a series of electronics. Therefore, it can be used to interface with electronic devices _within reason._ Should it be used to upgrade a phone? Sure, because all you really have to do is change the network. Should it be used to open a door? It depends on how advanced the door is. Run medical checks? Yes. Light candles? No, because nothing about the sonic doing that is scientifically plausible. Turn door handles? No, but it _can_ interface with the electronic system behind it if the door's advanced enough. Whether the writers and fans like it or not, _Doctor Who_ needs to adopt a set of rules, especially for the sonic screwdriver and how it's used. Otherwise we'll continue to get it used the same schlocky way it has been. We can all agree that the way Eleven used it to hold open the door in _The Rings of Akhaten,_ and the way Twelve used the sunglasses (which should only really have eye-based uses) to light a candle in _The Woman Who Lived_ were both stupid and implausible. Having anything that can do whatever the writer needs it to that isn't the Force in _Star Wars_ is inherently detrimental to the quality of the writing.

Keep it, but cut it. Thats pretty much the general consensus

If I where the show runner I’d ban it for being used more then opening doors or being a screwdriver

I watch the 9th and 10th doctor instead of the newest doctor who. Honestly, it’s a different story compared to nearly 2 decades as the story before made a lot of sense and it terrified me a lot.

Preferred the sonic screwdriver being used sparingly in Classic Who era and saw more of the Doctor using his ingenuity to get out of sticky situations. Yes, it started getting used more frequently during Pertwee and Baker, but not as overused as New Who era. In New Who, the sonic feels more like the Doctor Who equivalent of Star Trek's tricorders.

But off topic but I just realised that in classic who it took about 20 years to make 5 doctors. In NuWho we’ve had 9! new doctors in just 19 years. In classic it’s 1-5 but in NuWho it’s war, 9,10,10.5,11,12,13,fugitive,14,15

I think the sonic up to 12 is amazing, the designs and I dont feel it could be overused if kept to canon, I feel Capaldis was underused. But Jodies entire doctor was wrong, not just the sonic. Like if we saw a marine in a movie using a gun made of cotton candy all the time I wouldnt be very impressed

This is how I would define the sonic. It is a tool, that is used for repairing complicated machinery, like the TARDIS. So, it has 3 main usages. Resonance, where it can latch onto objects and move them, among other stuff resonance can achieve. Electricity, which means it can provide, or take away electricity, or redirect wires. And diagnostics, where it can scan objects, and define a shallow blueprint of the object, with a few other data points. These are all manual stuff, that the user needs to solve for the sonic to achieve its function. It isn't easy, but the doctor is incredibly fast at calculating. And the sonic probably has saved functions. But because it's manual, the user can use it differently, like providing soo much electricity, that a torch catches on fire, or soo high resonance, that locks explode. One thing it should do, is hack computer systems. Only maybe analog machines, since that's what it's used for.

Most of the time in 'Classic Who' the Sonic Screwdriver was used sparingly and not like a magic wand. It's essentually poor storytelling if you use it as a plot device to get out of situations.

I think the Sonic needs to go away for at least a season , so that when it's reintroduce it's not so over used. I hate how it was used in 60 anniversary specials, it's not even a sonic or a screw driver anymore

dr who has always such a low tech show about a guy from one of the most advanced races in the universe basically he shows up in the tardis then get back in the tardis at the end. the tardis almost never appears in between.

I think the Doctor should have a whole tool drawer of sonic screwdrviers. And I think a new gag or running joke needs to happen where at some point a sonic screwdrivers is lost, dropped, flushed, spaced, zapped, or whatever, leaving the Doctor a single use in that episode and having to do without for the rest of the story. Then, next story starts with the Doctor once again pulling out another sonic screwdriver before leaving the TARDIS. This is how I would have a Doctor Who story written. :D At some point a story needs to happen where the Doctor has to go shopping for more sonic screwdrivers much like I have to shop for 10 mm sockets.

16:00 maybe the reason we see Ncuti in so many costumes is cuz he doesn’t have psychic paper for one reason or another

The Sonic Screwdriver just needs limitations. Using the sonic screwdriver to determine the atmosphere or species of an alien is ridiculous. Also being able to use it to hack into an entire databank is also ridiculous. It should only be able to turn on computers, overcharge electronics, unscrew screws, and unlocking doors.

honestly I think the doctor should be more on hands when they are investigating something and only using the sonic if they have ran out of options. (also good environmental story telling instead of exposition could also be used to explain the situation and its stakes) the only time I would allow for the sonic to be used for convenience when there is a chase sequence and or the doctor just doesn't the time to poke and prod around. (but I will ensure that there are still limits with it.)

sonic glasses superiority

One of my personal dislikes with the current sonic and twelves is their over designed. A good designed screwdriver like ten’s and eleven’s felt like it had character that fit well with their incarnation. Whereas I felt Twelves screwdriver in series 10 did not suit him at all, if anything I felt his sonic sunglasses and even elevens sonic suited him better. My thoughts on thirteens is it’s a guilty pleasure, not great to look at but I like that she built it herself. Saying that I wish that sonic had been limited in its functions because it wasn’t built by the tardis and the Doctor can only do so much with the tech she had to hand. I’m holding out my opinions on fourteens sonic until I see it in the episode but I hope it fits this version of the character.

The sonic can stay, maybe the writers need to use their brains more and not rely on it so much.

I think I'd like to see a Doctor that has a sonic screwdriver that never uses it as it tended to be, but more to pry things, carve things, hammer things... :P Maybe a sonic screwdriver with a depleted battery so it has to be used in a more manual way.

The only only issue I have with the sonic screwdriver was that it shouldn't have an endless array of functions. That is where the real problem comes in with it. If the writers would contain their enthusiasm for a universal plot device.

Well. We live in a much more computer driven era. So the sonic I think is essential now. But maybe we could see some more examples of it failing to do something. 10th Doctor’s sonic not working of wood and 9th not working on Dead locks seals. Also maybe setting uses for the sonic like scanning, messing with computer. Maybe future tec door opening. Not opening a bulkhead with obviously no electronic components.

Toys, Harbo. Toys. That's why the sonic screwdriver has persisted. And why every new doctor has to have a new one, as well as a new TARDIS console room. Each new iteration needs new toys to sell.

Are those animated scenes from Archer?