Capaldi Sonic Screwdriver Question

13doctorwho

13doctorwho

Master Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
We're about halfway through the first season of Peter Capaldi and I noticed something about his sonic screwdriver. It is pretty much the Matt Smith sonic screwdriver, but I noticed Capaldi doesn't ever seem to extend it. Since they're not on DVD/Blue Ray yet, I might be wrong. So has anyone else noticed this, or am I mistaken? I know the 12th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver TOY extends so maybe I'm wrong.

If he hasn't extended it, why could that be? He just doesn't to be different? They eliminated the extension because the prop was breaking a lot? Maybe to make it cheaper to build replacement props?

What does everybody think? Anyone got any good gossip?
 
surprisingly the sonic is extended in the newest episode when clara is using it towards the end.

so maybe there is one that escaped being glued or maybe it was just one of the character option toys.
 
It seems that the show is making a lot of use of the toy as a stunt sonic screwdriver. I've noticed it a couple times this season. It seems silly to glue the prop closed just because the actor doesn't want to open it.
 
13doctorwho said:
It seems silly to glue the prop closed just because the actor doesn't want to open it.
Click to expand...

Exactly! If he's that keen to do something 'different' with the sonic then they should have given him a new one. After all, spending hundreds of years growing old on Planet Christmas and then exploding with the energy of a new regeneration cycle was the ideal time to replace the sonic.
 
proposterous said:
I've noticed that Capaldi is not flicking the sonic and the other day when speaking to the standby props master, he said that Capaldi won't flick it as it was Matt's thing...
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Good. It sort of fit Smith's "too much coffee and amphetamines" frenetic version of The Doctor, but he got obnoxious about it.
 
13doctorwho said:
I've noticed it a couple times this season. It seems silly to glue the prop closed just because the actor doesn't want to open it.
Click to expand...

As mentioned before, the sonic was extended at the end of "The Caretaker" when Clara was hugging Danny... it seemed to be very much accidental as it wasn't extended in any previous shots. I wonder if they glued it shut to prevent that kind of a continuity error especially since they have made a conscious decision to not extend it?
 
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E Williams said:
As mentioned before, the sonic was extended at the end of "The Caretaker" when Clara was hugging Danny... it seemed to be very much accidental as it wasn't extended in any previous shots. I wonder if they glued it shut to prevent that kind of a continuity error especially since they have made a conscious decision to not extend it?
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Good point. I do like that the Smith sonic lives on, but I was quite fond of the extended design.
 
The running joke was that the screwdriver extended to compensate for short coming maybe Capaldi doesn't have these short coming abd therefore doesn't need the extension
 
Also they never really explain why the screwdriver changed atleast not to my recollection so maybe it was suppose to regenerate with the Doctor and since Matt Smith wasn't suppose to regenerate the screwdriver's energy was all used up hence no regeneration
 
Unless I am mistaken isn't this exactly what they had before? They had two that did not open by design.

  1. One that did not open that was a flashlight
  2. One that did not open that was a stunt unit for throwing and flipping
  3. One or two hero's that opened. (I think one got converted into the cane)

All of the new ones were hero's so they glued two in the permanently closed position. It seems like it would have been better to just ask to have a mechanism added to the design to lock it closed (Then you have 4 interchangeable hero's) instead of super gluing a hero prop shut but whatever :lol .


the sonic was extended at the end of "The Caretaker" when Clara was hugging Danny...
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I think it was just open far enough for the claws to be open, it did not look like it was fully extended, so it likely was an accident.
 
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I miss the opening action. I love the design of this screwdriver. I do think it was opened at the end of the last episode though. On the bright side, the universal remote just got a whole lot more accurate.
 
Capaldi doesn't seem to extend it by choice. In Into the Dalek we see it can extend and in Hide? when he's in the Tardis, it sort of falls open and he uses a normal screwdriver!

I like how Capaldi handles the sonic though, much like Tennant, he uses it in a particular fashion like a tool.
 
Rick Webb said:
Also they never really explain why the screwdriver changed atleast not to my recollection so maybe it was suppose to regenerate with the Doctor and since Matt Smith wasn't suppose to regenerate the screwdriver's energy was all used up hence no regeneration
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The screwdrivers don't regenerate with the Doctor. 10 had 9's screwdrivers (with a few variations only us nitpicky prop fans would notice). 11 started with 10's screwdriver, but it was damaged, which is why 11 had to come up with a new one.

Frankly, given the stark contract of Capaldi's Doctor to Smith's, I'm surprised they haven't given Capaldi his own screwdriver...

Sean
 
masterjedi322 said:
...Frankly, given the stark contract of Capaldi's Doctor to Smith's, I'm surprised they haven't given Capaldi his own screwdriver...
Click to expand...
We're only six episodes in; give it time. :D

Funny thing--I didn't particularly care for Matt Smith as The Doctor, and didn't really like his sonic screwdriver. Now that it's in Capaldi's hands and he's not constantly waving it around like it's a winning lottery ticket, I'm liking it more. :lol
 
Wow, thank s for all the responses. I didn't have any idea this thread would get so many comments. It's nice to see there are so many people as obsessed with the sonic screwdriver as I am!!!
 
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