Sonic screwdrivers comparison

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linker42

New Member
I know that there are many threads about the sonics but most of them are old and figured I'd start a new one.

I was wondering, for the Eccleston sonic and Tennant sonic, what are the best toy replicas for each? I have the sonic screwdriver that came with the physic paper because when I bought it it was mentioned that it was the exact same as Tennant's but from what I could tell in the show, Tennant's is smaller.

Also I was thinking of getting the journal of impossible things that comes with the smaller sonic and was wondering how close is this in size with Eccleston's since I know its smaller than the one that comes with the physic paper but bigger than LED torch one.

The most recent one released was the end of time sonic and is this in any way different in size from the previous one?

Thanks for the help.
 
I'd be curious to know that aswell. I was looking at getting the end of time sonic, and I just order River Songs Sonic (like the design the best) but just out of curiosity...
 
DemonFire said:
I'd be curious to know that aswell. I was looking at getting the end of time sonic, and I just order River Songs Sonic (like the design the best) but just out of curiosity...
Click to expand...

Yeah what are the differences in the 9-10 sonics? I have the Ecclestone sonic that came with the psychic paper from back when that was first released (the one with the shallow ridges in the handle) but that is back home in England. I'm tempted to get the end of time sonic but if it's the same as the other one I have, it seems pointless.

I still need the RS future sonic too. I LOVE that design so much. Makes you wonder if we'll see The Doctor making it now that the TARDIS gave him a newly designed one. I wonder if he has a spare of the 9-10 sonic laying around the TARDIS to turn into the future sonic.
 
I'll list a few differences between the Eccleston and Tennant sonics:

-Eccleston has very round ridges on the handle, while the Tennant version has a bit more squarish ones
-Eccleston version has a red and black wire heading up the clear tube to the head of the sonic, while the wires on the Tennant version are both yellow
-Eccleston version has a square, raised slider with a small black button on it, while the Tennant version has a much more flush, rectangular slider with an even smaller button the same color as the rest of the handle
-Eccleston version has a very curvy end cap, while the Tennant version is more boxy
-Some versions of the Tennant version have goldish crackle paint on the handle, while the Eccleston (and other Tennant versions) have whitish crackle paint

I'm sure there are a few more differences, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Oh, and about the toy sonic being the same as the one used on the show, that's not true :lol
 
the Ecclestone version which CO released in 2005? was a creamy beige colour. The cracks were less defined, and if I'm right in thinking, the first batches had little to no crackle detail at all - remembering back to my one. The Tennant sonics were released with the grey detail and more defined crackle. The Tennant sonic was released with both UV LED and a bright blue LED for the sonic pen double pack release. in comparison, the Ecclestone and Tennant sonics from CO were exactly the same size.

The End of Time release featured the UV LED and was basically a re-release of the earlier Tennant sonics. (the only difference between the end of time sonic was the pommel attachment - the one which connects into the base of the crackle body, which featured a slightly rounded top.

as for the sonics with journal releases, they were quite accurate. the four 'bars' on the emitter were wider and flatter and featured the ridge thingy just below the blue dome. the end cap is noticeably more accurate than the large slide up versions. In all, the release with the journal and manipulator was more accurate than the torch (however, I still favour both versions :) )
 
Talking about the prop, in addition to what Jamanticus said, the cream crackle paint was used on the season 1 and 2 sonic. The gold came in at the end of Smith and Jones when he got his new sonic. It stuck around the rest of the show except a couple times in the specials when they used an old one.

As for the toys, the torch is too small, the toy is too large. The older versions of the toy have a UV LED and the newer ones have blue. The original Eccleston sonic with the shallow crackles had a quieter speaker.
 
Hmmm, well thanks for the comparisons everyone. I think I'll pick up an end of time sonic then, that way I'll have an Ecclestone and a Tennant version. It's a shame neither of them are accurate though. Either way, I'll never be able to afford an MFX official sonic so the toys will have to do.
 
So then is the sonic that comes with the journal more accurate in size to Eccleston's? I've seen the pictures and like the overall design, even though it doesnt slide open.
Since I already have the sonic with the physic paper it seems pointless to get the end of time sonic. And it sucks that none of them are more accurate in size to Tennant's.
 
I'm not entirely sure but I think the Sonics that slide open are an inch longer than the actual prop, and a bit thicker. The ones that come with the vortex manipulator and the journal are roughly the same size as the torch but have more details, are are an inch or more shorter and much thinner. All in all, the larger sonics that slide out are best, and the end of time sonic appears to have the best paint job.
The River Song and 11th Doctor sonics are much more closely based on the actual props and are very accurate in size.
There are several older posts that show a size comparison of the commercially available Tennant / Eccelston sonics.
 
I finally found a picture with all 3 different toy sonic screwdrivers. Sadly i closed the link from the actual place so cant reference where I got it from exactly. In any case its a good picture to get an idea of the sizes of the toys.
img4114t.jpg


And even though its small, I cant help liking the mini sonic that comes with the vortex manipulator and journal. Does anybody know where I can get one? I've looked but no luck.
 
linker42 said:
I finally found a picture with all 3 different toy sonic screwdrivers. Sadly i closed the link from the actual place so cant reference where I got it from exactly. In any case its a good picture to get an idea of the sizes of the toys.
img4114t.jpg


And even though its small, I cant help liking the mini sonic that comes with the vortex manipulator and journal. Does anybody know where I can get one? I've looked but no luck.
Click to expand...

Surprisingly, the sonic that came with the journal is the most accurate toy sonic ever made. Almost spot on to the Ecclestone/Tennant fixed stunt version, just smaller.
 
Asp9mm said:
Surprisingly, the sonic that came with the journal is the most accurate toy sonic ever made. Almost spot on to the Ecclestone/Tennant fixed stunt version, just smaller.
Click to expand...

That sounds good. I prefer buying this over the new sonic just because of the size. It seems impossible to find. Anyone have an extra mini sonic or knows where I can get one?
 
yea I thought when I was looking at the one that came with the journal/vortex manipulator seemed more the right size. Well I got the end of time sonic now and River Song's Future sonic aswell. Preordered the Vortex Manipulator over at entertainment earth which there getting back in August for $17, also seems the only place that's getting it back in and for a low price :unsure. Figure get it all now before I can't and it gets to pricey.
 
Was River Song's sonic longer than the official Tennant version? I keep hearing that the Future Sonic is spot on 1:1 while the Tenant is too long - yet both toys are identical in length?

I bought the initial Tennant packaged release that came out with the cruddy note paper. This broke when I spilled orange juice on the battery pack so I bought the one with the Psychic paper. recently my wife became a convert to Who and decided she wanted her own sonic screwdriver so I bought the End of Time version. Having owned these three from what I can tell the only difference is the packaging. There are definitely no changes in the molds and only slight paint job differences but this could vary from toy to toy anyway just in the factory.

I recently picked up the Future sonic and I do have high praise for it's accuracy. (although the one they shipped me was broken so that has soured my mood a little..)

If you are willing to sacrifice the use as a pen I think I have figured out some mods that could take about 2cm of the length for scale accuracy but it would still leave the sonic a little fat I guess by SA standards.

This being said while mulling these mods over I've been handling the toy a lot and I'm not sure I want it any smaller. Perhaps Tennants hands are just smaller than mine but it looks to me like it would just look too small in my hand if I shrink it to SA size. The CO scale just seems to work as a size I like and how I imagine the sonic screwdriver would handle...

But that's just me...
 
I've used a pic that's been floating around the net of the CO next to the prop to make up a little demo of the scaling mods I'm thinking about.

Using a jewellry saw you can cut sections of the CO toy out and refix the parts to "shrink" the sonic down to SA scale. It's not 1000% of course but it's closer for those interested in the accuracy but on a budget.

picture.php


Because the handle and the slider are separable removing the sections below the slider is relatively easy. As I mentioned though you will lose pen functionality as the pen end needs to trimmed and then hollowed to allow the extra room the slider electronics will require to fit.

Of course full sanding and repainting of the handle would be required.

If you have the skills I recommend that you perform these mods to the handle but then take a mold and recast the entire handle as one piece that's entirely hollow.

I certainly would suggest you don't touch the slider part at all unless you really know what your doing, as the electronics would need to be removed or at least adjusted if you are going to remove that sliver of the head piece I've marked.

This of course doesn't cover the additional mods needed (new button, moving the button to the slider, new resin dome etc etc) but I'm undertaking those mods shortly and will probably put a build thread up for that.

Naturally I'm just making this up as I go, but it seems plausible to me...
 
That's not the real prop, it's the CO toy prototype. Properly scaled, but not the real thing.
 
The actual prop is made from the same mold as the end of time screwdriver. same size, same measurements, different materials. I read that somewhere on this site....
 
As I recall reading what happened is the production used the prototype of the toy (which was about accurate size) to rework the design of the prop to be less fragile. No toy was ever used as a prop.
 
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