Why does the sonic screwdriver have a light?

[FaxModem1]

Okay, the sonic screwdriver, presumably, is sonic in nature and works via audio fields(though while at the same time having the ability to do things like mend barb wire?), so why does it emit a light? A light which we have seen actually do things to whatever it is working on.(For instance, blasting the Silence square in the chest).

So, why does it have a light? Or why is it called sonic if its not audio?

[VF5SS]

It's just an easy visual cue to let the audience and actors know it's working. It's called a sonic screwdiver because they wanted the alliteration and it does make that little buzzing noise as it works.

[Bedlam]

In universe it might be a similar reason to why it has a light out of universe, so you can see its working. My TV remote has a light that flashes when you push a button, it has nothing to do with what the remote actually does but it tells me its working and if that light doesn't flash I know I need to change the batteries, it might be the same thing with the sonic.

[Broomstick]

Okay, the sonic screwdriver, presumably, is sonic in nature and works via audio fields(though while at the same time having the ability to do things like mend barb wire?), so why does it emit a light? A light which we have seen actually do things to whatever it is working on.(For instance, blasting the Silence square in the chest).

So, why does it have a light? Or why is it called sonic if its not audio?

I have a couple of tools with lights on them, lights that tell you it's on, what setting it has at the moment, some with lasers to act as a guide (saws, levels), and so on. Light is just another feedback effect, or it can double as a sort of flashlight/torch (haven't we actually seen the sonic screwdriver used that way?), and I wouldn't put it past the Doctor to modify what would otherwise be a benign sighting device into a makeshift weapon. After all, in the real world, pocket laser pointers have been used to dazzle the vision of aircraft pilots, it's not like tools can't be turned into weapons.

[Uraniun235]

Okay, the sonic screwdriver, presumably, is sonic in nature and works via audio fields(though while at the same time having the ability to do things like mend barb wire?), so why does it emit a light? A light which we have seen actually do things to whatever it is working on.(For instance, blasting the Silence square in the chest).

So, why does it have a light? Or why is it called sonic if its not audio?

It didn't always light up.

[Stark]

Saying the sonic screwdriver works through audio fields is the dumbest shit ever. Have you seen the stuff it does? The sonic guns remove square blocks and then put them back - is this also sonic fields?

It's dumb to treat names as meaningful beyond the obvious.

[tortieconspiracy]

It didn't light up in Old Who. It also didn't have nearly as many nifty features and it took time to work. In fact, you could believe that it was using high frequency vibrations to accomplish what it did. They still destroyed it during Five's tenure because it had turned into a "get out of trouble free" card and they wanted to make him work for his victories.

It seems even more overpowered in the new show. I don't think it worked as a scanning device in the old show, but both Ten and Eleven have used it that way (I don't remember Nine doing that, but Nine didn't seem as overpowered as Ten); it has a much longer range than the original, and well, I'm sure people can think of other things that've changed.

[Stark]

Posing dramatically with it like it was a gun in all marketing might have been a bad idea.

[FaxModem1]

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... 2Sonic.jpg

Apparently the first one did light up.

[Stark]

Is there a big enough eye-rolling smiley for that?

He used to have a whole box of silly tools that did daft stuff, but by the time it boiled down to the screwdriver being regualr it was just a metal handle with a cone on the end.

Are you seriously saying you are challenged by the idea that a device has a name that doesn't 100% accurately describe it's function? Please remember the screwdriver allows you to hack computers.

[FaxModem1]

Well, this is SDN, the land of asking questions of how things work and we try and work it out.

And I was just responding the to wrong comments that the screwdriver didn't light up in the old show.

[Stark]

'Wrong comments'? PS, it didn't light up for like 10 fucking years, and in maybe 90% of all episodes most people are likely to have seen. A light isn't important to how it works, at least to its original functions.

If you can't get your head around the idea that the screwdriver is a supertechnological effector that basically does whatever the writer wants at this point, you need to pay attention. This is of course why they destroyed it in the 80s, and it's amusing as all fuck that the fatty fanboys writing the show now are doing the exact same thing again.

Anyway, you didn't ask 'how does it work' you said 'it works this way, so why does it have a light'. Sound fields totally rebuild barbed wire and hack computers, right? Next you'll ask how you set more than two thousand settings with two buttons!

[FaxModem1]

So, magic wand?

[Stark]

Dude, have you SEEN the DVD covers? The Doctor could not get more 'magic wand' with the damn thing if he had a lightning bolt on his forehead. We're just lucky he and the Master didn't have a red/blue light showdown.

[Shroom Man 777]

Seriously it took him that long to figure out it was a magic wand? Heck, the Doctor with his coat swooshing as he waves his stick around is practically a wizard. Look at him doing expelliarmus on that Space Nanny (for the alien fatty baby larvae) in that episode.

[Broomstick]

Next you'll ask how you set more than two thousand settings with two buttons!

Actually, in "Let's Kill Hitler" a psychic control was mentioned... and used by Amy.

[Stark]

No shit, and people figured that's how it worked in 2005 (assuming they weren't retared). Course, then you gotta wonder why people use the buttons at all, but lets not tax the poor writers; they struggle enough already. If only 'writing a tv show' was more than 'read forums, include fanservice'.

[Broomstick]

Well, obviously the buttons are for when the Doctor pre-sets the thing then hands it to someone who can't/doesn't know how to use it psychically and says "press this to make it go, and this to make it stop".

[Stark]

If it's psychic, why does it need numbered settings? Why is 'setting 12381' easier to read than 'man I wish this barbed wire was fixed' or 'break rope now plz' or 'hack atm for monies'?

Maybe it needs psychic pairing. Enter your three digit code... oh wait!

[CaptainChewbacca]

Numeric setting is probably a good way to keep things organized.

[mr friendly guy]

Being sonic and acting as a screwdriver is just one of its many functions just like how working like a knife, is just one of the many functions of a Swiss Army knife (which interestingly enough in mine had a screwdriver function as well). So why then call it a sonic screwdriver instead of <insert other technobabble> <insert other function> the sonic screwdriver has?

I imagine the same reason why we call it a Swiss army knife instead of a Swiss screwdriver. You just have to pick one function and put it in the name with the proviso that its just one of the many functions of the device because if you tried to cram multiple functions in the name it would be really long to say.

[Stark]

Numeric setting is probably a good way to keep things organized.

Organised? For something with psychic controls? UI design not so good.

A more complex explanation than 'branding' isn't required. We've seen from the sonic pistols (and Jack's dialog around it) that in the 51st century 'sonic' is branding for 'magical do anything device'. Ever since the show restarted the screwdriver has been super-powerful; people have only noticed as the writing around it has become worse.

Maybe we should direct our attention to the LASER screwdriver for even more laughs?

[Purple]

Numeric setting is probably a good way to keep things organized.

Organised? For something with psychic controls? UI design not so good.

Perhaps the settings are labeled in some way but require a numeric label too simply for the sake of listing them inside an ordered array within the devices memory. And if that is the case, than the designers might have thought why the hell not make these also accessible via their number. And if that is the case, someone might just prefer to memorize his favorite and most used numbers than bother with saying the whole name every time. I mean, it's like you've newer been to a restaurant and ordered #15 off the list rather than saying the full name.

[Stark]

Are you seriously saying something that knows what you're thinking requires spoken commands, when we've never seen anything of the sort?

You might make a good Doctor DW Who writer!

[Purple]

You might make a good Doctor DW Who writer!

Thank you. And that with barely ever watching the show. This said, for the rest of this conversation I would ask you to keep that fact in mind and not take it too much against me if I say something completely idiotic in terms of observed effects.

That being done...

Can you attest to the complexity of the mechanism? For one thing, how complex is the voice thought recognition system? We have computers today that can do that to more or less complexity. For all we know the thing might only accept input along predefined parameters such as thinking or saying the exact or near exact name of the type of operation required like say: "Barbed wire cutters, strength 3 beam width 4mm" or something. Is there evidence to say that it's not like that and more like Star Trek computers that just improvise and always guess what you want. (consider my final point before giving a reply to this)

Also, I am surprised no one here considered the option that the buttons are there as a safety measure. Like, you might need to push the button to activate the mind reading mechanism before you can select an option with your thoughts. That sure would come in handy to stop you from thinking about wire cutters and finding out that you now have a hole in your pants.

Finally, from what I recall a lot of the doctors equipment was more or less held together with duck tape and string (figuratively) and had been the subject of numerous jury rigged repairs over the many, many years of non linear time travel existence. So any inconsistencies with the design or things that by all logic and sanity should be included into a user friendly interface might well have been there at some point in time just like the Tardis camouflage system used to work right...