Doctor Who: 5 Cool Facts About Ncuti Gatwa’s New Sonic Screwdriver Design – Looper

“Doctor Who” has never been afraid to risk it all on a retcon. In the time it takes you to read that last sentence, there’s a non-zero chance that Russell T. Davies or Steven Moffat rewrote the Daleks to have always had legs. Keep that in mind when we tell you that Fifteen’s Sonic Screwdriver is powered by a purple crystal. Since when did the Sonic Screwdriver need a crystal battery? Why does it matter that it’s purple? The answer to both of these questions is a vague shrug of the shoulders because, as far as we know, no other Sonic Screwdriver has ever required a crystal battery.

Nonetheless, Ncuti Gatwa states that Fifteen’s Sonic Screwdriver is, “powered by a crystal, a purple one.” Technically speaking, Thirteen’s (Jodie Whittaker) Sonic Screwdriver is part crystal, too, although it’s never framed as being powered by that aspect of its design. In all likelihood, it’s just a neat bobble that helps distinguish it as belonging to Fifteen. In more recent years, the Doctors have each been assigned a specific accent color for their Sonic Screwdriver. Thirteen’s was amber, Eleven’s was green, that sort of thing. That said, Davies is a wily one, so who knows what it could eventually mean.