February 21, 2023
No adventurer in time and space should be without these eleven essential items!
With pockets that are bigger on the inside, there seems to be no limit to the number of gadgets and gizmos the Doctor uses on their adventures. We’ve put together this list of some of the most notable items that have gotten our favourite Time Lord out of scrapes time and again.
So, what are the Doctor’s best gadgets? And how could they prove useful on your everyday adventures?
Sonic Screwdriver
Yes, we’re starting with the most obvious - you can’t beat the trusty Sonic Screwdriver. Woken up to find yourself in a cell in the Justicia Penal System? A sonic screwdriver can help with that. Perhaps not the best tool to use in a firefight with the Silence (although the Doctor has certainly tried!), you’d be hard-pressed to find a cabinet you couldn’t assemble with one. Just remember, you’ll need something else if you’re trying to unlock a wooden door. Unless you want to spend 400 years calculating its exact harmonic resonance of the entire structure down to a sub-atomic level. That works too.
Psychic Paper
Can paper even be classed as a ‘gadget’? We’re going to say yes. The psychic paper is the ultimate time-saver. You could mess around landing on a base/compound/ship you’re not meant to be on, get captured, wait for some sort of alien threat to happen, then bargain for your freedom based by saying that you can help. Or you can just flash a bit of paper that tells people you’re the head of HR or something. Just don’t use it on anyone that looks a bit smart - they’ll see right through you!
A Machine That Goes Ding
What use is a machine that doesn’t go ding? We’ve seen the Doctor use two of their own home-made contraptions: One was predominately a timey-wimey detector used to track people who’d been sent back in time by the Weeping Angels. It could also boil an egg at thirty paces, whether you want it to or not, so keep it away from hens if you’re planning on making your own!
The other was able to detect alien shapeshifters. This one could have perhaps spent a little longer in development, since it led the Doctor to believe it was Queen Elizabeth I who was the Zygon when in fact it was her horse. It could also microwave frozen dinners from up to twenty feet and download comics from the future. Practical!
Tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator
Planning a surfing trip to the glass beaches of Marinus? The pebble beaches of Brighton? You’ll be the envy of your friends with the Tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator. Surfboard-like in shape, the extrapolator can be used as just that – except with the added bonus of a protective forcefield. You could even ride the blast of an explosion into space if you wanted to! That’s exactly what Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day “Margaret” Slitheen planned to do to escape from earth after her family’s plan went up in smoke. Thankfully, the Doctor and friends stopped her, and the extrapolator was integrated into the TARDIS; which proved very useful in a head-on collision with Dalek warheads.
Chameleon Arch
Finding yourself on the run from a family of gassy green predators and need to lay low for a while? The Chameleon Arch may be just what you need. Just as a TARDIS’s Chameleon Circuit can change its outer shape into anything, the Chameleon Arch can change its user into any form they so desire; even making them forget the person they were if necessary! The essence of the user is then stored in a biodata module (often a fobwatch) which, when the heat is off, can be opened to restore their original form and memories. Be careful though - you may need someone you can trust to watch over you as you live your new life. You don’t want to be stuck as a Graske forever!
Void Stuff Glasses
Yes, people would look at you and ask, “Who’s that zany individual with the 3D glasses?” They’d be wrong, though. While Void Stuff Glasses may look exactly like a pair of retro 3D glasses you’d wear at the cinema, their use is in fact, far more practical. See, when one travels between parallel universes, they cross the Void. The dead space between dimensions. The Void is brimming with background radiation called Void Stuff. (If we had a better name for it, we’d use it). So, pop these glasses on and you’ll be able to tell anyone who’s dimension hopped since they’ll be positively covered in the stuff. We’re sure there’s a use for it somewhere.
Sonic Cane
It’s been a long day of time travel adventures and maybe your arm’s a bit dead from all the sonicking. You think, “It’d be great if I could scan alien biodata and lean at the same time.” If only there was something for that… The Sonic Cane is the sonic probe for the discerning adventurer. Open doors and look dapper while doing it. Still doesn’t work on wood, though.
Unnamed Species Identification Device
Attempting to track some sort of anomalous alien lifeform and you have no idea what it is? It happens. Worry not with this as-yet-unnamed device, which can identify a species from a picture! It does have to be a good one, though. The Doctor thought this device was a useless gift from a dull godmother with two heads and bad breath (twice!) until he found himself attempting to identify a Krafayis in nineteenth century France. You never know when this stuff might come in handy!
Sonic Sunglasses
You’ve found yourself really needing to scan for alien life forms, but you’re in a social setting and it’d be a bit weird if you started waving a screwdriver or a cane around. That’s where the Sonic Sunglasses come in handy. The full functions of a Sonic Screwdriver but completely hands free! And they look cool. Just be aware that your browser history is at risk of being exposed if you put them down somewhere.
When the Monks created a virtual simulation of the earth to prepare for an invasion, the simulation of the Doctor that inhabited was so sophisticated that he was able to use his simulated Sonic Sunglasses to email his real self, warning him of the invasion! How’s that for ingenuity?
The Twodis
Got something two-dimensional that you need to make three-dimensional? 3D that you want to make 2D? Sat on your lunch? The Twodis (Or 2Dis) might be just what you need. Created by the Doctor to restore dimensions to things that had been flattened by the Boneless, the Twodis is very good at locking doors if you’re trying to hide. Just hope that whatever creature you’re running from doesn’t also have the ability to alter dimensions.
Mobile Phone
What, you were expecting something else? Of course the Doctor has a phone! And unless you’re living in 2005, a phone is probably more versatile than any of the other weird and wonderful gadgets listed here. The Doctor is known to have had phones over the years - in particular, he definitely held onto the one Martha gave him for a while, since he used the same number when he called McGillop in The Day of the Doctor. Put that in your continuity supercut!