Time Lord Technology (feature)

Time Lord Technology was the eleventh feature and the twenty-third release exclusively published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2010 on 6 August 2009 by BBC Children's Books and written by Jonathan Green.

This feature, as unsubtly conveyed by the title, detailed several pieces of Time Lord technology: sonic screwdrivers, psychic paper, the laser screwdriver, and fob watches.

Summary
Throughout their adventures, facing everything from the Cybermen to the Slitheen, the Doctor and his companions use many different devices to defeat them.

The Doctor owns a sonic screwdriver, a device which utilises sound waves to "remotely exert physical force on an object"; like the TARDIS, the screwdriver is essential to the Doctor. The screwdriver seems to have an "endless list of uses". Other people also have sonic screwdrivers, such as Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick, Miss Foster's sonic pen, and River Song's sonic screwdriver.

Psychic paper allows the user to show people what they want to see, such as an invitation to see the end of the world or to "appropriate" credentials to impress royalty with. However, the psychic paper does not work on people who have had psychic training and geniuses. The Doctor keeps his in a leather wallet. Furthermore, the psychic paper has the ability to display psychic messages sent anywhere in time and space, such as when River summoned the Doctor to the Library in the 51st century and when the Face of Boe summoned the Doctor to Ward 26 on New Earth in 5,000,000,023.

The laser screwdriver, which belongs to the incarnation of the Master who goes by the alias "Harry Saxon", was revealed to be in his ownership when he reveals his true identity. A weapon in design, the screwdriver could direct a laser beam capable of killing its target, and, with the addition of the built-in "hypersonic manipulation technology" developed by Lazarus Laboratories, can exponentially and artificially age its target too.

The fob watch is a part of the Chameleon Arch and can store a Time Lord's memories and entire personality, by rewriting their biology and storing their essence within. A fob watch makes use of a perception filter to prevent a transformed Time Lord from opening, or even noticing, it. The Doctor meets the seemingly "Next Doctor" in 1851 fighting the Cybermen, but when this Next Doctor took out his fob watch, he established his identity as Jackson Lake, an "ordinary human being".

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Sarah Jane
 * Miss Foster
 * River Song
 * Emmeline Pankhurst
 * William Shakespeare
 * Face of Boe
 * The Master
 * Lazarus
 * Next Doctor/Jackson Lake

Sonic screwdrivers

 * The Doctor's sonic screwdriver can function as a radiation detector, remotely activate processes inside the TARDIS, detect and send signals, intercept transport beams, fuse metal, amplify and augment sound waves, deactivate mechanical devices, be used as a cutting tool, and repair Vortex Manipulators.
 * The screwdriver doesn't work on deadlock seals or wood, and hairdryers can interfere with its signal.
 * River's screwdriver has dampeners, red settings, and a neural relay data-chip,
 * The neural relay was used by the Doctor to save River's consciousness after her death.
 * Emmeline Pankhurst was the leader of the Women's Suffrage Movement. She once "ran off" with the Doctor's laser spanner.

Psychic paper

 * If a user of psychic paper is not careful, they can accidentally reveal private information about themselves to someone else if they hand them the psychic paper.
 * The psychic paper shows the message "Ward 26 please come".

Laser screwdriver

 * The laser screwdriver has isomorphic controls that lock the device to the Master.
 * "LASER" is actually an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Fob watch

 * The Doctor has a fob watch engraved with Gallifreyan symbols.

Continuity

 * Adventures involving the Slitheen and Cybermen are mentioned, presumably about their major appearances in Aliens of London/World War Three/Boom Town and Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel, respectively.
 * The Tenth Doctor's screwdriver is extensively discussed. It debuted in Rose.
 * The sonic lipstick, the sonic pen, and River Song's sonic screwdriver are briefly discussed. These devices debuted in Invasion of the Bane, Partners in Crime, and Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.
 * River's death in the latter two-parter is also detailed.
 * The fact about Emmeline Pankhurst was first referred to in The Shakespeare Code.
 * The Face of Boe summoning the Doctor was seen in New Earth.