Arcateenian The Arcateenians were a race of humanoid s from Arcateen V . ( TV : " Invasion of the Bane " ) Biology . Arcateenians adopted a humanoid form . To maintain their shape on any planet with a stronger gravitational field than their own , they required large amounts of energy . Their internal structure could be seen faintly through their skin . They had tendril " hair " on the top of their head and on their backs . They had five long , slender finger s and a blue tint to their skin . Some Arcateenians had wing s and could fly . ( TV : " Greeks Bearing Gifts " , " Invasion of the Bane " ) Mary , an Arcateenian , was shown to have super - speed and strength , telepathy , and the ability to inhabit the body of a human . ( TV : " Greeks Bearing Gifts " ) Technology . The Arcateenians had several methods of faster - than - light travel . They had several varieties of spacecraft s . They had large white " hearses " , which carried a suspended animation chamber and two battery packs . ( TV : " Before the Flood " ) In the 1800s , they also had smaller transporters which could be held in the hand , used dark matter , and could teleport the user . ( TV : " Greeks Bearing Gifts " ) Sarah Jane Smith ' s friend , the Star Poet , appeared to use none of these methods , but when leaving simply flew away into the night sky . ( TV : " Invasion of the Bane " ) The Arcateenians created pendants to telepathically communicate with each other . ( TV : " Greeks Bearing Gifts " ) They also had superluminal communications technology . ( TV : " Invasion of the Bane " ) Culture . Mary , an Arcateenian criminal , found her people " savage " ; they forced people to worship in huge temple s " the size of cities " , had execution squad s roaming the streets everywhere , and enforced death penalties for almost every crime . As Jack later implied , though , she may have invented these details to create the impression that she had been oppressed . ( TV : " Greeks Bearing Gifts " ) Arcateenians had a tradition of burying defeated enemies on a " barren , savage outpost . " ( TV : " Before the Flood " ) Arcateenians chose to communicate through telepath ic signals picked up by pendants , ( TV : " Greeks Bearing Gifts " ) but still had a written language . ( TV : " A Day in the Death " ) History . In the early 1800s , a criminal Arcateenian was sent to Earth with her jailer . She killed the jailer and took over the body of a passing human . She continued to live on Earth for 200 years by feeding on the hearts of other humans . According to her , at that point in time her planet was run by an oppressive government which forced worship and exiled prisoners like herself . ( TV : " Greeks Bearing Gifts " ) In the 20th century , the Arcateenians liberated the planet Tivoli from the forces of the Fisher King , much to the dismay of the native Tivolian s , who proceeded to irritate the Arcateenians so much they chose to enslave the Tivolians themselves by the year 1980 . The Arcateenians lent a spaceship to the Tivolian funeral director Albar Prentis , who was sent to bury the Fisher King on the backwater planet of Earth . ( TV : " Before the Flood " ) By the 21st century , there appeared to be a benevolent government on Arcateen V , and peaceful poets from the planet would travel to other star systems with their poetry . One such traveller met Sarah Jane Smith and gave her a superluminal communications device . ( TV : " Invasion of the Bane " ) Later that year , Torchwood dug up an Arcateenian prison transport . The criminal previously incarcerated inside tried to infiltrate the Torchwood base to get it back , using Toshiko Sato to do so . She was able to do so , but Jack Harkness had reprogrammed it , causing it to teleport into the sun . ( TV : " Greeks Bearing Gifts " ) Other references . The War Doctor suggested the Arcateenians , among other telepathic races , as possible creators of the psychic Anima device . ( AUDIO : " A Thing of Guile " ) Mr Smith had records of the Arcateenians . ( TV : " Revenge of the Slitheen " ) Torchwood Three had Arcateenian medicine , but were unsure of its effects on human s . ( PROSE : " Something in the Water " ) Henry Parker had a copy of " The Fog " by James Herbert translated into Arcateenian . ( TV : " A Day in the Death " ) Behind the scenes . " The Torchwood Archives " . According to the source " The Torchwood Archives " , an Arcateenian ' s skill - set varied depending on which planet it hailed from . Arcateen IV was the main seat of government in the system . Arcateenians from this planet developed a way with words , although this often worked against them as they could occasionally take up to eight hours to complete a conversation . At the other end of the scale , Arcateenians from Arcateen V developed a concise and poetic way with words , meaning they were often very creative . " The Sarah Jane Adventures " website . The website for " The Sarah Jane Adventures " described the star poet of Arcateen V as coming from " a truly benevolent race of beings " and that " her psychedelic aura gives of [ sic ] colours that go far beyond the spectrum humans can see .