Inside the 456's Chamber | Day Four | Torchwood: Children of Earth

[@rhyscarter3939]

This was the moment Torchwood switched from sci-fi to horror. The fact that we never fully see the 456 just ads to their terror.

[@braddsfx8921]

Remember watching this ages ago because of doctor who, my god I had nightmares for days

[@tome_1701]

Children of Earth is probably the best story in the entire Whoniverse tbh

[@throwawayaccount657]

We saw what they do, not what they are.

[@MrTambourineMan.]

Yeah the Family of Blood were at least doing what they did so that they could live longer. The 456 were doing this just to get high!

[@Dorgpoop]

We don't even know how many there are. It's entirely possible there was just one of them, and that they were actually incapable of delivering on their threats to destroy humanity.

[@BIGDaddioJohnB]

3:42 We do not harm the children, They feel no pain, They live long beyond their years The Toymaker : WELL THAT'S ALRIGHT THEN

[@tedsavage3850]

😂

[@temerson2]

Gwen literally says that

[@CurseTheCosmos]

I could only imagine what The Tenth Doctor would do if he had known what was happening. The Family of Blood's punishment would pale in comparison to what he could have done to The 456.

[@joelmole3157]

Not to mention the government. He brought down Harriet Jones for blowing up the Sycorax. God knows what he would have done to Brian Green

[@katie2275]

I can’t believe this kid suffered for 40 years like this and the Doctor didn’t find out or try to help him

[@SalazarXenoria]

@@katie2275 It's why I like Torchwood, this show is basically what Earth would do in Doctor Who's universe but without The Doctor. No Time Lord or TARDIS to save you at the last second, just humans slowly finding out how terrifying the actual universe is with hard decisions to take if they want to make it to the next day. It's cosmic horror, basically.

[@zionleach3001]

It wouldn't be painless...😐 It wouldn't end in an explosion and he'd probably make Earth restricted from alien life. Assuming there's someone to stop him from going too far.

[@amysmileyreid95]

He wouldn’t even raise his voice, that’s the scary thing. The fury of a Timelord. I think 7 would be the scary one. He already kept Ace as his submissive little slut. I imagine he likes snuff films as well. Sylvester McCoy’s doctor was quiet and evil, he’d be the kind of guy who would pay to kill the kids in the Hostel movies, but this would be too much even for him. He would torture the 456 and he’d enjoy it.

[@DanTheMan2150AD]

Children of Earth is perhaps the finest piece of Doctor Who media ever.

[@jjblack4905]

agree with that up until the third episode

[@martinmcniffe]

JJ Black Why didn’t you like the third episode?

[@andrewdevine3920]

I was really surprised how gripping it was. I feel 'Arrival' took some stylistic cues from this.

[@tome_1701]

@@jjblack4905 wait why?

[@wanderingshadow1372]

​@@tome_1701They're probably one of those Jack and Ianto shippers who was triggered that their favourite coffee boy was killed off in Day Four of COE. I loved Ianto too, but his and Jack's relationship certainly wasn't the only thing I watched Torchwood for. The first time I watched Torchwood, it was alongside my first ever watch of Doctor Who. I was told there were spin-offs that tied into the RTD Era, not completely compulsory to watch when becoming a Whovian but I wanted as much out of it as possible. I assumed it was an MCU type thing full of crossovers and references, but it was so much better than that. RTD tied his run of Doctor Who, along with Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures together perfectly. Not only that but, when I watched Torchwood for the first time, I fell in love with the creative concepts, the grounded and gritty feel of it, the constant tie-ins to Doctor Who, the humour, and the characters. Gwen Cooper has to be my absolute favourite fictional female character, because so much care went into making her and her character arc as realistic and compelling as possible. That being said, she's not the only reason I love Torchwood so much. I love every aspect of it. Unfortunately, a lot of Torchwood fans are only in it for the Jack and Ianto relationship and don't actually care about proper storytelling. They just want to gush over attractive men being attractive. It's the same kind of crowd that is obsessed with Supernatural and Sherlock, that one sliver of teenagers from Tumblr who spend most of their life writing fanfics of their favourite male characters getting up to god knows what with each other.

[@hollylaufeyson6646]

I remember when Children of Earth first aired. It felt so immediate and intense that I practically punched the walls and tore out clumps of my hair. It's a deep and visceral horror; the fear of children in danger and being utterly helpless to save them. The most chilling part isn't 456, it's the decision that the government makes to deliver units of "undesirable" children to a horrible fate. When they come for the children I just want to scream in outrage.

[@DoctorXander]

I was nearly crying in the last episode when Gwen and Rhys were just trying to save a handful of children, because it was all they could do.

[@julieeverett7442]

but they could have made it far far worse, in real life the government would do what not even Torchwood would dare, the special needs kids!

[@katie2275]

I think it’s a metaphor for the sexual abuse of children that was rampant in the UK government way back

[@Cybermat47]

_Turn Left_ had a similar theme of ‘undesirables’ being ‘discarded’.

[@SamuelBlack84]

When humanity are pushed to their limits they become the very worst versions of themselves

[@cleoarbel]

Peter capaldi playing yet ANOTHER character in the Doctor Who canon 😂

[@whovian4ever906]

I would not mind if he played everyone.

[@Stuntmanforlyf]

He’s actually a descendant of caecillius. RTD confirmed this

[@joseignacioreallozano348]

@@Stuntmanforlyf and so, the Caecillius line falls

[@eltsky7570]

This is such a unique and terrifying concept!

[@brianshaw3903]

It's literally happening its them trying to tell you about andrenachrome

[@BritneyLaZonga]

Muahaha, the little shit that wrote down the adrenochrome legend and postet it on 4chan surely has seen Torchwood.... “Eating Children“ or “Drinking childrens blood“ is literally in the handbook of how to dehumanize your enemies since the bible times.... so, nothing new to see here.

[@cowman850]

@@brianshaw3903 mate shut up you Qanon freak

[@samcampbell2944]

If the doctor was here I truly believe he would have destroyed the 456 and then would’ve abandoned jack forever

[@sagezemage8834]

He actually understood and forgave him. When 10 says goodbye to jack its after this (its why jack is at the bar)

[@PrinceDaemonTargaryen]

​@@sagezemage8834I'm not sure if the Doctor was aware of all this.

[@lordburton16]

As a child I watched this bit never understood what was going on but I watched all of Torchwood a few months ago and it was much more hard hitting

[@ir0ngamer393]

The fact that this season’s entire plot revolves around an alien trying to get high is just hilarious to me

[@choppa8985]

Wait what

[@shahahmed2814]

@@choppa8985 didn’t you watch the series? They take the children because it gives them the “hit”. Am for example when a person smoked cannabis it gives them a hit. It releases good hormones in their body. That’s what the alien loves the children because the children releases a different type of chemical than the adults. These aliens are drug addicts and do all sort of drug trades with their species. That’s why they taken 12 in 1965 and now 10% of the human population because of how good the children are as “drugs”…it’s actually quite horrifying yet amusing that aliens can go high lol

[@choppa8985]

@@shahahmed2814 nah, haven't seen the Show. I just got this recommended

[@Shade571]

Yeah, Hilarious If it didn’t involve Children being drugs

[@NathanChick-n8q]

Until you realise they really space pedophiles holding humanity to ransom

[@TheOriginalGaiaXaia]

This series scared me, I was actually thinking how would I hide a child

[@auberginemanproductions1608]

I dread to think what the Doctor would bring down upon them if he knew what was happening

[@capnjackgallows3204]

The family of blood would laugh , they would think the would have had the easier punishment. The doctor would most likely drop the 456 into the time war , its may be time locked but he would happily figure it out

[@SamuelBlack84]

The Doctor at his most terrifying

[@chrissyclark7836]

Someday... Someday in the cold future I imagine Jack visits the 456... And the 456 learn why you should never ever threaten humans.

[@ForeverTraitor]

I like the theory that there was no mothership and it was just one alien junkie bluffing.

[@scottbirch968]

We’re not so strong. Look at what we give in to every day.

[@harveybromley33]

One of the best ever doctor who related storylines!

[@under.covercat]

that child haunts my dreams

[@jjblack4905]

NOT really the first thing a human would want to know is how do you keep him from aging

[@johnmichaelarnaud]

One of the most horrifying moments I've television I've ever seen. It has stuck with me since.

[@rogue_2k374]

2:26 I love how you can see the realization of just what he’d done cross Jack’s face as he says this. It’s haunting.

[@JoeyTheBeastHD]

I find this scarier that they don't even show who are the 456

[@bobbimorse8460]

How did that Cameraman’s heart not explode?! God knows mine did...

[@shadowrodney]

I think I would try to assault the alien and possibly die in the attempt lol. Last words: Xeno scum!

[@researcherdr.bryansanchez5543]

Yes, I finally got my favorite scene. Thank you.

[@OhItsJustKim]

This scene haunts me.

[@ehorses2729]

Brace yourselves for the next clip...

[@badwolf029]

I’m already in tears my friends 😭:( RIP Ianto 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@ehorses2729]

Bad Wolf aw get your tissues ready :((((

[@badwolf029]

Ehorses 272 I will, I will. What is this lockdown doing to me. I watched the final DW Lockdown rewatch last night and broke down into tears.... I’m so emotional *sniff* *sniff* xx

[@ehorses2729]

Bad Wolf lol same 😔

[@JinjaDragon_77]

Salt in the wound man. I just watched CoE for the first time and it hurt like hell when 'it' happened

[@FlamingoSundew]

Still dont know what or who they are and I love that

[@gemstonerose4648]

beware the next clip, when they say why they want the kids

[@FlamingoSundew]

@@gemstonerose4648 I know I've watched them all

[@jjblack4905]

Really they are drug dealers who gets high off of children they want 35 million of them the best high in the know universe

[@JHMninja89]

@@jjblack4905 the real world elites and their adrenochrome highs

[@cernstormrunner7263]

my headcanon is that in the time after Jack leaves at the end of this series and until he shows up again for Miracle day he had been engineering the genocide of the 456. But thats just my wishful thinking. Also, seeing Capaldi in this makes me wonder how 12th would deal with this.

[@wanderingshadow1372]

This scene, along with the scene where John Frobisher mercy-kills his kids, and the scene where Jack sacrifices Steven, are pretty much the top three darkest and most grim scenes to come out of the Doctor Who franchise. This right here is *real* horror, and the kind of horror Doctor Who deserves to have. The Weeping Angels and the Silence only look scary, but outside of that, they don't really have much substance and definitely aren't quite as horrific as the 456 or most other concepts and themes from either Torchwood, the NuWho seasons made by RTD, or the Classic Who seasons made by Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes.

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

We'd find out what 456 want with the kids on the final day. *The hit*

[@manzilla48]

Spoilers!

[@tome_1701]

that really hit when they said *The Hit*

[@cjproductionsandgames3002]

so yeah there was a very very good reason my family never let me watch Torchwood when I was very young however they did let me watch Doctor Who in the very first episode i washed was blink so those are some strange priorities

[@SIRKlLLALOT]

Does anybody have a photo of the 456 prop outside of its tank? I’d love to see it but there aren’t any prop photos, also was the kid in the tank an actor or a puppet? The prop must exist somewhere

[@matt64allison]

On the KZbin channel ‘everything torchwood’ there’s a 30 min behind the scenes video for this series which does show how they made the 456

[@iandeeley9033]

Torchwood at it's finest! #456

[@maxkennedy7430]

*We Do Not Harm The Children. They Feel No Pain. They Live Long Beyond Their Years.*

[@cosmichobo4216]

I wonder how The Doctor would haddle this Situation differently

[@JArm1996]

Argue that they're trespassing on a Level 5 planet and that the Shadow Proclamation should be after them?

[@archusrtm6325]

@@JArm1996 the mention of the shadow proclamation would probably scare away the 456

[@RealCoolstriker64]

The Doctor isn’t here because I don’t think they’d ever really recover from what they’d do to someone like this.

[@nitrodudezoom]

I remember watching this and thinking how much my sisters used to struggle in school

[@whereami2477]

Why can't we get things like this anymore related to Doctor Who?

[@Haxprocess]

it'll probably never happen again tbh. Creating good content/ media is already becoming a lost art, but also Children of Earth is just so dark, I don't think something like that will ever be made again...

[@whereami2477]

@@Haxprocess Well here's hoping now that RTD is back

[@mayotango1317]

@@whereami2477 No, this is Torchwood show. RTD say that Doctor Who is a family show.

[@whereami2477]

@@mayotango1317 I mean good, dark spin-offs of Doctor Who

[@ladyselin35]

Torchwood always were darker than Doctor Who'd ever been. But Im sure Doctor wouldnt let remaining of them escape or would find their planet and explode them inside of it.

[@zionleach3001]

Pure unchained Time Lord fury. He probably would call the daleks and Cyberman. He probably would've hated himself. But that would be entertaining. If they do it, maybe they could have a Weevil episode.

[@Alphamask978]

The 4,5,6 was really one of the creepiest creatures I think created and was scary, same with the creatures such as the silence they are terrifying to look at. But I think 4,5,6 couldn’t make it onto doctor who as it would be too dark and horrifying for a lot of the audience & may not be appropriate.

[@jumpcutfilms1958]

It's crazy to think that this could've just been one drugged up individual who nearly bluffed the whole of humanity into giving up their children

[@emmetreys9433]

Did they just reuse sound effects from the Nestene in Rose and give it to the 456

[@lukeevans6070]

That sound effect has been around since the 90s

[@skylac5618]

We all know what’s coming next

[@FlamingoSundew]

The whole torchwood crew get chips and live happily ever after?

[@skylac5618]

Flamingosundew sadly no

[@FlamingoSundew]

@@skylac5618 damn guess hes gotta die

[@skylac5618]

Flamingosundew yeah 😭

[@jamescoetzee3577]

Seriously, Peter Capaldi is in this? Insane

[@georgelinford5576]

Please watch the first 3 series of Torchwood, they're great, especially this one (you can watch Miracle Day if you want but it's not as good by any means)

[@metalswifty23]

@@georgelinford5576 Miracle Day is why Americans should seldom get their hands on British shows (The Office is possibly the only thing they've done better than the original). Don't get me wrong, US writers/producers/directors absolutely come out with some fantastic shows (and movies), but they don't understand the charm of British TV. Torchwood really suffered as a consequence of BBC fobbing it off to Starz, bringing in American writers in the process.

[@afanofstuff9123]

I watched this year's ago and it took me till this day to realise that it thrashing about and spewing the goo like vomit its that creature having withdrawals symptoms. Its voice is calm but its movements are aggressive thrashing about unable to stay still because it knows the next hit is coming if these damn human just hurry up and deliver the goods. Even having the child makes sense sadly if ya think of it like a vape pen Or cigarettes some people who have ran out will still suck on the empty vape pen or cigarette butts because even the feeling of just having it to their lips helps that little bit. Its actual why vape pen exist because smokers who want to quit still crave that feeling of having a cigarette to your lips. So its the same with THE 456 its got the child attached to try and well get high even tho the child is more or less tapped dry.

[@whereami2477]

Either that or the vomiting is a side effect

[@LCBK]

Where was the doctor when any of this happened, also with what Jack had to do to his grand kid how did he not punch the doctor in the face and demand an answer of where he was and an apology for not being there

[@adamburke4738]

More to the point, how would the Doctor react to Jack opting to take a human life to save the planet. It’s not black and white.

[@louisemolina2565]

The odd thing about this is that the 12th Doctor is actually there but not as himself but another person 😲🧐

[@Gavinkeenan1]

The only question remaining is was it jack or the doctor who eradicated the 456 from existence for this???

[@SamuelBlack84]

Reminds me of the many children that walked into the gas chambers of the concentration camps of WW2 Every one of them screaming and crying 😢

[@helmetsandhandgrenades5636]

The voice of the 456 sounds like The Witness from D2

[@nathanbell8415]

Wasn’t there like 10 children when jack gave them away so if one is in there where’s the others could mean there is more of that species alive maybe doing the same thing to other species children who went along with the 10% plan

[@Toadhmg]

I don’t know that’s why I’m here trying to find out but no one has posted a video on what there using the kids forrrr

[@jamieleigh0912]

I think they used the children as recreational drugs

[@CutieMoli]

GUYS ITS COMING NEXT WEEK NOT READY

[@grandmage1925]

what is coming next week?

[@CutieMoli]

@@grandmage1925 nothing, it's been 11 years and I'm still in denial.

[@Schnatre]

That’s Malcolm Merlyn.

[@galacticreviewer]

1:56 when your airpods die

[@jazzling]

WHERE IS THE SONG!!

[@ciaran_telfer_18]

Torchwood series 5 will be coming out in 2021 I’ll put a fiver on it

[@FlamingoSundew]

It already did as audio books

[@ciaran_telfer_18]

Flamingosundew well you see everyone says that but I don’t count it as canon until it returns to TV. Whatever is said on there is canon

[@FlamingoSundew]

@@ciaran_telfer_18 miracle day?

[@ciaran_telfer_18]

Flamingosundew what about series 4

[@FlamingoSundew]

@@ciaran_telfer_18 it was bad season 5 came out whether you like it or not its confirmed cannon

[@rockstarvvolfie]

Oh god oh no oh god oh no oh god oh no oh god oh no oh god oh no oh god oh no oh god oh no oh god oh no

[@wheatley09]

I always wondered what the third creature was, you had the thing with three heads and that child. But what was the third one?

[@Jedi_Spartan]

Presumably the camera guy... unless the 456 have 2 hearts like Time Lords.

[@charleysonnydickinsonvuori7833]

I’m pretty sure the 1st heartbeat was the cameraman, the 2nd is the alien and the 3rd is the child.

[@wheatley09]

That makes sense

[@jjblack4905]

@@charleysonnydickinsonvuori7833 The alien having a heart beat is a whole other story the child still being young so many questions. Do you have to be attached to them to stay young and if you dont holy shit

[@Jedi_Spartan]

@@jjblack4905 if you look at a behind the scenes image, it's basically the size of a grown ass man aside from the face.

[@stephenmurphy2212]

The child in the tank is wearing a face mask! 😷😉

[@jjblack4905]

they are way ahead of us why do you think they would not have them

[@Cybermat47]

Yeah, because they’d die without it in that atmosphere lol

[@aidanforman5950]

Sooooo....they are space dolphins. Interesting

[@garryabbott3474]

Spoilers. Government are the real villains, no surprises there, selling out those on the lowest rung to a group of alien junkies.

[@BaronMartin]

Do you know what is coming next guys? Next clip? :D Ianto's death

[@eccremocarpusscaber5159]

It gets them high.

[@gavin9719]

My anger is this alien speacias should be internally Exterminated and its home world by Darleks and any destruction caused.

[@stevenbaxter9099]

456 the amount of bums captain jack harkness has been in

[@lazyjohncz4211]

I want this show back! Please! If this show not return during second RTD session it's definitely dead for me 😭 . BTW Why they sending human? We have robots.😭

[@evankupec8495]

To Get HIGHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHhhhh oh wait that’s bad

[@samerwin5212]

.

[@marcodonockley9101]

Does noone recognize this as a reference to real life AdrenochromeAmbrosia?

[@thomashall8701]

I do

[@sephservant]

Yep. That's where my mind immediately went after I learned what the 456 were using the children for.

[@davidfgranger]

This is what QAnon actually believe!

[@capnjackgallows3204]

If the doctor found out about this the things he would do to te 456 would make the war dr have nightmares , the family of blood wouldnt feel to hard done by either lucky infact. He would rip there entire existance from reality and most likely attempt to throw them into the time war into hell itself

[@lmckennen8673]

I hope They Meet The Daleks for this shit