The Mark of the Berserker (TV story)

The Mark of the Berserker was the fourth story in the second series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It marked the first appearance of Clyde Langer's family and the first story to have Sarah Jane Smith in a cameo role.

Synopsis

An alien pendant, which gives its wearer the power to control others, is stolen from Sarah Jane's attic. Luke and Rani enlist the help of Clyde's mum to help track down Clyde and his father, who has the alien pendant. The chase leads to a terrifying waterside confrontation, as the pendant takes control of Paul and begins transforming him.

Plot

Part 1

While walking by the detention room at school, Rani witnesses a boy, Jacob West, controlling his teacher and fellow students. Jacob then runs into the boy's bathroom, drops a strange pendant on the floor, and leaves. Rani picks up and pockets the pendant. On Bannerman Road, Rani and her father are deciding what to have for tea and they decide to have a pizza. Rani discovers that her father will follow her verbal instructions, and deduces that the pendant, which she is currently holding in her hand, causes people to follow instructions given to them by the wearer of the pendant.

Carla Langer

The next day, somebody knocks on the door of the Langers' home. Clyde answers it and finds that his long lost father, Paul Langer, has turned up. Clyde and his mother are upset by his arrival.

After some emotional discussions between the three of them, Clyde leaves with his father to go out for the day. During the course of the day, Clyde reveals to his father that he is involved in tackling alien threats. Meanwhile, Rani goes up to Sarah Jane's attic and puts the pendant there so that no one will find it. After a conversation with her father, she decides to investigate matters herself. She goes and finds Luke, and they go to the school to search for clues. Meanwhile, Clyde convinces his father that he is telling the truth by taking him to Sarah Jane's attic. Paul is convinced. He finds the pendant that Rani has left there and puts it in his shirt pocket without Clyde's knowledge. When they walk out they meet Rani's father, Haresh Chandra. After Haresh confronts them about what they were doing in Sarah's house, Paul ends up instructing Haresh to do press ups. Paul realizes that it must be due to the pendant. Luke and Rani run up to them. Rani works out what has happened and confronts Paul and Clyde about it. Paul instructs Clyde forget who Rani and Luke are. They walk off and Paul reveals his hand to have a strange symbol on it.

Part 2

Clyde and Paul are walking along in town. Paul can't stop looking at the symbol on his hand. Luke and Rani attempts to contact Sarah Jane but she is preoccupied trying to pursue an alien called Travist Polong. Meanwhile, Luke and Rani send a picture of the pendant to Maria and her father to investigate, as her father can hack into UNIT. They discover that using the pendant can cause a symbol known as the mark of the Berserker to appear on one's skin. Rani's father refuses to stop the press ups. Paul gets everything he wants for free, and uses this to bond with his son. He instructs Clyde to forget about how he left him and his mum when he was young and to forget about his mum. The pendant takes over Paul's skin and he can't control it, and he collapses. He declares himself the Berserker and that Clyde is his soldier. Sarah Jane appears and Clyde recognizes her. She tells him that his mum, Rani and Luke are the most important in his life when he asks who they are. Clyde and his mum talk Paul through his memories, whilst Sarah Jane shows him a reflection of himself in the mirror and he remembers who he really is.

Everyone who the Berserker commanded has their commands undone, Clyde tries to get his mum and dad back together, but Paul tells his son that he has made his mum's sister pregnant. Clyde tells his father he doesn't need him and not to mess up with this baby. Clyde tells his mother to forget about the pendant, what she knows about Sarah Jane's adventures with her son, and his father. Clyde throws the pendant into the sea. Sarah Jane reveals that her parents died when she was young and she would do anything to see them again. When Clyde is gone, she takes out a picture of her mother and father and rubs her finger over the latter.

Cast

Production Crew

Producer – Nikki Smith
Co-Producer – Phil Ford
First Assistant Director – Simon Morris
Post-Production Supervisor – Nerys Davies
Sound Effects Editor – Howard Eaves
Music – Sam Watts
Casting Directors – Andy Pryor, Andy Brierley
Sound Recordist – Julian Howarth
Special Effects Supervisor – Rob Mayor
Special Effects Designer – Neill Gorton
Special Effects Coordinator – Kate Walshe
Prosthetic Makeup Artist – Sarah Lockwood
Film Editor – William Oswald
Production Designer – Arwel Jones

References

A sticker featuring Yakko, Wakko, and Dot from the cartoon Animaniacs is visible on Rani's refrigerator.
When Clyde shows Luke his drawings, there is a picture of Samus Aran from the Metroid video game series.
Sarah Jane Smith's computer has a Magpie Electricals logo on it.
While under the influence of the Beserker Pendant, Haresh impersonates Bianca Jackson from Eastenders..

Story notes

Unusually (given the brevity of the season), this is a Sarah Jane-lite story, with Elisabeth Sladen appearing in only a few scenes.
This is the fourth story in a row to feature a form of mind control.
Clyde's dad mentions the daleks.

Ratings

Episode 1 - 531,000 (CBBC channel)
Episode 2 - 628,000 (CBBC channel)

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

to be added

Continuity

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

Clyde Langer had referred to his family situation in SJA: Warriors of Kudlak.
Paul Langer mentions the Daleks. DW: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End
Clyde mentions the Sontarans and the Slitheen.
Sarah Jane's note "If it's alien, LEAVE IT!" may be a reference to Yvonne Hartman's phrase "If it's alien it's ours." (DW: Army of Ghosts)

Novelisation

As of July 2010, no novelisation of this story has been announced for publication, although other episodes have been adapted.

Home video releases

This story, along with the rest of Series 2, was released on DVD on the 9th November 2009 (UK) and 10th November 2009 (North America).

Footnotes