The Mark of the Berserker

10 – The Mark of the Berserker
The Sarah Jane Adventures story
File:The Mark of the Berserker.jpg Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony) is claimed as a soldier by his father, Paul Langer (Gary Beadle), who is being transformed into a Berserker by the pendant he is wearing around his neck.
Cast
Starring Elisabeth Sladen – Sarah Jane Smith Tommy Knight – Luke Smith Daniel Anthony – Clyde Langer Anjli Mohindra – Rani Chandra Alexander Armstrong – Mr Smith
Others Yasmin Paige – Maria Jackson Joseph Millson - Alan Jackson Gary Beadle – Paul Langer Jocelyn Jee Esien – Carla Langer Ace Bhatti – Haresh Chandra Perry Millward - Jacob Huw Higginson - Mr Cunningham Elijah Baker - Steve Wallace Jessica Lewis - Detention Girl Andrew Phillips - Detention Boy
Production
Directed by	Joss Agnew
Written by	Joseph Lidster
Script editor	Gary Russell
Production code	2.7 and 2.8
Series	Series 2
Running time	2 episodes, 25 minutes each
First broadcast	3 & 10 November 2008
Chronology
← Preceded by Secrets of the Stars Followed by → The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith

The Mark of the Berserker is a story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 3 and 10 November 2008. It is the fourth serial of the second series. Due to Elisabeth Sladen's commitments elsewhere, main character Sarah Jane has a minor role in this serial, making the episodes similar to the 'Doctor-lite' episodes of Doctor Who ("Love & Monsters", "Blink" and "Turn Left") which do not feature The Doctor heavily, as well as the Torchwood episode "Random Shoes", which had minor roles for most of the main cast.

Plot

Part 1

Luke Smith is going for a sleepover at Clyde Langer's house whilst Sarah Jane goes away for the weekend. Clyde's estranged father Paul turns up hoping to get to know his son. Jacob is in possession of an alien pendant. Jacob discovers that he can use it to control other people. When he takes a teacher's voice in a detention, Jacob rushes to the bathroom to wash the handmark off. When he successfully does so, Rani knocks on the door and distracts him. Jacob leaves the room but hides outside. Rani enters the bathroom cautiously, and finds the time-watch. When she discovers, through instructing her dad, that it can control people, she takes it to Sarah Jane's house for Mr Smith to investigate it. Sarah Jane, however, has disabled Mr Smith while she is away. Rani leaves the pendant hanging on a roof beam. Clyde tells his father about the adventures he has with Luke, "saving the world". When his father does not believe him, Clyde takes him to visit Sarah Jane's attic. While Clyde shows him some of the objects in the attic and tells him about Mr Smith, Paul pockets the pendant. When they leave the house, Rani's father spots them and comes over to investigate. In possession of the alien pendant, Paul discovers that he can control people, after making Rani's father a victim of the pendant for the second time that day. After Luke and Rani turn up, Paul instructs his son Clyde, over whom he now has control, to forget who they are and that he has ever seen them before. Clyde, as he must, accepts his father's command. in other words [DISTORTED] This whole world will do as I Say!

• File:Http://www.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/pictures/sja/s2ep8/36.jpg

Part 2

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 give you hand marks. Rani's father refuses to stop the pressups. Paul gets everything he wants for free, and uses this as a bonding method with his son. He instructs Clyde to forget about how he left him and his mum when he was young and, indeed, to forget about his mum. The pendant takes over Paul's skin. He cannot control it and collapses. He announces that he is 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 people 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 chucks away 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.

Continuity

• Paul Langer casually refers to Daleks in a conversation about aliens; the Daleks invaded Earth and became common knowledge in "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" Doctor Who 2008 two-parter. Clyde mentions encountering the Slitheen (Revenge of the Slitheen and The Lost Boy) and the Sontarans (The Last Sontaran) and Paul picks up the M.I.T.R.E. headset from The Lost Boy when exploring Sarah Jane's attic.
• Sarah Jane states that she is visiting Tarminster. Tarminster is featured in the Doctor Who serial Terror of the Autons. The Harold Saxon promotional website mentions that Lucy Saxon's father was Lord Cole of Tarminster.
• Clyde stirs Sarah Jane's memories of her own parents, whom she longs to have known. This foreshadows the plot of the next episode.