The Curse of Clyde Langer

The Curse of Clyde Langer is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 10 and 11 October 2011.^[1] It is the second story of the fifth and last series.

Plot

Part One

At school, Clyde shows Rani The Silver Bullet, a comic he made. While Sarah Jane has a talk with Mr Chandra on Sky's first day at school, a strange storm interrupts the meeting—fish begin to fall out of the sky. Mr Smith later explains that raining fish is a natural, if unusual, phenomenon, though the fish that day were abnormally large. Thinking it might be related to an old legend involving an old Mojave totem pole now on display in a local museum, the gang visits the exhibition. Outside the museum, Clyde gives a homeless girl some money, explaining to Sky that it probably is not her fault she is out in the streets. Disregarding signs not to touch the exhibits, Clyde gets a splinter from the totem pole they have come to see.

Dr Madigan, the anthropologist in charge, explains the legend of the totem pole. Hetocumtek was a vicious god who fell out of the skies and tried to enslave the people on the Mojave plains. The Native American medicine men tricked the god, imprisoning him inside the totem pole. Sarah Jane suspects that Hetocumtek was an alien masquerading as a warrior god. However, a scan detects no alien signs of any kind.

That night, Clyde finishes his comic and signs his name on it before falling asleep. He fails to notice that his name on all of his documents, including his comic, mysteriously begins to glow orange.

Walking to Sarah Jane's house, Clyde shows her The Silver Bullet. She at first takes interest in his comic. At the mention of his name, Clyde's name glows orange in Sarah Jane's eye. Suddenly, Sarah Jane takes a dislike to Clyde, ordering him to leave her house. At the front of the Chandras' residence, Clyde tries to tell Rani and Haresh the problem he had with Sarah Jane, only to face the same conflict when Haresh says his name as it glows in their eyes. Haresh then suspends him from school and Rani says she hates him.

Getting ready for her first day of school, Sky enters the attic. Sarah Jane tells her she will return to the museum to see if there are any connections between the totem pole and the fish incident. When Sky mentions Clyde to Sarah Jane, she is instructed to stay away from him. Unaffected by the curse, Sky notices the sudden hatred Sarah Jane has for Clyde.

At the park, Clyde is treated kindly by his old friend Steve until his name is said. Barely escaping from Steve and his gang who are chasing after him, he enters the museum. While he is asking Dr Madigan about curses, Sarah Jane enters the museum and advises her to keep away from Clyde. Dr Madigan orders the security guards to throw him out.

Clyde returns home where he sees his mother staring at an envelope addressed to him. She says he has ruined her life and tells him to leave. Realizing what has happened, he begs her to let him stay. When the police arrive, following a complaint from Sarah Jane, he runs away. Out in the streets in the middle of the rain, the homeless girl he helped offers to assist him, holding out her hand, which he takes.

Part Two

While his friends all turn on Clyde as a result of the curse, the mysterious girl on the streets helps him through the hardship of losing his friends and loved ones. She introduces herself as Ellie. Fearing the curse, Clyde introduces himself as Enrico Box taking inspiration from a nearby pizza box. Ellie tells him about the Night Dragon, how people mysteriously disappears because of it.

At the museum, lightning bursts out of the totem pole. Sarah Jane is called in to investigate. Scanning, Sarah Jane receives detections of alien energy. She then sees one of the faces' eyes on the pole glow orange. Meanwhile, Sky at school notices how Sarah Jane and Rani hate Clyde but cannot explain their change of attitude.

Sarah Jane suddenly tears up in the attic although she does not know why. The same thing occurs to Rani later in the car, as well as to Clyde's mother when Sky visits her. All of them feel as if they are missing a big part of their life.

Clyde and Ellie visits Mystic Mags, a psychic, who tells them the Night Dragon is coming and that it will take one of them. She also foresees something else that has put a mark on Clyde, a curse.

The totem pole back at the museum begins to cause the weather to rain and thunder heavily as the faces begins to become alive. Within the rain, Clyde and Ellie connect with each other, keeping themselves warm by burning The Silver Bullet.

Back in the attic, Sarah Jane and Rani share their feelings of distress. Sky, after being informed that Hetocumtek is getting stronger, guesses that Clyde activated the warrior god when he receives a splinter, creating the curse. She realizes that as long as Clyde is out in the streets, the alien warrior god will get stronger. Sky also sees that his name is the key to stopping Hetocumtek. She manages to convince Sarah Jane and Rani to say his name repeatedly to break the curse upon them.

Clyde draws a portrait of Ellie and shows it to her. She then kisses him and tells him she will be back, leaving to get coffee. Sarah Jane and the gang arrive, bringing Clyde to the attic, though it was without choice. There, Mr Smith transports the totem pole to the attic where it begins to fight back, creating lightning and destruction. Clyde, holding onto the pole, shouts, "My name is Clyde Langer!" disintegrating the pole.

Clyde, welcomed back by his friends and family, tries to search for Ellie. He asks many people only to find they do not know where or who she is. Clyde suggests they use Mr Smith to track her, but Rani points out her name on a sign, indicating that Ellie took the name. A man there saw Ellie board a truck named "Night Dragon Haulage". He explains that the truck driver occasionally would drive some people to other places for a better life. At night in his room, Clyde reminisces about Ellie as he stares at his portrait of her.

Continuity

In episode one, Clyde is holding a copy of a text book titled 'The French Revolution'. Susan Foreman leaves a book about the French Revolution on her desk in Barbara Wright's classroom in the Doctor Who episode 'An Unearthly Child' (1963). A book of the same name is also found by Ace in 'Remembrance of the Daleks' (1988).

Cast Notes

• Jocelyn Jee Esien previously appeared as Carla Langer in "The Mark of the Berserker" and "The Empty Planet".
• Angela Pleasence appeared in the Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code" as Elizabeth I.
• Sara Houghton is the daughter of Doctor Who writer Don Houghton.

Broadcast

The first part was broadcast on Monday 11 October 2011 on CBBC while the second was broadcast on the following day, Tuesday 12 October 2011, on CBBC. The two parts were then again broadcast on Thursday 17 November and Friday 18 November 2011 on BBC One and for the first time in HD on BBC One HD.

References

External links

• The Curse of Clyde Langer on TARDIS Data Core, an external wiki
• "The Curse of Clyde Langer: Part 1" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Curse of Clyde Langer: Part 2" at the Internet Movie Database