| For Jake's father in the TV series, see Greg |
- "He was a good guy, my dad. Not just because he was my dad. Because he was a good person. Because he did his work as well as he knew how and wasn't a jerk to the people around him. That doesn't make you a saint or anything, but I guess when I think about it, that's what I hope I'll do when I'm older: treat my family right, do my job well, not be a jerk to the people I meet."
- ―Jake[src]
Dr. Steve Berenson is the father of Tom and Jake, the husband of Jean, brother of Dan, and paternal uncle to Rachel.
Biography
Family and Career
Steve Berenson lived in California[6] and had a brother named Dan.[7][5] The brothers were Jewish.[8] Steve became a pediatricia[5] and married a woman named Jean,[1] who was a writer and with whom he had two sons, Tom and Jake,[4] born in 1981[note 1] and 1984[note 2] respectively. The family lived in a nice neighborhood in the suburbs.[9]
One Monday night in 1997,[note 3] Steve came home after work and sat downt to enjoy a family dinner. When Jean asked Jake where he had been all afternoon and evening, to which Jake responded that he'd been hanging out with Marco, Steve told his wife that there was no point asking since Jake would always give the same response. Jake then asked his father what he had done at work that day, prompting Steve to wink and declare that he had just hung out, causing the family to laugh. Steve then listened as Tom declined to play basketball with Jake citing other commitments, to which Steve remarked that as a doctor he believed that Tom intended to spend time with a girl.[4]
On another Saturday morning, Steve and Jean left their home in the morning to go play tennis. However, Steve twisted his ankle early on, causing the pair to return home. Jean then went into Jake's room to retrieve an ACE bandage to wrap around his leg as they went into their bedroom. That night, Steve ordered dinner for the family from Gourmet Express, placing an order for broiled chicken, potatoes; he also ordered cheesecake for dinner from Santorini's, and had the food delivered to the house. When the food arrived, Steve microwaved the sauce and sat down with his wife and Jake at the dinner table, where he put his injured leg up on a stool. As they ate, Tom arrived and asked about Steve's leg, and Steve explained how he had twisted his ankle. Tom informed his family that he had already eaten barbecue at The Sharing as Jean remarked that Steve had "cooked dinner" for them by ordering delivery, to which Steve joked that microwaving the sauce counted as cooking. Tom retorted that he was glad he ate at The Sharing as it was better than Steve's food, and Steve jokingly told Tom that he would not get to have any cheesecake from Santorini's. Jake then insulted Tom's intelligence, prompting Tom to throw a dinner roll at Jake, which Jake caught. Steve reprimanded them, claiming that throwing food was undignified before Jake commented that Tom's reflexes had become slower ever since he had joined The Sharing. When Tom merely glared at Jake in response, both Steve and Jean felt an uncomfortable silence and tried to fill it before Jake then excused himself for dinner. Later that night, Steve sat in front of the television with his family as they had some cheesecake.
A week later, Steve and Jean were stunned when Jake started eating a lot of food and playing with his words as he spoke. Jake did this for the next few nights as well, eating six pieces of chicken along with corn and potatoes while also eating a pie meant for the whole family. However, on Tuesday night, Steve and Jean noticed that Jake had reverted back to his normal behavior. Steve and Jean shared a concerned look, and Steve brought up Jake's recent eating habits.[10] Due to Jake's behavior, Steve and Jean took Jake to a psychiatrist.[11] For about a month, Steve was asked by Jean to clean out the garage, although Steve never got around to it. One Saturday night, Jake returned home around midnight and found Steve and Jean waiting for him, as they were worried. Jake was promptly grounded for two weeks with no television or Sega, along with having to take out the trash, wash all the dishes, and to be home by 5 P.M. for those weeks; in addition, Jake was also tasked with cleaning out the garage. The next day, on Sunday, Jean left the house when Jake's best friend Marco showed up to see Jake. Steve informed Marco about Jake's grounding, but told Marco that if Jake cleaned out the garage, he would allow Jake to leave the house to hang out with Marco.[12]
Pay-Per-View Fight
To be added
Conflict with Tom
Work Day
- "My dad's never been my doctor. I go to one of his partners. You know, it'd be creepy otherwise. I'd always thought it was pretty cool that he was a doctor. But I guess I hadn't really thought much about it. On this day, though, there wasn't much else to focus on. So I focused on my dad. Always nice. Always gentle. Joking with the kids and reassuring the moms and dads. Staying calm while the littler kids screamed bloody murder and vibrated the very walls."
- ―Jake[src]
To be added
Infested
- "Jake's parents, Jean and Steve, didn't make it out in time. Their chances of escape were slim from the beginning. See, Jake's older brother, Tom, has been a human-Controller since the early days of the invasion. Even with the enemy under his own roof, Jake had managed to protect his parents from the Yeerks. And from their own son, their own first child. Because Tom wouldn't have hesitated to kill either one of his parents if the Yeerk mission required their deaths. Jake had done an almost superhuman job of protecting his parents. Both from death and a fate worse than death. Infestation. Until the last time. When the Yeerks finally took them."
- ―Cassie[src]
After the Yeerk Empire discovered that Animorphs were mostly humans and not all Andalite bandits, and managed to discover their identities as well, the Animorphs had to evacuate their families. While the Animorphs were collecting Cassie's and Rachel's families to relocated to the Hork-Bajir valley, the Yeerks captured and infested Jake's parents.[3]
Freedom
Following the end of the Andalite-Human-Yeerk War, Steve and Jean were freed from Yeerk control. Jake moved back home with them, although by 2003 he had moved out.[6]
Personality
To be added
Appearances
- The Invasion
- The Visitor (mentioned)
- The Predator (mentioned)
- The Capture
- The Andalite's Gift (mentioned)
- The Alien (mentioned)
- The Secret (indirectly mentioned)
- The Forgotten
- The Conspiracy
- The Diversion
- The Ultimate (mentioned)
- The Beginning (mentioned)
Trivia
- In the TV series, Steve is named Greg.
- Steve is also called Greg in earlier promotional items, such as the Animorphs Alliance handbook, and Jake's Animorphs ID card.
- Jake's father is mentioned many times in the series, but he is not named until The Ultimate.
- In Elfangor's Secret, it is revealed that he is Jewish.
- Steve often fell asleep while watching television after dinner.[11]
Gallery
.jpg "Berenson Residence (GN6).jpg (1.16 MB)")
Notes
- ↑ #1: The Invasion reveals Tom is in high school and is of legal driving age, putting his age at 16 at the minimum. In Megamorphs #4: Back to Before, set at the same time as #1, Jake says Tom would be grounded for “years” until his 18th birthday, meaning Tom is not 17 yet; as such, his age would be 16 during #1. As the first book is set in 1997, this puts his birth year as 1981.
- ↑ The Andalite Chronicles takes place in 1976 and states it is 21 years before Elfangor met the Animorphs, meaning the Animorphs met Elfangor in 1997. In #53: The Answer, Jake states they were 13 when they met Elfangor, placing their year of birth as 1984.
- ↑ The Andalite Chronicles explicitly states that it is set 21 years before Elfangor met the Animorphs and 10 years after the Yeerk exodus, which The Hork-Bajir Chronicles explicitly reveals to be in 1966. This sets The Andalite Chronicles in 1976, which then places the events of #1: The Invasion in 1997.