Plot Synopsis:
Dr. Vance Hendricks, an old professor of Dr. Franklin's, arrives on Babylon 5 to offer Dr. Franklin the chance to pursue adventure. The adventure in question turns out to be the examination of a collection of artifacts from an archeological dig on Ikarra VII - artifacts that are smuggled on board by Dr. Hendricks' assistant Nelson Drake, who kills a Babylon 5 customs agent with a hand-held defibrillator to avoid detection. When Dr. Franklin runs one of the artifacts through his medical scanner, he discovers, to his amazement, that the item is organic. Dr. Hendricks entices Dr. Franklin to assist him further with talk of the fame they will garner for cracking the secret of organic technology. Hendricks wants to sell any discoveries they make to a corporation back on Earth; Franklin is very resistant to this idea, but he continues to help his old mentor.
In the meantime, while examining one of the artifacts, Nelson Drake is zapped by a bolt of energy and he starts to undergo a metamorphosis. Eventually, enough of the organic technology melds with Drake to form a super weapon. Drake attacks Franklin in the Med Lab, then, later, vaporizes a group of civilians in the corridor. Franklin and Hendricks examine the artifacts for any clues as to the purpose of the weapon and ultimately discover that it was created by a group of xenophobic Ikarrans who had Nazi-like ideas about racial purity. According to the data encoded in one of the artifacts, the weapon bonded with Drake was actually responsible for the extinction of the entire Ikarran civilization, as the weapon was programmed with a ridiculously stringent standard for purity - a standard not even the Ikarrans could match.
Sinclair orders Command and Control to prepare to depressurize the docking bay. Meanwhile, he lures the weaponized Drake into the bay by taunting him about the destruction of the Ikarran civilization. The personality matrix of the weapon looks into Drake's mind, discovers that what Sinclair is saying is true, and murders itself in grief, leaving a naked - and normal - Drake behind.
After the weapon is destroyed, Drake's role in the murder of the customs agent is discovered, and Franklin confronts Hendricks. Hendricks begs Franklin not to turn him in, promising him a share in the profits Hendricks will receive if he delivers the remaining artifacts to the corporate group he works for, but Franklin notifies Security, and Hendricks is apprehended. This, however, does not conclude the incident, as Franklin is then ordered to turn over the artifacts to Earth Force's bioweapons division. Given the anti-alien sentiment now brewing on Earth, Franklin fears this is an indication that Earth might be heading the way of the Ikarrans.
Also, throughout this episode, a reporter from ISN lurks about and is a general nuisance.
Overall: 4.7 - You can hear the clunk of this episode from quite a distance.
Writing: 5
I love this show, but it's hard to avoid the fact that its early episodes are not much to write home about. This particular episode deserves a tiny bit of credit for setting up the fascistic turn of the government on Earth, but outside of this one meager arc-related morsel, Infection is nothing but a lame Monster-of-the-Week feature cluttered with a number of risible cliches. Perhaps the most egregious of said cliches is the manner in which Drake is neutralized: Sinclair talks to the weapon and convinces it that it deserves to be destroyed, a maneuver that JMS has rather clumsily stolen from the TOS playbook. Fortunately, in later episodes, JMS evinces a little more creativity.
Acting: 4
This episode would've received an average score on the performance rubric if not for the heavily melodramatic acting on the part of both Michael O'Hare and Marshall Teague in the climax. When Drake, under the influence of the weapon, falls to his knees and cries out for forgiveness, I don't think I'm supposed to burst into laughter - but that's what happens. Trust me - it's really, really bad.
Message: 5
There's one nice moment in this episode - highlighted below - that merits some praise: at the end, Sinclair defends the technophile's dreams of space travel by pointing out, correctly, that Earth will one day cease to be habitable and that colonizing space may be the key to our survival. I couldn't agree more. As a matter of fact, I'm with some of Dad's favorite authors here - let's colonize every piece of rock that's even remotely hospitable and strip-mine the rest. Viva space imperialism!
Unfortunately, the above moment is kind of tacked on without rhyme or reason - and the anti-bigotry message that dominates the rest of the episode is insultingly unsubtle - we're talking Let That Be Your Last Battlefield levels of unsubtlety. "None of us are 'pure'!" Clonk! "If you obsess about the enemy, you eventually become the enemy!" Bonk! "What if we're going the way of the Ikarrans?" Thwap! OW! PUT DOWN THAT TWO-BY-FOUR, JMS!
Highlights:
IVANOVA: Oh, just a reminder: your interview is scheduled for 1100 tomorrow.
SINCLAIR: (unenthusiastic) Swell.
GARIBALDI: Which reminds me: she's waiting for me in the Zocalo.
(Sinclair smirks.)
GARIBALDI: It'll be fun, so why are you ducking her?
SINCLAIR: The last time I gave an interview, they told me to just relax and say what I really felt. Ten minutes after the broadcast, I got transferred to an outpost so far off the star maps you couldn't find it with a hunting dog and a Ouija board. (LOL!)
HENDRICKS: Stephen? Stephen, there's a Martian war machine parked outside. They'd like to have a word with you about the common cold.
FRANKLIN: (is too absorbed in his work to notice what Hendricks just said) Tell them to make an appointment. (I can certainly appreciate a War of the Worlds joke!)
CRAMER: In doing some research, I've come across some rumors surrounding your record prior to coming to Babylon 5 - that you were fired five times for unspecified personal problems and that this is your last chance to make good. Would care to comment on any of that?
GARIBALDI: I'd rather have my tonsils taken out through my ears. (Ha!)
CRAMER: Commander - I understand there's a problem. Some kind of attack?
SINCLAIR: Ms. Cramer, you are in a secure area. You will leave, and you will leave now.
CRAMER: This is news - and the people have a right to know.
SINCLAIR: And you have the right to spend the next two days in the brig. Lieutenant Commander, I want this weapon triangulated.
IVANOVA: Confirmed.
SINCLAIR: Relay the date to Security. I want this thing pinned down to within ten feet.
IVANOVA: Coming up now.
CRAMER: Commander -
(Ivanova moves to stop Ms. Cramer.)
IVANOVA: Don't. You're too young to experience that much pain. (LOL! Journalists do not get a very favorable reception on this show, that's for sure.)
CRAMER: So, Commander - after all you've just gone through, I have to ask you the same question a lot of people back home are asking about space these days: is it worth it? Should we just pull back, forget the whole thing as a bad idea, and take care of our own problems at home?
SINCLAIR: No. We have to stay here. And there's a simple reason why. Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, or genetics and you'll get ten different answers. But there's one thing that every scientist on the planet agrees on: whether it happens in a 100 years, a 1000 years, or a million years, eventually our sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe, Lao-Tzu, and Einstein... and Morobuto and Buddy Holly and Aristophanes... and all of this... all of this... was for nothing... unless we go to the stars. (I don't know if I agree with all of JMS's choices re: who represents the best humanity has to offer, but as noted above, I do agree with the sentiment wholeheartedly.)
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