Infection (Babylon 5)

"Infection"
Babylon 5 episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 4
Directed by	Richard Compton
Written by	J. Michael Straczynski
Production code	101
Original air date	18 February 1994
Guest stars
David McCallum (Dr. Vance Hendricks) Marshall Teague (Nelson Drake)
Episode chronology
← Previous "Born to the Purple" Next → "The Parliament of Dreams"
List of Babylon 5 episodes

"Infection" is an episode from the first season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

Synopsis

A-Plot

Dr. Vance Hendricks brings to Babylon 5 a deadly weapon from a long-dead civilization that is revived and wreaks havoc on the station.

The artifacts are confiscated by EarthForce Bioweapons Division.

B-Plot

An ISN reporter attempts to interview Commander Sinclair, in the end succeeding, but not without some difficulty.

Arc significance

• "Infection" marks the first mention of Interplanetary Expeditions, or IPX, an archaeological research corporation with ties to secret government projects and weapons research. The company is featured prominently in the third season episode "Messages from Earth."
• Garibaldi has been fired from 5 different jobs for "unspecified personal problems". His assignment on Babylon 5 is probably his last shot in Earth Force.
• The Vorlons have technology based on organic systems, and there is a strong hint that the Minbari do as well.
• Towards the end of the episode, Garibaldi comments on Sinclair's rash bravery, which seemed common among veterans of the Earth-Minbari War. He notes, "I think they're looking for something worth dying for because it's easier than finding something worth living for." This line of thinking is repeated by Lorien in the Season 4 episode Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?
• A growing anti-alien sentiment among humans is first mentioned in this episode.
• The Ikarran civilization that produced the technology central to the plot died off approximately 1000 years prior to the episode. This puts the extinction of the Ikarrans at roughly the same time as the previous Shadow War and the time of Valen. Dr. Franklin reveals that the Ikarrans faced a series of attacks, each more devastating than the previous one, and that the weapons found on the planet were their attempt to fend off the last attack, 1000 years prior. The Shadows believed in starting wars in order to promote evolution, so it is likely that these attacks came, either directly or indirectly, from the Shadows.
• In the an interview for ISN, Sinclair notes that there will come a time when the Earth's Sun will grow cold and go out leaving the only hope for humanity and the preservation of human history is to go to the stars. This foreshadows the events of "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" wherein Humans abandon Earth for the Vorlon homeworld complete with the whole of human knowledge. He specifically states that it will happen if "not in a hundred years, or a thousand years or a million years". The timeline for TDFS has humans leaving earth one million years after the events depicted in the series.

Production details

• "Infection" was the first regular episode of Babylon 5 to be filmed. Coincidentally, guest star Marshall R. Teague also appeared in "Objects at Rest", the final episode of the series to be filmed, in which he played Ta'Lon.
• A reference to Star Trek technical consultant Michael Okuda can be seen when a medical scan of the alien artefact shows "Okudazin" as one of the contents. Okuda himself inserted many in jokes into the LCARS computer displays for Star Trek referencing other science fiction franchises.

Notes

• This episode is often cited as the weakest episode of the series.

Memorable quotes

• You forgot the first rule of a fanatic: when you become obsessed with the enemy, you become the enemy. - Michael O'Hare as "Jeffrey Sinclair"

External links

• Infection at The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5
• Infection at Babylon 5 Episode Guide