Contents: Overview - Backplot - Questions - Analysis - Notes - JMS

Overview

The outbreak of a fatal disease among the Markab population prompts a panic on the station; Dr. Franklin races against time to find a cure.

Sub-genre: Drama
P5 Rating: 7.85

Production number: 218
Original air date: May 24, 1995

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by Kevin Cremin

Backplot

• The Minbari expect Valen, the holy figure who founded the Grey Council a thousand years ago (perhaps during the last conflict with the Shadows) to return some day -- or at least, they have a religious ceremony suggesting so.
• A deadly virus appeared on an isolated island on the Markab homeworld several hundred years ago, wiping the entire population out. The inhabitants of the island were known for what was widely considered sinful behavior, and the virus came to be viewed as divine retribution by the Markab.
• Dr. Franklin visited the Markab homeworld once while he was hitchhiking on starships in his youth.
• Keffer has been taking trips into hyperspace in his spare time, looking for the mysterious ship (a Shadow ship) he saw in "A Distant Star."
• When Delenn was a small child, she was separated from her parents in an unfamiliar Minbari city. Eventually she found refuge in an old, apparently unused, temple, where she waited for hours. Then, just before her parents found her, she saw a vision of a figure, bathed in light, who told her, "I will not allow my little ones to come to harm in this place."

Unanswered Questions

• Was the virus created artificially? If so, who did it and why? (See Analysis)
• How many Markab are still alive?
• What's going on between Delenn and Sheridan?
• Will someone lay claim to the dead Markab worlds? Who?
• Was Delenn's story about the temple true, or just a story to comfort the lost Markab child? If true, who or what appeared before her? (See jms speaks)
• Will the disease spread among the Pak'ma'ra as well, or will Franklin's treatment stop it from wiping them out?

Analysis

• This episode's plague theme meshes with the story and ritual practice of Passover. The Minbari dinnner ceremony Sheridan, Delenn, and Lennier participate in is a ritualized meal, like Passover: foods must be eaten in a particular order, and a table setting is left for a revered historical figure (Elijah, Valen) who is supposed to return some day. As the Markabs enter the de facto "quarantine" chamber, the Markab ambassador suggests that if they pray and are pure, the plague will "pass over" them -- a parallel with the original passover story, where a certain sign on the house door made a plague attacking the Egyptians pass over the Jews. Franklin's discussion of the Black Death also mentions how Jews were unjustly accused of spreading the infection.

• Franklin appears to have forgotten about the alien healing device he acquired in "The Quality of Mercy" and used on Garibaldi in "Revelations," which he could have used to help his friend and thus increase the chance of finding a real cure. Or perhaps he knows enough about it now to know that it wouldn't have worked on plague victims for some reason. (Obviously it wouldn't have been of much use to the Markab population in general, since it only works on one person at a time and only with a donor.)

• Babylon 5's crew may have inadvertently helped the disease spread when they gathered all the Markab for blood tests; presumably some of the subjects would have remained in their quarters if they hadn't been dragged out and tested in a room full of possible carriers.

• Sheridan presumably ordered Keffer to stop his expeditions because he suspects Keffer's mystery ship is a Shadow vessel. Will he let Keffer in on that information, or will he continue to keep it to himself and simply let the order stand?

• Franklin's frequent use of stims to stay awake while a medical crisis is going on (cf. "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum") may spell big trouble for him if he keeps it up. Doctors on stims are more likely to make mistakes (cf. Dr. Rosen in "The Quality of Mercy") and it appears the Earth medical community doesn't look kindly on the practice of doctors drugging themselves to stay awake -- Dr. Rosen lost her medical license as a result.

  Whatever his good intentions, his obsession with solving everything on his own may lead him into a regrettable situation down the road. There isn't yet enough evidence to show that he's actually addicted to the stims, though. (See jms speaks)

• It's been argued that the Markab did die for their sins -- specifically, the sin of pride, by believing that they could keep the disease to themselves and not involve any outsiders. Had Franklin learned of the disease when it first hit the station, he (or another non-Markab doctor) might well have been able to save a billion lives.

• Delenn seems to be coming apart at the seams in many ways, probably as a result of being made a pariah among her people. If she's telling the truth, or at least part of the truth, about undergoing her change to help draw humans and Minbari closer together (cf. "Revelations") it must be frustrating in the extreme to be reviled by her own kind, and resented by many humans (cf. "And Now For a Word.") Especially if she believes that she's special somehow, a unique player in an immense drama (cf. "Babylon Squared.") This, in combination with the influence of her new biology, may explain why she's reaching out to Sheridan now; he at least seems to respect her and relate to her as an equal, and she probably trusts him a lot more now that she sees he can be trusted with one of her biggest secrets (cf. "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum.")

  Or, of course, she could be planning something. She's been trying to get closer to Sheridan for quite some time (cf. "A Race Through Dark Places") and this could simply be the next step.

• On a similar note, being locked in a room and helplessly watching thousands of people die all around can't be good for Delenn's emotional stability. It remains to be seen if this will have an impact on her personality; for many people it would be a profound shock.

• But Sheridan's statement that Delenn wouldn't be able to come back out if she entered the contaminated area doesn't make sense, given that the plague was known to be airborne; she'd be exposed to it either way, given that the station's air is recycled (as stated in the episode.) Presumably he was just trying to keep her from going in.

• The timing of the plague's reappearance, with all the other events going on, is suspicious. Of course, it might be a simple coincidence, as Franklin suspects, just a dormant disease whose time has come. But another interpretation is that the outbreak on the Markab island centuries earlier was an early biological warfare test on an isolated population, and the events in this episode were the real attack. If that's true, who is responsible, and do they have any connection with the approaching Great War?

  Note that the Markab did have some contact with the Shadows last time they rose up, as evidenced by the Markab ambassador's speech in "The Long Dark" -- perhaps someone (not necessarily the Shadows; maybe the man at the bar was right) didn't want the Markab around to participate this time.

• Franklin's cure protects possible victims against attack, rather than eliminating the disease. B5, with its recycled air supply, now permanently carries the disease, which is dangerous to species with yellow and green blood-cells (or cells that perform a similar function, namely the manufacture of certain neurotransmitters) and might well mutate to endanger others. This could affect the willingness of alien groups to use the station in the future. Even species not vulnerable to the disease might keep away just to be safe.

• When Sheridan wakes up from his nap in Delenn's quarters, he mumbles, "In the memory of the nine and the one." Presumably the nine refers to the Grey Council, and the one refers either to Valen or to The One, as mentioned in "Babylon Squared." There's also an echo of the story told in the Minbari ceremony in "The Parliament of Dreams."

Notes

• This episode features a previously unseen alien (or at least, a humanoid who's presumably alien) wearing a suit with an elaborate helmet. The helmet bears a striking resemblance to the mask of Morpheus, the King of Dreams, from Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" comic book. As "Sandman" is one of JMS's favorite comics, this may be an intentional homage.
• "Markab" is Arabic for "boat."

jms speaks

• "Confessions" isn't per se a wham episode, for instance, but it does have some very sharp turns, and it's an extremely intense episode on a par with "Believers." It makes no compromises and takes no prisoners, and I imagine it'll stir up about as much debate as did "Believers," if not more. When we did playback after doing the audio mix a few days ago, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

• I would also point out that, upon returning from the Moon, Apollo astronauts were quarantined routinely in case any virus might have been encountered; also, Mars probes today are carefully sterilized prior to launch to prevent any virus from our ecosystem interacting with anything that might be there. Further, there have been numerous hearings within NASA, and in at least one case in the Senate Science Subcommittee, in which biologists and scientists have expressed concern about the possibility of viral contamination from new species. So anyone who says this isn't possible simply isn't reading the literature.

• Tom, we *do* have a medical/biological advisor, whose primary comment on the notion that a virus couldn't pass between one species and another..."We have yet to contact one other alien life form to make an analysis. We do not know for a fact that their biology will be radically different than our own. Until we actually make contact, it's as likely as not." A biologist works from what's known; unless you've got a specimen of alien life somewhere and aren't showing it to anyone, or you're simply making a guess, which is neither more nor less correct until we have something testable in our hands.

• I will not defend the notion that the episode stated that all Americans felt that AIDS was a penalty from god because it never said that. Ever. In any way, manner, shape or form. The problem is that some people are so caught up in the current situation that they lose all sense of perspective. Fact is, most people DID think that the Black Death was a punishment from God, or the work of the devil, as Franklin says. The Markabs had a similar belief. Nowhere was that applied in dialogue to humans or the AIDS situation.

  The whole point of the episode is NOT political; it says that if you make a disease political on either side, you're gonna die. You have to set aside all that crap and just Deal With The Problem. The only "side" this episode took was in advocating compassion for those afflicted.

  I have enough just dealing with what's actually *in* my series; don't compound the problem by adding things that you saw only in your own head, and which exist nowhere in dialogue or in the story. You are adding the template of your own beliefs as an overlay, and seeing this story through it. That ain't my problem. If you see this disease as political, that's your lookout. This show says that ANY attempt to politicize a disease is species-dangerous thinking. Period.

• On one level, this does indicate that we really *are* crazy over here at B5. Here we developed this race for nearly two years. Developed their culture. Mentioned them prominently just last episode. Had them speak before the full Council (in "Long Dark"). Spent substantial amounts of money making them the biggest single alien group we've got (some of the group shots had 40-50 or more Markabs, all in full prosthetics and full costume)...and now, never to be seen again.

  It couldn't be a race we've never seen before, not if it was to have the impact I wanted. It had to be a group that's been with us from the start.

  In Council scenes for the balance of the season, the Markab seat remains empty.

• "No disease in human history is 100% fatal."

  Not correct. The Black Death was fatal to everyone infected by it. It was not, as Drafa, 100% contagious, but it *was* about 90% contagious. The Black Death wiped out *three-quarters of the entire European population*. (Editor's note: not quite true; three-quarters of the population in some areas was wiped out, but the total toll was closer to one quarter -- still pretty devastating. The mortality rate was high, but some people survived and were immune thereafter. It also hit Africa and Asia.)

  Roll that around for a while. Three-quarters.

  The only thing that saved areas of Europe was that there wasn't as much travel then as today between countries; it was reserved for those with enough money to afford it, which were very few. There were also fewer means of entry; a river and a bridge closed to refugees was often enough to keep people out. There is now MUCH freer travel. Had there been freer travel in the 14th century, it's entirely possible that the entire European population might have been completely eradicated, with those few who might've been immune dying from associated diseases, hunger and other problems caused by the presence of the disease.

  One person I spoke with at the CDC (Center for Disease Control) said that, hypothetically speaking, the sudden eruption of a disease like this is possible. How likely depends on various circumstances. There are, for instance, regions in the Amazon and South America where certain kinds of plant and animal life can only be found; and those specific lifeforms can transfer diseases to humans...diseases that literally melt the flesh off your body, or in another case, cause worm-like infestations to burst through the skin covering the entire body. (Let me tell you, researching this was just a whole lotta laughs.) They are *highly* contagious. The only thing that has (so far) prevented a massive outbreak is the fact that by the time you can generally get OUT of these remote areas...you're dead.

  A particularly aggressive disease could perform very much like what is described in the episode.

• Any time there's a big disease, we get Stupid. The same exact thing happened with the Black Plague, as was mentioned in the episode...instead of blaming gays, the leaders of the time blamed jews and lepers. The whole *point* is to drop politics and scapegoating whichEVER disease it happens to be next...and there is always a next...and focus on the problem: the disease.

• There would've been a very few on deep space patrols, or on isolated worlds that would've survived, yes, as was indicated in the narration at the close of the episode, but you're talking about very, very small numbers. The race is still effectively dead.

• What Colin misses, obviously, is that not *all* of the markabs are "mindless religious fanatics," in that Dr. Lazarenn was not one, but that was mainly because he had long been exposed to human/outsider ideas, which most of his reclusive people are not.

  Second, y'know, I get asked a lot, "Give us ALIEN aliens." So I do. And then I get gigged because they don't act like we'd expect humans to act. Sometimes I just throw up my hands....

• You have to listen a little closer. The dormancy period is several days to several weeks, as Franklin says; once the disease *comes out of dormancy*, then it kills within about a day.

• I don't think his behavior was boorish at all. After a very long day, in which (he stated) he hadn't eaten a thing, he sits down in a cross legged position for (if you track the time in the story) 3-5 *hours*, alternately eating and meditating in a small, quiet room...who *wouldn't* fall asleep?

• The fighters aren't *inexpensive*, but not hideously costly either. Also, the pilots like to spend as much time out on patrol as possible, to garner more flight pay. Keffer's squad was already out earlier (as noted by Sheridan); Keffer chose to stay out a little longer doing a bit of reconnaisance. Most of the hassle is in prepping the ship for launch, maintainance and so on; once it's out, it's just a matter of a bit more fuel. If he left *strictly* for this purpose, then yeah, they'd nail his butt to the flight deck. But since he was out anyway, it's not as big an issue.

• (Delenn's childhood experience)
  Well, it's about TIME somebody noticed that little exchange in "Confessions and Lamentations." Sometimes I stick stuff so obviously in the foreground that I'm afraid it's going to be too blatant, and then nobody seems to notice it, looking instead at the tiny stuff in the background.

  Unfortunately, all I can say for now is that it is significant to Delenn's character and growth, and her sense of being special, and called into the religious caste.

• We joked a few times about having a mass burial for the Markab prosthetics and costumes behind the stage....

• A man is shot by a gun. Now, you can either do a story about the guy and his life up to the moment he was shot and killed, or you can do a story about the people who are affected by his death. The former story ends kinda fast. But both are perfectly valid. The main thrust is how this story AFFECTS our main characters. Would they have been more affected if it were the Drazi rather than the Markabs? No. It would've been just the same. My job is not to sit here and say, "Hmm ... do I think audience members like the Drazi or the Markabs more?" and thus base my decision based on that. I write my stories based on what's right for the story, period. In this case, I knew it had to be one of the League races, and in particular, those prosthetics capable of expressing broad ranges of emotion, potentially sympathetic characters. The instantly cut out the pak'ma'ra as primary characters. I considered the Drazi, but my sense was that the prosthetics couldn't convey the depth of emotion I needed. Finally, that led me to the Markabs.

  Enough terrible things happened, and continue to happen, to our major races; best to give them a break and see how they react when it's someone else.

• Delenn and Lennier's exchange after Sheridan leaves
  Isn't it more fun to leave the piece untranslated? Shouldn't some things be left to the imagination?

• Plague stories are trendy these days.
  Next time I will try and locate every other producer in town and see what they plan to produce, so I can plan accordingly. When I wrote the episode, Outbreak hadn't been promoted yet or known about, Voyager hadn't aired, ER hadn't told me what they were going to do ...if I'd known there would be such a glut...well, I probably would've done so anyway, because this isn't so much about the plague and saying its' dangerous, but about our attitudes when we are confronted by this, which really hasn't been dealt with that much in SF. (And I'm sorry, but don't even *try* to bring the Voyager story into this; the ship is threatened by a cheese contamination? I almost fell off my chair.)

• What you also have to do is step back for a moment and remember that the dinner began prior to Keffer and the rest leaving B5; and was ending about the time they got back. Add up the time indicated, and you've got a ritual that has gone on for at LEAST 3-4 hours now, probably closer to 5-6; seated in a small room, legs crossed, after what was almost certainly a busy day. Show me somebody who WOULDN'T doze off after a while.

• The alien with a breathing apparatus a "Sandman" reference?
  It's mainly an extrapolation on an alien breather based on WW II style gas masks.

• Franklin's use of stims here and in "Z'ha'dum;" their disastrous consequences for Dr. Rosen in QoM
  Ah, about time; I was wondering when someone would get around to remembering "Quality of Mercy" in this....

• The use of markabs was definitely NOT a reference to Scientology in any way, manner, shape or form.

• There is absolutely, positively, NO scientology link or reference in the name markabs. I find the organization generally abhorrent.

• I had no idea that scientologists used an alien group called Markab, and frankly would've changed it if I had known.

• Marcabs had warships, though not a lot of them.

Last update: October 29, 1996