GUEST STARS
W. Morgan Sheppard – Soul Hunter
John Snyder – Soul Hunter #2
Sheppard would return as the Narn warmaster "G’Sten" in "The Long, Twilight Struggle". John Snyder would also reappear as smarmy labor negotiator "Orin Zento" in "By Any Means Necessary".
WATCH OUT FOR:
* The red "SECURTY" sign as the Soul Hunter sneaks up on yet another hapless security officer. That’s not a mistake – many of the station's signs use a simplified spelling to make reading easier for the aliens on board.
ANALYSIS
Enter Stephen Franklin. Dr. Kyle’s replacement recycles most of the previous doctor’s backstory – including a free hand with stimulants and a history of hitchhiking on starships – but Richard Biggs has a chemistry with the other actors that Johnny Sekka
.
Franklin doesn’t get out of Medlab much in the first half of the series, though Straczynski sends him adventuring later. He gets his share of screen time, though; the "last, best hope for peace" is a dangerous place, and a constant stream of the wounded and dying rolls through Franklin’s door.
Straczynski particularly liked sticking Franklin in the more mystical storylines. The doctor is so rational – and stubborn – that conflict is sure to result when he encounters the unexplainable.
Soul man
The unexplainable concept here is the existence of immortal souls. The Soul Hunter says the death of the body destroys souls, but that they can be preserved. Delenn insists that souls mingle and reincarnate themselves after death. Franklin thinks the whole thing is hogwash.
Straczynski does an impressive job of balancing all three sides of the argument [as Kosh will tell us, understanding is, after all, a three-edged sword]. At the same time, he sneaks in a set-up for future episodes.
Never mind Dukhat and the mystery of "Satai" Delenn -- although there’s a double meaning in Sinclair’s comment that "there’s always time" to dig deeper. By exposing us to Minbari beliefs, Straczynski supplies the motivation for most of their otherwise arbitrarily "mysterious" behavior.
The best part about that motivation is that it’s not necessarily based on truth. The Minbari may or may not be right about the nature of souls in the B5 universe, but their beliefs lead them to misinterpret at least one fact about Jeffrey Sinclair.
Making religious beliefs an integral part of Babylon 5’s story was revolutionary TV science fiction. But basing an important plot point – and the survival of the human race – on an error caused by a belief? That’s style.
COMING UP NEXT
Londo gets smoochies in "Born to the Purple".
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