1.3 "Born to the Purple" & 1.4 "Infection"

Once again we get a crisis with one of the diplomats and strangers coming on board Babylon 5 and causing trouble, a rather standard mix from the first season of the series:

Episode 3, "Born to the Purple" (Written by Larry DiTillio, Aired February 9, 1994) finds Londo (Peter Jurasik) being taken in my a beautiful bald woman, Adira Tyree (Fabiana Udenio), who is really a slave who has been ordered to seduce the Centauri ambassador by her master, Trakis (Clive Revill). The target are Londo's personal computer files with all sorts of sensitive personal and political information. Meanwhile, Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) is tracking down someone who is repeatedly using a restricted communications channel without authorization. Of course the attraction here is watching Londo get himself in and out of this predicament, which involves getting some help, albeit unintended, from an unexpected quarter.

This episode has a couple of interesting moments with regards to a couple of female characters who have been pretty much in the background so far on this series. One is with the station's resident telepath, Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson), who comes up with a pretty good way of getting a vital piece of information, and the other is with Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian), who has not really been given anything of substance to do in the series to this point and who is at least given a subplot that actually focuses on her character.

Episode #4, "Infection" (Written by J. Michael Stracyznski, Aired February 18, 1994) is clearly disdained by most fans of "Babylon 5" and it is easy to see why, because for anyone weaned on "Star Trek" there is a real "been there, done that" feel to this episode.Dr. Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs) gets a visit from one of his old teachers, Dr. Vance Hendricks (David McCallum), who has been working on Ikarra 7, a dead world that was once the home to a highly advanced society. The Ikarrans had organic based technology and eventually developed a dozen warriors to protect them by destroying any but "pure" Ikarrans. The good news was that these organic warriors defended their planet from invaders, but the bad news was that they started cleansing the planet of those who were not "pure." When Hendricks and his shady associate bring an organic weapon aboard and to their surprise, but not our own, it takes over a body and starts going on a cleansing spree.

There is just so much that does not sit right with me in this episode. I mean, a giant fleet of attacking spaceships shows up over your planet and a dozen guys with sonic claws can save the day? Really? As with the Soul Hunter idea from a previous episode, Stracyznski has a potentially interesting idea that just goes off in a nonproductive direction. Then there is the point where Commander Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) saves the day and pretty much proves that his second favorite thing must be watching Starfleet captains argue with psychotic computers and assorted intergalactic nuts. I was also rather disappointed that Dr. Franklin did not get to do more with resolving this one, but apparently at this point in the series that whenever possible Sinclair gets to save the day. This episode takes a step backwards for the first season of this series.

Okay Season 1 Episode Along With The Worst Babylon 5 Episode

"Born to the Purple" is an intriguing episode which shows Londo Mollari's (Peter Jurasik) tender side, introducing us to his great love, Adira. Clive Revill is deliciously slimy as the villain Trakis who owns Adira, ordering her to obtain valuable secrets on the Centauri Republic's leading families from Londo. Unfortunately, it is coupled with "Infection", a monster of the week episode in classic "Star Trek" mode. What redeems it from being as bad as the worst "Star Trek" is Commander Sinclair's (Michael O'Hare) philosophical musings on racism and hatred as he and his crew hunt down the alien warrior from a long vanished civilization.