Babylon 5 (TV Series) Believers (1994) User Reviews

B5's one attempt at a current events story

[GentlemanGeorge · 7/10 · 28 January 2021]

I am bingeing Babylon 5 again from the new release on HBO Max. Have to say, kudos to the restoration team. Keeping the original 4:3 ratio was the right decision to do proper justice to the last best hope for intelligent 90s sci-fi.

Being way old enough to remember seeing this episode in 1994, I also remember thinking at the time it was the writers' attempt at an episode to address a current controversy that was often in the news. In the early 90s, there were many stories regarding children dying from curable diseases because their Christian Scientist parents would not allow medical treatment. There was even a large measles outbreak in 1994 among children and adults of that faith.

This commentary contains no plot synopsis. Read everyone else's comments first for that.

For the first few acts, I considered the plotline to be a hackneyed attempt to shoehorn a current news item into a show I loved, yet by the time the episode concluded, I realized the story presented a thoughtful, if flawed, parable on religious liberty and the arrogance of authority.

The parents represent one extreme - the unyielding allegiance to their faith and rigid interpretation of its edicts. Dr. Franklin represents the opposite extreme - the imperiousness of the "expert", disdainful of those with an understanding or "education" lesser to his own. The other characters to whom the parents appeal for help fill in the gaps depending on their politics. G'kar has too much going on to be concerned about their plight. Londo waves them off because neither he, nor The Great Centauri Republic, have a dog in the fight. De'lenn the philosopher tries to see everyone's point of view and is thus of no assistance whatsoever. The only person to take a position is Sinclair, and he makes the only choice he can to confirm support for the panoply of beliefs and the rights of everyone on his station. He refuses to allow the child to be operated on.

The story was compelling and holds up even 27 years later. In fact, it may be considered topical all over again, considering the current conflict. Are a person's liberties sacrosanct, or are they to be curtailed by those in power for the perceived greater good? Not politicking here and neither were the writers of this episode. They didn't take a side, instead letting the viewer stew in the uncertainty of their own emotions.

Most viewers in 1994 probably were dissatisfied with this episode because it provides no resolution. Everyone did what they thought was right, and the outcome still wasn't a happy one, for anyone.

This is an uncomfortable episode to watch, and knowing what was coming, I almost skipped it. I'm glad I didn't. It was written to make you uncomfortable. Except for the overarching ethos of B5's galactic multiculturalism, there is no Star-Trekky moralizing in the series. As the one episode out of 110 to feature a moral dialectic, it can be forgiven... and appreciated.

One of the deeper filler episode of Season One

[GraXXoR · 8/10 · 30 June 2022]

Season One was where B5 searched for its footing and is known for episodes that don't follow the season arc and this would be potentially just another of those "throwaway" episodes.

However, this episode is the first in which we see Dr Franklin test his mettle and see just how fervent a proponent for life Dr Franklin is and how far he is willing to go.

We see inklings of Franklin's character that will prove to be important later in the story and we also see a president set for B5's desired neutrality even at the expense of regular staff of the vessel.

Though this ep adds nothing to the arc itself, it does show the fine day-to-day balance that B5 is attempting to maintain and glimpses into the mundane political humdrum that the station has to relentlessly undergo.

The story itself is a clear philosophical allegory: Religion vs Science and it handles that with all the subtlety of a frozen fish to the temple.

A medical dilemma

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 11 June 2018]

This episode sees two aliens arriving on Babylon 5 to seek medical treatment for their son. Dr Franklin tells them that if untreated he will die but thankfully a minor surgical procedure will save him. They categorically refuse permission as they believe cutting the boy open will cause his spirit to leave his body. Dr Franklin is exasperated that they will allow the boy to die because of religious beliefs so tells them he will seek permission from Commander Sinclair to operate anyway. This leaves the commander with a tough choice to make as the parents, whose species isn't represented on Babylon 5, seeks help from each of the major ambassadors. Meanwhile a transport ship heading to Babylon 5 has broken down in space where raiders are known to operate.

I must admit that stand-alone, issue of the week episodes aren't my favourite. It is a pity that the issue didn't involve an established species with known beliefs; as it was it felt as though the reactors wanted an episode that concerned the clash between religious belief and medical best practice so invented a new species who will probably never see again. For the most part the story plays out as expected; it has some good points though; I enjoyed the various reasons the ambassadors gave for refusing to help and the stories conclusion wasn't quite as I'd expected. The side story involving the rescue of the broken down ship was enjoyable enough but was definitely a minor part of the story. The main story put Dr Franklin centre stage so we got to know more about the character and his own beliefs, Richard Biggs does a fine job in the role. Overall a decent enough episode but one that I suspect will ultimately be fairly forgettable.

Amazing

[VenVes · 22 July 2018]

How people can give six and one star reviews just because the contents of the episode don't match up to their expectations, rather than judging it objectively, is astounding to me. This is a spectacular episode, full of intriguing points and ideas, with a serious dilemma coursing through the entire length of it. Excellent emotional performances (especially that of the good doctor and the commander) bring to fruition a truly heartfelt and gripping episode. I don't know whether there is a God as we know it, or there isn't one. What I do know, is that this is an excellent showing of Babylon 5. One among many.

Great Episode

[imdb-29461-33239 · 9/10 · 28 September 2021]

This is the best episode I've seen. It's not exciting, but it is compelling and heart felt.

It reminds me of what good scifi can be, exploring difficult questions and forcing characters to make hard choices, all with their beliefs being in conflict.

It doesn't preach at the audience, and it doesn't insult them or talk down to them. Whether or not it "teaches a lesson" depends on who you ask. I'm sure that even among viewers who would agree it had a lesson, many viewers would disagree entirely on what that lesson was.

I definitely think there is a valuable takeaway for the viewer here, something about arrogance, perhaps something about shortsightedness.

Some kind of deeper wisdom is subtley on display.

Every member of the audience will have to decide, on their own, what that wisdom actually is.

Believers

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 9 June 2012]

"Believers" has one of those "religious conflict" stories that is not fun at all but important in putting characters through the rigors of moral and psychological, philosophical and theological debate where different species look at life, the value of life, and its relation to their own spiritual beliefs through a different lens, in different ways. It is also a "Dr. Franklin episode" finally giving Richard Biggs his own time on the show to "show his stuff". Franklin, a doctor who holds life sacred—as "Earthers do", defined by the species who are at odds with Franklin's stance that their religious belief (that the spirit of their dying child would be wronged if he is "cut open like an animal" through surgery to fix a minor complication) is "deluded" and a direct threat to his own Hippocratic oath to put the welfare and safety of a patient first—will formulate a petition to Commander Sinclair to allow him to perform on the sick patient, removing parental rights from the alien couple who declare the surgical procedure a violation of their spiritual belief system. Franklin, despite Sinclair's order not to operate, might just defy him and do it anyway, damn the opinions and orders of others because he owes it to the patient to do everything in his power to save him—but performing the surgery could come with a heavy price….and a heavy burden he may never recover from. The sub-plot involving Ivanova getting a chance to leave the station, leading a mission to guide a ship (that lost navigational capabilities due to technological malfunctions) called the Asimov, through Raider territory (this territory is kind of like if the Enterprise passed through the Neutral Zone and entered Romulan territory to recover a friendly ship that lost its navigational function) is merely filling time, padding out ten minutes of the episode not occupied by the Franklin storyline. Sinclair's precedent to operate on the dying Vorlon Ambassador before Franklin's arrival rears its ugly head and could be a deciding factor in the Commander's siding with the doctor—or it might just tip the scale the way of the alien couple. The alien couple try to appeal to other alien ambassadors like G'Kar of the Narn and Mollari of the Centauri, to no avail as each finds "reasons" (more like excuses) not to help. The end results is rather disheartening but thought-provoking, perhaps even necessary in the growth and evolution of the Franklin character as he must "be put in his place" where not following orders, believing you are doing the best for the patient, may not always end with satisfaction/gratification in a job well done; if anything, it may have only made matters worse. That happens when religious beliefs differ and the value of life, from species to species, is treated in ways that cause emotional and moral difficulty.

kind of heart-wrenching at times, but still just a filler episode

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 2 January 2007]

For much of the first season of Babylon 5, the series still hadn't established any sort of over-arching plot to connect the episodes like it would have in seasons 2 through 5. In some ways, it was as if the genius behind the series, Michael Staczynski was still trying to feel for a sense of direction. Because of this, so many of the season one episodes are self-contained in that they don't connect well with previous or later episodes. This is pretty much the way of sci-fi shows like Star Trek, but for B-5, this makes these earlier episodes less satisfying.

While this episode does raise an interesting moral dilemma and it relates to some current religious practices that forbid medical interventions, it is still is at heart a filler episode because it contributed nothing to the underlying themes of the show. While at times heart-wrenching, this lack of context compared to most other episodes dooms it to the category of "skip-able".

One of those throw away ethics 101 episodes

[davidkahl-88730 · 2/10 · 5 October 2021]

We don't have a non-cutting option 200 years in the future?

Oh and if your kid slices his hand cutting a bagel, does he also need to be killed since his soul has left the great egg?

An odd filler choice

[phenomynouss · 1/10 · 17 October 2010]

The main plot of this episode involves an alien family with a dying son who refuse to let him have life-saving surgery because it goes against their religious beliefs. A more original story you would likely never, ever, ever see ever again/sarcasm.

Aside from that, there is a subplot that is maybe the only reason I consider this an "odd" filler episode. It involves the female officer whose name I never learned suddenly throwing a fit at Sinclair involving escorting a spaceship to the station, because he tells her to get Garibaldi to do it, and instead ends up with her doing it because she's tired of sitting around doing nothing. Much like I'm tired of sitting around watching this show do nothing for much of its ten episodes thus far.

What makes it odd is that this subplot has no relevance to the main plot whatsoever, nor to any major story arc previously brought up, and it has an inordinate amount of time devoted to it that is either rendered emotionally opaque due to the emotional content of the primary plot line, or just completely kills all the emotion and immersion the primary plot line is introducing.

For my part, there was no real emotion in the main plot, as it goes too far in making the parents thoroughly unlikeable, even when they cry and show emotion, and the acting abilities of the doctor and his nurse are far too low to properly convey the gravity of the plot.

Instead, touching moments fall flat, and big emotional points produce utter silence, and the big shocking twist at the end provokes macabre laughter, along the lines of "Too bad you didn't see that coming, dummy!!" So because these alien parents refuse to allow surgery because they believe it releases their spirit (and that this ONLY affects their own kind, because they're the only "chosen" people) and the doctor goes through all manner of philosophizing and struggling to have these parents overcome their beliefs in order to save his life.

Perhaps the dull acting and the one-dimensional characters made it easier for me to be so cold when witnessing this situation, but I could not sympathize with the doctor at all, and what I saw in him is exactly what occurred: A meddler, a meddling nuisance so desperate to be the humanitarian that he ends up making things worse, in a way that you don't readily see coming right away, given that it's too early in this season to tell if it will follow the Star Trek Voyager-style of pat TV ending, or dish out cruel irony.

Yet once the "SHOCKING MUSIC HERE" event plays, you figure it out right away.

The doctor ignores the parents' religious beliefs and gives the son the surgery anyway. When the parents appear and their son is fine, they FREAK OUT MASSIVELY, screaming and yelling and acting as though they have Capgras syndrome and PULLING KNIVES ON THE BOY before fleeing from the room.

Nevertheless, sometime later, they bring a white robe for the boy and take him peacefully, thanking the doctor while saying they cannot forgive him. Then comes "SHOCKING MUSIC HERE" when he looks at the research done on their people, and discovers what the robe is REALLY for! They've ritually killed their son, in their words only killing the shell, whereas his spirit was gone already.

Unfortunately, I just found that funny. It's a very gruesome thing to find humor in, but given that it's a fictional TV show, and the episode itself was so terrible, I took immense pleasure in the doctor having to witness the consequences of his being so goddamn stupid.