Stephen Franklin
From The Great Machine
| Stephen Franklin | |
|---|---|
| Image:Franklin 00.jpg | |
| Name | |
| Age | |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | Human |
| Birth Place | Earth - Chicago |
| Birth Name | |
| Birth Date | {{{birthdate}}} |
| Callsign | |
| alias | |
| Nickname | |
| Introduced | Babylon 5: The Gathering |
| Death | |
| Parents | Father: General Richard Franklin Mother: (not shown) |
| Siblings | Sisters: Juanita, Maria, Celia, and Kathy |
| Children | None |
| Relatives | |
| Marital Status | Unmarried |
| Role | 2232 - ????: Physician, Earthforce Between 2230 and 2243: 3 yrs space hitchhiking 2243: Head of an advanced Earthforce military hospital 2258-2262: Chief Medical Officer, Babylon 5 2262- ????: Head of Xenobiological Research at EarthDome |
| Rank | Lieutenant Commander |
| Telepath | |
| Portrayed by | Richard Biggs (dec.) |
- For other instances of the name "Franklin", see Franklin (disambiguation)
Lieutenant Commander Stephen Franklin (played by Richard Biggs) was the Earth Alliance Doctor who served as Chief Medical Officer on Babylon 5.
A graduate of Harvard University, Dr. Stephen Franklin turned to medicine after an alien doctor saved his father's life. Before joining Earthforce during the Earth-Minbari War, Dr. Franklin hitch-hiked around the galaxy exchanging his services for transport. Dr. Franklin will do anything to save a patient's life and his strong sense of ethics often causes friction with his superiors. When it comes to Xenobiology, however, Dr. Franklin is unsurpassed in his field making him an invauable addition to Babylon 5.
Contents |
[edit] Early Medical Carreer
One event in childhood changed Franklin's entire direction in life:
- Now, see, the thing is, I wasn't always going to be a doctor. My father is career military, just like his dad and his dad before him. So it was just understood that I would go the same way. I even bought into it myself. And then one day, l... right before the Dilgar War. We got caught in the middle of a civil war between two mid-range colonies.
- I remember watching ISN when they opened up the enemy base and three injured soldiers came out. One of them was my father. The base doctor kept him alive over the objections of the CO because he believed that life was sacred and had to be preserved. When I saw him walk out, supported by the doctor, I knew right then that's what I wanted to do with my life. Of course, my father, he wasn't too happy about it, but he always said we had to go our own way. So I did.
- So when this is all over, I'll be out there looking for anybody I can save on our side or theirs, because that's what I do. That's what I would want them to do for me...or for you.
- So, what happened to the doctor that helped your dad?
- Shot and killed by his own men. They said he was a traitor.
- --Stephen and Bo, (A View from the Gallery)
[edit] Earth Minbari War
While serving as the Head of an advanced Earthforce military hospital in 2243 during the Earth-Minbari War, Franklin's convictions were tested by the demands of his superiors. General Fontaine ordered him to turn over detailed information about Minbari DNA and biology, (collected while hitchhiking) to the Biogenetic Warfare division.
- Sir, I am a doctor. My job is to save lives.... I can't allow my notes to be used to create a biogenetic plague that could wipe out an entire race. If we [wipe them out], how are we any different...? I'm sorry, General, I am a doctor. I cannot allow my notes to be used in the production of weapons of war... You cannot force me to go against my conscience!
As a result, Franklin was arrested. He was to be held until he produced the requested information. His office and house were searched, and all his reports and records confiscated.
The only way out was to "volunteer" for a desperate mission, alongside Sheridan and G'Kar, to negotiate Earth's surrender through Lenonn. Franklin was included due to his physical contact with the Minbari before the war, and as a medic in case something went wrong. Due to circumstances beyond Human or Minbari control, the mission was a spectactular failure.
[edit] Chief Medical Officer: Babylon 5
Franklin replaced Dr. Benjamin Kyle as Babylon 5's Chief Medical Officer in 2258. Kyle was transferred to a new assignment working with the President. He's much needed there what with so many aliens migrating to Earth. Franklin was familiar both with Kyle and with Sinclair.
[edit] Aggressive Skeptic
Throughout the show, Franklin repeatedly (often arrogantly) refused to accept the death of any his patients, taking it almost as a personal affront. He is highly skeptical, consistently placing his entire faith in Science, utterly rejecting any kind of alternative or religious explanations.
- I believe in saving lives. Without life, it's meaningless.
- You don't disapprove of superstition, if it's yours... They worship the Great Egg. Your god is medicine, and you can do no wrong. What's the difference?
Franklin asked Sinclair to intervene with an alien family who, because of their religious beliefs, refuse to allow surgery that would save their dying son. When Sinclair refused, along with all other alien governments, Stephen performed the surgery without parental consent. The consequences were devastating.
- One way or another, I'm gonna save that boy's life, whatever it costs...
- Who asked you to play God?
- Every patient who comes in that door! People want doctors to be gods. They want us to make it better. They come to me when their prayers aren't enough. If I take the responsibility, I claim the authority too. I did good. And we both know it, and no one is gonna take that away.
- -- Sincalir and Franklin, Believers.
- All right. I was arrogant. Thought I knew what I was doing. We'd be better off if there was no God. If God had never been invented. Then we wouldn't have to be anything. We wouldn't have to care.
- Everything to you is a problem to be solved, a test to be passed. But you know, Stephen, sometimes the test is not to find the answer... it's to see how you react when you realize there is no answer. -- Confessions and Lamentations
Franklin doesn't react well to the death of his friend and an entire species, when the cure is found too late to save them. He begins taking Stims to keep himself awake.
- Well, this is nonsense. It's patent superstition. It can't be done. Maybe you could encode the personality and produce a clone of a mind... but the idea of taking someone's soul?
[edit] Free Clinic
In late 2258, Ivanova discovered that Dr. Franklin had been operating an unauthorised free clinic for Lurkers in Downbelow, the area of Babylon 5 where most of the unemployed eke out a poverty-stricken existence, and that he's been using some of his Medlab supplies to do so.
- My job is healing people. Not everyone can afford Medlab. Especially in Downbelow. -- The Quality of Mercy
When he hears about an alien healing device he doesn't understand, scientifically, he immediately assumes it's a con job; a fraud.
[edit] Underground Railroad
Dr. Franklin became the leader of an underground railroad smuggling unregistered telepaths away from Earth to the outer colonies where the Psi Corps can't reach them. Franklin was a member of this group, mostly doctors, before he came to Babylon 5. When Jason Ironheart arrived on the Station in 2258 he brought with him another rogue, who disappeared into downbelow while Jason went through his spectacular confrontation with Bester and his subsequent transformation. This telepath, Rick (who also appeared in Chrysalis) apparently contacted Dr. Franklin. Between them, they extended the underground railroad through Babylon 5 -- although where the rogues were going after Babylon 5 is unclear. Nor is it clear that Franklin actually put a stop to the railroad after Bester was dealt with in 2259. Franklin's answers to Captain Sheridan's demand that he put a stop to it were quite evasive. The telepaths actually at the Station agreed to leave, which they intended to do anyway. Franklin admitted that his part in it was over, and that others would have to take over -- but he never actually said it would stop. A Race Through Dark Places
[edit] Addiction
Despite warnings from Laura Rosen on how the use of stims affected her career as a physician, Franklin turned to stims to ward off a looming nervous breakdown caused by the stress he suffered as head of the Medlab facility on Babylon 5.
Garibaldi tried to get him to open up and ask for help for his dependence on stims. Then again, after Stephen nealy lost a patient due to his addiction, Garibaldi tried to intervene one more time.
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[edit] Foundationism - Walkabout
Franklin's response to the truth of his own Stim addiction was to resign as Head of Medlab, and go Walkabout.
- As a Foundationist, I was always taught that if you're not careful, you can lose yourself in the world. You get too busy with things, not busy enough with yourself. Spend your days and nights living someone else's agendas, fighting someone else's battles and doing the work you're supposed to be doing, but every day there's less and less of you in it all. Until one day you come to a fork in the road and because you're distracted, you're not thinking. You lose yourself. You go right, and the rest of you, the really important part of you, goes left. You don't even know you've done it 'til you realize, you finally realize that you don't have any idea who you are when you're not doing all those things.
- ...It's a metaphor. All right? There isn't another me walking around the Station but the principle is real. I realized I didn't have any idea who I was when I wasn't being a doctor...and I think I was using the stims to avoid facing that. Now I gotta fix it... by going Walkabout.
- You just leave everything, and you start walking. I mean, the Foundation adopted the idea from the Aborigines back on Earth. The theory is, if you're separated from yourself you start walking and you keep walking till you meet yourself. Then you sit down, and you have a long talk. Talk about everything that you've learned,|everything that you've felt and you talk until you've run out of words. Now, that's vital because the real important things can't be said. And then, if you're lucky, you look up and there's just you. Then you can go home.
Franklin almost died on Walkabout when he intervened in a knife fight, and was stabbed and left to die. While he was passing out from blood loss, he had an Epiphany:
- I guess I found what I needed, not what I wanted.
- Which was?
- A short, sharp kick to the head.
- I could have done that for you. All you had to do was ask.
- You would have enjoyed it too much!
- So you didn't meet yourself?
- Yeah, I did. Found out I didn't like myself either.
- -- Franklin and Garibaldi, Shadow Dancing
[edit] Friendships
[edit] Garibaldi
Garibaldi shares an empathy for Franklin, to the point of waiting next to Franklin's hospital bed (Shadow Dancing, is likely due at least in part to Garibaldi's own experience with substance abuse (Survivors, among other episodes.) He presumably knows something of what Franklin has been through.
- I know you had to do this and you learned a lot by doing it but just don't ever do this to me again. -- Shadow Dancing
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[edit] Marcus
When Marcus and Stephen travelled to Mars to contact the Resistance in 2261, their cover documents listed them as a married couple on honeymoon. Stephen was less amused by this than Marcus was.
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[edit] Romance
[edit] Janice Rosen
It is implied that Stephen dated Janice Rosen (daughter of Laura Rosen), after she accepted his invitation to dinner at the end of 2258. -- The Quality of Mercy
[edit] Cailyn
During his Walkabout in 2260, Stephen fell for Cailyn, a fantastic singer in Downbelow, and they spent the night together. After she stole his ID card and collapsed, he automatically assumed that she was addicted to the prescription drug Metazine. However, she was only using it as a painkiller; suffering from terminal neural paralysis, she only had six months to live. Singing in DownBelow is what makes her last days worthwhile because she feels like she gives the people there hope. Stephen enjoyed one last song by Cailyn, then resumes walking.
[edit] Tessa Holloran/Number One
When Marcus and Franklin arrived on Mars in 2261, the leader of the Resistance, Number One, invited Stephen to dinner, and they spent a vocal night together.
- Touch passion when it comes your way, Stephen. It's rare enough as it is. Don't walk away when it calls you by name. -- Lines of Communication
Then in 2262 when Holloran visited the Station, ending up as Head of Alliance Intelligence, Franklin was leaving for Earth, so they agreed a relationship couldn't work out anyway. They did, however, celebrate one last time before he returned to duty. -- Objects in Motion
[edit] Head of Xenobiological Research at EarthDome
From 2266 onwards, Franklin played a key role in Earth-based research into the Drakh Plague, and in the search for a cure. He even visited the ISA Excalibur in 2267 under strict quarantine and made significant discoveries about its structure and behaviour. --Each Night I Dream of Home
[edit] See Also
The character, Stephen Franklin, shared remarkable similarities with the actor, Richard Biggs.
- Both had fathers named Richard, who were career military officers:
Colonel (Ret'd) USAF Richard J. Biggs vs. Earthforce General Richard Franklin. - Both had four younger sisters, named Juanita, Maria, Celia, and Kathy. All five siblings grew up on military bases.
- Richard Biggs originally wanted to study medicine; Stephen Franklin is a doctor.
- Biggs had a love of travel [1]; Franklin spent three years hitch-hiking around the galaxy.
[edit] References
- Babylon 5 Series 1 DVD set
- Lurkers' Guide
