Stephen Franklin

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Dr. Stephen Franklin
Babylon 5 character

Affiliated with	Babylon 5, Earth Alliance
Race	Human
Home planet	Earth
First appearance	Babylon 5: In the Beginning (chronological) Soul Hunter (Babylon 5) (airdate)
Last appearance	Sleeping in Light (chronological), Each Night I Dream of Home (airdate)
Portrayed by	Richard Biggs

Stephen Franklin, played by the late Richard Biggs, is a fictional doctor in the universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. He is a regular character through the run of the show.

[edit] Career

Following in the footsteps of his father, General Richard Franklin, Franklin joined EarthForce in 2232 to become a physician. Shortly after graduating from medical school, he left EarthForce and spent the next three years "hitchhiking" aboard starships, trading his services as doctor for free passage to their destinations. In the course of his work, Franklin took detailed notes on the biology, physiology, and culture of many alien species. In his travels, he encountered a group of Minbari whose transport ship had crashed at Beta Durani. The Minbari were severely injured in the accident, and due to Franklin's lack of knowledge of Minbari biology, they all died. Franklin performed an autopsy on one of the Minbari, and gathered notes on their biology and genetics.

When the Earth-Minbari War broke out in 2243, Franklin rejoined EarthForce and was assigned to Earth to head up an advanced military hospital. During the war, all EarthForce doctors were ordered to turn over any notes they had on Minbari biology for use in the production of biological weapons. When EarthForce found out that Franklin had detailed notes on the Minbari, Franklin was ordered to produce them. Franklin refused, and he was arrested.

However, Franklin was released shortly afterward to accompany Lieutenant Commander John Sheridan on a mission to the Epsilon system as part of an advance team to negotiate peace with the Minbari. This was tragically cut short, however, by an attack by the Centauri, who thought the meeting was an arms shipment between the humans and the Narns. After he (along with Sheridan) was shortly detained by a Minbari ship, he returned to Earth.

Between this event and 2258, he met Jeffrey Sinclair.

In 2258, he was assigned to the Babylon 5 station as chief surgeon after the recall of Dr. Benjamin Kyle to Earth. He stayed there for four years.

Franklin had strong moral convictions, and this was evident numerous times during his tenure at Babylon 5. Sometimes, his convictions conflicted with his duties as an EarthForce officer. These transgressions included the operation of a free clinic in Down Below, the performance of a life-saving operation on a child against the parents' wishes, and his participation in an "underground railroad" of rogue telepaths. He was also a Foundationist, a member of a faith that incorporates common features from many religions.

As with many characters on Babylon 5, Franklin's personality contained the seeds of his own frailties. In his case, Franklin's passionate interest in saving lives and meeting a very high personal standard led to his use of stimulants ("stims") as shown starting in the third season episode, A Day in the Strife. Franklin admitted his addiction obliquely to Delenn in Ceremonies of Light and Dark, and finally was forced by Garibaldi to confront this addiction in Interludes and Examinations. When he realized that he was addicted to stims, Franklin embarked on a walkabout of the space station (in the episode of the same name). Franklin finally realized that he had run away his entire life, and that he was doing so again.

In 2262, Franklin resigned from his post at Babylon 5 to accept the position of Head of Xenobiological Research at Earthdome upon the retirement of Dr. Benjamin Kyle. At the beginning of 2263, he selected Dr. Lillian Hobbes as his replacement on Babylon 5. Franklin later conducted research in the attempt to fight the plague the Drakh inflicted on Earth. He is seen in the Crusade episode "Each Night I Dream of Home".

[edit] Current status

At the end of the series, Franklin was still the head of Xenobiological research on Earth. When Sheridan learned he was dying, Franklin went to Minbar for one last party. From there, Franklin traveled to Babylon 5, where he witnessed the station's decommissioning and destruction. J. Michael Straczynski has said that Franklin eventually dies while exploring an unknown planet, but has not revealed the details of exactly how or when he dies.^[1]

As Richard Biggs had died in 2004, the Franklin character will not make any further appearances on any future Babylon 5 movies or television series. When Biggs died, Straczynski had been working on a Babylon 5 script titled The Memory of Shadows. Straczynski decided not to recast the Franklin character, and rewrote the script to remove the character from the story.