Walter Koenig is better known to fans of the genre as Ensign Pavel Chekov from the Star Trek The Original Series, makes a special guest appearance in this episode as Bester. (edit) The name "Universal Terraform" was created by Babylon 5 fans on GEnie. (edit) This episode was originally scheduled to air 10th in the series, but Warner Brothers was so happy with the episode they asked that it be bumped up earlier in the airing sequence. (edit) Bester's salute, an "okay" circle of thumb and forefinger held before the eye, and his utterance of the words "Be seeing you" are a homage to the cult TV series The Prisoner. There it is used as the traditional greeting among the unnamed numbered residents of The Village. The Prisoner is one of Straczynski's favorite TV shows. (edit)

Ironheart: You can not harm me. You can not harm one, who has dreamed a dream like mine. (edit) Bester: Be seeing you, commander. (edit) Sakai: (After G'Kar has send ship to save her)Just one question. Why?
G'Kar: Why not?
Sakai: It's not an answer.
G'Kar: Oh, yes it is. It's simply not an answer you like or the answer you expect. There's a difference. (edit) Kelsey: (After Ivanova has disparage psi-cops) You're not helping the situation.
Ivanova: Lady, you are the situation. (edit) Bester: Mr. Ironheart is no longer what you or I would consider entirely human.
Sinclair: Then what is he?
Bester: We don't know. (edit) Ironheart: Only one in every thousand humans has telepathic abilities. Only one in every ten thousand telepaths has telekinetic abilities. And half of them are clinically insane. (edit) Ironheart: (To Talya)Because in this business, whoever has the strongest telepath, wins. The military wants to scan the enemy. The enemy wants a telepath strong enough to block the scan and we want someone who can cut through the block. (edit) Sinclair: What kind of covert operation?
Bester:That information is on a need-to-know basis, Commander. And you don't need to know. (edit) Ivanova: And Psi Cops? What are you rated?
Kelsey: P12. Someone has to keep an eye on the rest.
Ivanova: Yes, but who watches the watchmen? (edit) Bester: (About Psi-corps) Since we bear a greater responsibility, we are afforded greater latitude, in the interest of efficiency. (edit) Kelsey: There are rules and there are rules, Commander. (edit) Bester [After Bester reads his mind, Garibaldi gives Bester a dirty look and thinks something at him]: Anatomically impossible, Mr. Garibaldi. But you're welcome to try. Anytime. Anywhere. (edit) G'Kar: Let me pass on to you the one thing I've learned about this place, "No one here is exactly what he appears. Not Mollari, not Delenn, not Sinclair ... and not me." (edit) Ivanova: Good ol' Psi-Corps. You never cease to amaze me, all the moral fiber of Jack the Ripper. What do you do in your spare time, juggle babies over a fire pit? "Oops, there goes another calculated risk!" (edit) Jason Ironheart: Good-bye commander. I will see you again, in a million years. (edit) Bester: That's a lie.
Sinclair: Yes it is. What's your point? (edit) Bester: We had our orders.
Sinclair: Mister, I don't care if you had a personal message from God, complete with stone tablets. You lied to me. (edit) G'Kar: Narns, Humans, Centauri ... we all do what we do for the same reason: because it seems like a good idea at the time. (edit) Jason Ironheart: We all thought Psi Corps was controlled by the government, but that's changing. The Corps is starting to pull the strings behind the scenes; they're more powerful than you could begin to imagine. Telepaths make the ultimate blackmailers ... The Psi Corps is dedicated to one thing: control. Control over telepaths, the economy, the courts, over matter, over thought itself. (edit) Talia [on life as a Telepath]: It's like staying in a hotel room where you can just hear the people talking next door. You can try and shut it out, but it's always there. The key is not to eavesdrop unless you're invited ... casual thoughts are very easy to block, but strong emotions have a way of slipping through. ... Do you know what it's like when telepaths make love, commander? You drop every defense, and it's all mirrors, reflecting each others' feelings, deeper and deeper, until somewhere along the line your souls mix, and it's a feeling so profound it makes you hurt. It's the only moment in a telepath's life when you no longer hear the voices. (edit) Sinclair: Get out of my head! (edit) G'Kar: No one here is entirely what they seem ... not Mollari, not Delenn, not Sinclair, and not me. (edit) G'Kar: There are things in the universe billions of years older than either of our races. They are vast, timeless; and if they are aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants. And we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know. We tried. And we've learned that we can either step out from underfoot or be stepped on.
Sakai: That's all you know?
G'Kar: They are a mystery. And I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders left in the universe; that we have not yet explained everything. Whatever they are, Miss Sakai, they walk near Sigma 957, and they must walk there alone. (edit)

Goof: When Talia tries to move the penny with her mind, the penny is first shown heads down, then heads up as it begins to move. (edit) Continuity: After Jason arrives in his quarters he pours himself a glass of water. But when the mindquake hits shortly thereafter, the glass falls over and there is no water in it. (edit) Revealing Mistake: In the original airing, during the pre-title sequence, a binary star can be seen through Jason's ship. This was fixed in subsequent US reairings but still exists in the international releases. (edit)

Psi Cops: The term "PsiCops" is a deliberate allusion and in-joke by Straczynski to CSICOP, The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. This real-world organization publishes the Skeptical Inquirier and investigates reported incidents of the paranormal ... including telepathy. (edit) Ivanova: "Who watches the watchmen?"
Ivanonva alludes to Juvenal, the Roman satirist and poet who wrote Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes? which related to husbands watching their wives to keep them from having affairs. The phrase has seen much popular use, primarily in the DC comic maxi-series Watchmen. (edit) Alfred Bester: Straczynski named Bester after science fiction author Alfred Bester, who wrote a variety of books about telepathy. One of them, The Demolished Man, featured a Guild of telepaths, a nicer version of Psi-Corps. In the Psi-Corp novel trilogy, it is specifically established that Bester's mentor gave him the name in honor of the science fiction writer. (edit) Bester's Salute: Besides a homage to the TV series "The Prisoner" (see allusions), the salute is the "sign of the fish." Early Christians used this as a secret greeting and identification sign to identify their fellow members. (edit) Jason Ironheart: You can not harm one who has dreamed a dream like mine.
This is a Ojibwe (Native American) prayer of protection against one's enemies. (edit)