Susan Ivanova
Encyclopedia
Susan Ivanova is a fictional character
in the science fiction
television series Babylon 5
, played by Claudia Christian
.
warship, the "Warlock-Class". She accepted the promotion because of the tragic events that happened on Babylon 5 at the very end of the Earth Alliance Civil War, in which she played a major role. During the fifth and final season, she appears only once, in the series' final episode, holding the rank of General - a position for which she showed little enthusiasm. She ultimately ends up as the new leader of the Anla'shok
at the insistence of Delenn
.
. The particular millstone around Ivanova's neck was love
— not only romantic
, but familial as well. Deep down, she believes that "all love is unrequited", perhaps believing that she is undeserving of true happiness. However, in spite of her troubled relationships with her mother, father, brother, and others, she is also fiercely loyal and caring about those to whom she is close. Given her troubled background, she also possesses a surprisingly good sense of humor, which often comes out at odd moments. She has a hot temper and this often leads other crew members to give her a wide berth whenever she is angry. She also possesses a strong sense of integrity and honesty. As a military leader she is brave to the point of recklessness, has the ability to think and act quickly in a crisis, and she can be creative and original in coming up with ways to resolve any situation she finds herself in.
when Susan was a child, which Ivanova blames on the Psi Corps
. Sophie was a telepath who refused to join the Psi Corps and, as a result, was forced to take telepathy-inhibiting drugs regularly. The powerful depressant
effect of these drugs gradually drained her energy and eventually led her to take her own life. Susan Ivanova eventually reveals that she is a latent telepath herself and lives in fear of discovery by the Psi Corps. She harbors a lasting grudge against the Psi Corps throughout the show, and blames them for the death of her mother. Her beloved brother, Ganya, died during the Earth-Minbari War, a piece of backstory set 10 years before the show. He was a fighter pilot aboard the Earth Alliance warship Lexington and was killed in the battle with the Black Star, the Minbari's flagship. Due to her telepathic abilities, she was able to sense her brother's death despite the vast distance between them. She also didn't have a good relationship with her father, who became irritable and emotionally distant after her mother's death. In a first-season episode her father dies on Earth. She reconciles with him and forgives him before his death.
Over the course of the series Ivanova has two major romantic interests. The first, with telepath Talia Winters
, is largely implied, though after Talia's betrayal and departure from Babylon 5, Ivanova admits to possibly loving her. In the first season her relationship with Winters gets off to a rocky start, and her inherent distrust of anyone in Psi Corps leads Ivanova to behave rudely towards Talia. However, they eventually become friends, and possibly lovers by the time of Talia's departure from the series. Ivanova is clearly hurt by the revelation that Talia is actually a "sleeper" Psi Corps agent who had been sent to spy on the command staff of Babylon 5. The second relationship, with Marcus Cole, also starts off badly, as Ivanova regards Marcus as reckless and annoying. However, they eventually become uneasy friends, and when he sacrifices his life to save hers at the end of the fourth season, Ivanova is devastated. She tells Dr. Franklin, B5's medical chief and a close friend, that "all love is unrequited", and wishes that she had returned his love and affection instead of being so sarcastic with him. The death of Marcus leads her to leave Babylon 5 and become captain of the newly commissioned Warlock class destroyer EAS Titans.
Babylon 5 creator Joe Straczynski often spoke of Ivanova's supposedly "Russia
n" temperament and character. Due to his father name (Andrei) her full Russian name must be Susan Andreevna Ivanova (but she is never referred to like this). His comments, as well as Ivanova's own quips, hint that her world view may have been shaped by the history of the Russian people. In the future Earth shown on Babylon 5, the Russian people have united in a consortium
and are clearly an important power on Earth. Yet, if Ivanova is any example, they remember vividly more difficult times under czars and communism
. Although she is not openly religious, Ivanova is established as ethnically Jewish when she sits Shiva after her father's death in season one. An old friend of her family, a man she refers to as "uncle" who is a rabbi
, visits her after her father's death and she comes to accept her faith, if only in private. She does appear to have a belief in God
, and she occasionally "talks" to God (in a rather joking manner) under her breath in a few episodes of the series. However, she keeps her religious beliefs largely to herself.
Ivanova is promoted several times during the series. She starts as a lieutenant commander, and is promoted to full commander in the second season. At the end of the fourth season, she is made Captain. In "Sleeping in Light
" (the series finale, set 18 years after the events of the fifth season), it is revealed that she is a General. She retires from Earth Force in this episode and becomes "Ranger One", the head of the Rangers
.
in Babylon 5, Ivanova is involved in a series of relationships, during season one, an old flame, Malcolm Biggs comes to Babylon 5 eight years after their relationship ends to start a 'business' and rekindle his relationship with Ivanova, before she realizes he is an agent of the xenophobic Homeguard in the episode "The War Prayer
".
All of Ivanova's relationships end badly, the most emphasized being her relationship with Marcus Cole
, a Ranger
assigned to Babylon 5 in 2260. While he falls in love with her early on, she does not begin a romantic relationship with him, possibly because of pain from her previous failed relationships.
Their story comes to a tragic ending in the year 2261, when she is gravely injured in an epic battle to liberate Earth from the dictatorship
of President Morgan Clark
, aboard a White Star vessel, the Minbari doctors determine that her injuries are too severe for her survival. She is sent to Babylon 5 to be made comfortable as the fleet is going into battle, Marcus searches for a way to save her, until he finds Dr. Stephen Franklin's
notes on The Alien Healing/Execution Device, a device that takes life energy from one individual and gives it to another.
Armed with the knowledge that it is stored for safekeeping on Babylon 5, he returns and uses it to save Ivanova's life, at the cost of his own. Only then does Ivanova realize the depth of Marcus' love for her. Mourning the loss, she requests that his body be preserved in cryogenic suspension, in the hopes that he could someday be revived.
relationship between Talia Winters
and Ivanova. One scene that gave rise to this belief was a badly edited scene that led many to believe that a kiss between the two was edited out.
In response to this, J. Michael Straczynski
stated, "No, nothing was cut. We had a matching problem at one point in the edit, where Andrea reached with her left hand in one angle, and didn't reach out with the other, and we had to come around for the shot on Ivanova, so it looked a tick off. But nothing was cut."
However, in the same discussion, Straczynski also mentions that, "I didn't show a kiss because, in my experience, it's easier on all around if one steps into the shallow end of the pool first, and walks into the deep end rather than diving in and splashing everybody in the process."
Also, in the same episode, Talia sleeps over at Ivanova's apartment, and while we don't see the two in bed together, the next morning Talia makes a motion as if 'reaching' for Susan in bed and finding her gone. Talia also mentions that when she woke up, Ivanova was gone. Straczynski confirmed this in the script books.
It should also be noted that Susan referred to Talia during a Minbari rebirth ceremony in the third season of Babylon 5. She told Delenn, the person who organised the ceremony:
While saying this, Ivanova smiles and Delenn looks surprised.
She was still able to appear in the final episode, as that episode was originally filmed as the finale of the fourth season and was moved forward. Ivanova did not appear in the episode that was created to serve as a new finale for season four.
This departure necessitated substantial changes to the fifth season of Babylon 5. A planned episode title, "The Very Long Night of Susan Ivanova," was reused as "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
," though the episodes did not share a plot. Furthermore, a planned romantic relationship between Ivanova and the telepath Byron
that would have continued her pattern of tragic relationships was changed to be a romance between Lyta Alexander
and Byron, which in turn precipitated the events of the Telepath War
. A new character, Elizabeth Lochley
, was created to take Ivanova's narrative role as commander of the station.
In the Season 5 episode A View from the Gallery
, two maintenance workers discuss Ivanova's sudden departure. They speculate on the reasons she left, mentioning contract and pay disputes, before finally concluding that they will not ever know the true story.
#602. This story features Marcus Cole being revived after a long time in stasis. The world that created the device Cole used to heal Ivanova (and kill himself in the process) has been discovered, and enough additional information has been found to revive him. While Ivanova herself does not appear, Cole uses some of her hair that was on his uniform and an imprint of her thought patterns and memories. He uses this to create a clone that believes she is Ivanova. He deliberately traps himself and the clone on a remote planet so that he can live out his days with her.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
, played by Claudia Christian
Claudia Christian
Claudia Ann Christian is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director, best known for her role as Commander Susan Ivanova on the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Career:...
.
Character overview
She holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander during the first season and is promoted to the rank of Commander in the second season. From the first through the fourth seasons of the series Commander Ivanova was the first officer (XO) of the Babylon 5 space station. After the fourth season of the series, she was promoted to Captain and given command of a new class of Earth AllianceEarth Alliance (Babylon 5)
The Earth Alliance is the name of a fictional alliance of the nations of Earth and off-world colonies in the television series Babylon 5. The transition of Earth government from a democratic, elected government to an authoritarian, militaristic one and back to a democracy again is a major theme of...
warship, the "Warlock-Class". She accepted the promotion because of the tragic events that happened on Babylon 5 at the very end of the Earth Alliance Civil War, in which she played a major role. During the fifth and final season, she appears only once, in the series' final episode, holding the rank of General - a position for which she showed little enthusiasm. She ultimately ends up as the new leader of the Anla'shok
Ranger (Babylon 5)
Rangers are a fictional class of warriors that play a prominent role in the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-History:...
at the insistence of Delenn
Delenn
Delenn is a fictional lead character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Mira Furlan.-Overview:Delenn, an alien ambassador and leader from the planet Minbar, is one of the pivotal characters in Babylon 5....
.
Overview
Like many of the show's characters, Susan Ivanova seemed locked in a tragic cycleTragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
. The particular millstone around Ivanova's neck was love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
— not only romantic
Romantic love
Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.In the context of romantic love relationships, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person....
, but familial as well. Deep down, she believes that "all love is unrequited", perhaps believing that she is undeserving of true happiness. However, in spite of her troubled relationships with her mother, father, brother, and others, she is also fiercely loyal and caring about those to whom she is close. Given her troubled background, she also possesses a surprisingly good sense of humor, which often comes out at odd moments. She has a hot temper and this often leads other crew members to give her a wide berth whenever she is angry. She also possesses a strong sense of integrity and honesty. As a military leader she is brave to the point of recklessness, has the ability to think and act quickly in a crisis, and she can be creative and original in coming up with ways to resolve any situation she finds herself in.
Early life and career
Susan Ivanova was born in St. Petersburg, Russian Consortium, in 2230. Her mother, Sophie, is established to have committed suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
when Susan was a child, which Ivanova blames on the Psi Corps
Psi Corps
In the fictional universe of Babylon 5, the Psi Corps is an agency of the Earth Alliance responsible for all humans with telepathic or other para-psychological abilities anywhere within Earth controlled space. All persons with Psi abilities are required to either join the Corps, face lifetime...
. Sophie was a telepath who refused to join the Psi Corps and, as a result, was forced to take telepathy-inhibiting drugs regularly. The powerful depressant
Depressant
A depressant, or central depressant, is a drug or endogenous compound that depresses the function or activity of a specific part of the brain...
effect of these drugs gradually drained her energy and eventually led her to take her own life. Susan Ivanova eventually reveals that she is a latent telepath herself and lives in fear of discovery by the Psi Corps. She harbors a lasting grudge against the Psi Corps throughout the show, and blames them for the death of her mother. Her beloved brother, Ganya, died during the Earth-Minbari War, a piece of backstory set 10 years before the show. He was a fighter pilot aboard the Earth Alliance warship Lexington and was killed in the battle with the Black Star, the Minbari's flagship. Due to her telepathic abilities, she was able to sense her brother's death despite the vast distance between them. She also didn't have a good relationship with her father, who became irritable and emotionally distant after her mother's death. In a first-season episode her father dies on Earth. She reconciles with him and forgives him before his death.
Over the course of the series Ivanova has two major romantic interests. The first, with telepath Talia Winters
Talia Winters
Talia Winters is a fictional character appearing on the science fiction television show Babylon 5 during its first and second seasons. She was portrayed by actress Andrea Thompson....
, is largely implied, though after Talia's betrayal and departure from Babylon 5, Ivanova admits to possibly loving her. In the first season her relationship with Winters gets off to a rocky start, and her inherent distrust of anyone in Psi Corps leads Ivanova to behave rudely towards Talia. However, they eventually become friends, and possibly lovers by the time of Talia's departure from the series. Ivanova is clearly hurt by the revelation that Talia is actually a "sleeper" Psi Corps agent who had been sent to spy on the command staff of Babylon 5. The second relationship, with Marcus Cole, also starts off badly, as Ivanova regards Marcus as reckless and annoying. However, they eventually become uneasy friends, and when he sacrifices his life to save hers at the end of the fourth season, Ivanova is devastated. She tells Dr. Franklin, B5's medical chief and a close friend, that "all love is unrequited", and wishes that she had returned his love and affection instead of being so sarcastic with him. The death of Marcus leads her to leave Babylon 5 and become captain of the newly commissioned Warlock class destroyer EAS Titans.
Babylon 5 creator Joe Straczynski often spoke of Ivanova's supposedly "Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n" temperament and character. Due to his father name (Andrei) her full Russian name must be Susan Andreevna Ivanova (but she is never referred to like this). His comments, as well as Ivanova's own quips, hint that her world view may have been shaped by the history of the Russian people. In the future Earth shown on Babylon 5, the Russian people have united in a consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
and are clearly an important power on Earth. Yet, if Ivanova is any example, they remember vividly more difficult times under czars and communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. Although she is not openly religious, Ivanova is established as ethnically Jewish when she sits Shiva after her father's death in season one. An old friend of her family, a man she refers to as "uncle" who is a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, visits her after her father's death and she comes to accept her faith, if only in private. She does appear to have a belief in God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, and she occasionally "talks" to God (in a rather joking manner) under her breath in a few episodes of the series. However, she keeps her religious beliefs largely to herself.
Ivanova is promoted several times during the series. She starts as a lieutenant commander, and is promoted to full commander in the second season. At the end of the fourth season, she is made Captain. In "Sleeping in Light
Sleeping in Light
"Sleeping in Light" is the final episode of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. The episode was nominated for the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.-Plot:...
" (the series finale, set 18 years after the events of the fifth season), it is revealed that she is a General. She retires from Earth Force in this episode and becomes "Ranger One", the head of the Rangers
Ranger (Babylon 5)
Rangers are a fictional class of warriors that play a prominent role in the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-History:...
.
Relationships
Throughout her character arcCharacter arc
A character arc is the status of the character as it unfolds throughout the story, the storyline or series of episodes. Characters begin the story with a certain viewpoint and, through events in the story, that viewpoint changes. A character arc generally only affects the main character in a...
in Babylon 5, Ivanova is involved in a series of relationships, during season one, an old flame, Malcolm Biggs comes to Babylon 5 eight years after their relationship ends to start a 'business' and rekindle his relationship with Ivanova, before she realizes he is an agent of the xenophobic Homeguard in the episode "The War Prayer
The War Prayer (Babylon 5)
"The War Prayer" is an episode from the first season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. The title of the episode comes from the Mark Twain story of the same name.-Synopsis:...
".
All of Ivanova's relationships end badly, the most emphasized being her relationship with Marcus Cole
Marcus Cole
Marcus Cole, played by Jason Carter, is a fictional character in the universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. He was a regular in the third and fourth seasons of the show...
, a Ranger
Ranger (Babylon 5)
Rangers are a fictional class of warriors that play a prominent role in the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-History:...
assigned to Babylon 5 in 2260. While he falls in love with her early on, she does not begin a romantic relationship with him, possibly because of pain from her previous failed relationships.
Their story comes to a tragic ending in the year 2261, when she is gravely injured in an epic battle to liberate Earth from the dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
of President Morgan Clark
Morgan Clark
William Morgan Clark is a fictional character and a major antagonist from the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, portrayed by Gary McGurk. His character rarely appeared on-screen, but is a major off-screen presence in the show....
, aboard a White Star vessel, the Minbari doctors determine that her injuries are too severe for her survival. She is sent to Babylon 5 to be made comfortable as the fleet is going into battle, Marcus searches for a way to save her, until he finds Dr. Stephen Franklin's
Stephen Franklin
Stephen Franklin is a lead character in the fictional universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by the late Richard Biggs. He serves as the chief medical officer on the Babylon 5 space station.-Personality:...
notes on The Alien Healing/Execution Device, a device that takes life energy from one individual and gives it to another.
Armed with the knowledge that it is stored for safekeeping on Babylon 5, he returns and uses it to save Ivanova's life, at the cost of his own. Only then does Ivanova realize the depth of Marcus' love for her. Mourning the loss, she requests that his body be preserved in cryogenic suspension, in the hopes that he could someday be revived.
Talia Winters
While never explicitly stated in the show, many fans believe that there was a lesbianLesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
relationship between Talia Winters
Talia Winters
Talia Winters is a fictional character appearing on the science fiction television show Babylon 5 during its first and second seasons. She was portrayed by actress Andrea Thompson....
and Ivanova. One scene that gave rise to this belief was a badly edited scene that led many to believe that a kiss between the two was edited out.
In response to this, J. Michael Straczynski
J. Michael Straczynski
Joseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
stated, "No, nothing was cut. We had a matching problem at one point in the edit, where Andrea reached with her left hand in one angle, and didn't reach out with the other, and we had to come around for the shot on Ivanova, so it looked a tick off. But nothing was cut."
However, in the same discussion, Straczynski also mentions that, "I didn't show a kiss because, in my experience, it's easier on all around if one steps into the shallow end of the pool first, and walks into the deep end rather than diving in and splashing everybody in the process."
Also, in the same episode, Talia sleeps over at Ivanova's apartment, and while we don't see the two in bed together, the next morning Talia makes a motion as if 'reaching' for Susan in bed and finding her gone. Talia also mentions that when she woke up, Ivanova was gone. Straczynski confirmed this in the script books.
It should also be noted that Susan referred to Talia during a Minbari rebirth ceremony in the third season of Babylon 5. She told Delenn, the person who organised the ceremony:
While saying this, Ivanova smiles and Delenn looks surprised.
Departure from Babylon 5
According to Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, Claudia Christian declined to be in the fifth season - according to her they weren't interested in having her. No agreement was reached and she was not in season five.She was still able to appear in the final episode, as that episode was originally filmed as the finale of the fourth season and was moved forward. Ivanova did not appear in the episode that was created to serve as a new finale for season four.
This departure necessitated substantial changes to the fifth season of Babylon 5. A planned episode title, "The Very Long Night of Susan Ivanova," was reused as "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
"The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari" is an episode from the fifth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Synopsis:Ambassador Mollari suffers a near-fatal heart attack.A heartbroken Lennier leaves Delenn for his homeworld....
," though the episodes did not share a plot. Furthermore, a planned romantic relationship between Ivanova and the telepath Byron
Byron (Babylon 5)
Byron Gordon, played by Robin Atkin Downes, is a fictional character from the television science fiction drama Babylon 5, introduced in the fifth and final season.- Fictional Biography :...
that would have continued her pattern of tragic relationships was changed to be a romance between Lyta Alexander
Lyta Alexander
Lyta Alexander is a character from the fictional universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Patricia Tallman.Lyta was introduced in the pilot episode "The Gathering" as a telepath assigned to the Babylon 5 space station by the Psi Corps, a fictional organization...
and Byron, which in turn precipitated the events of the Telepath War
Telepath War
The Telepath War is a conflict in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. This conflict occurs a few years after the events of the television series, and before the events of the Crusade television series...
. A new character, Elizabeth Lochley
Elizabeth Lochley
Elizabeth Lochley is a lead fictional character from the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 and Crusade, played by Tracy Scoggins....
, was created to take Ivanova's narrative role as commander of the station.
In the Season 5 episode A View from the Gallery
A View from the Gallery
"A View from the Gallery" is an episode from the fifth season of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. The episode is unusual in that it is told from the viewpoint of two maintenance workers as they witness the station being attacked.-Synopsis:Unknown forces attack the station; a pair...
, two maintenance workers discuss Ivanova's sudden departure. They speculate on the reasons she left, mentioning contract and pay disputes, before finally concluding that they will not ever know the true story.
After the series
Neither the Babylon 5 movies released after the end of the series nor the spin-off series "Crusade" refer to Ivanova. However, Straczynski wrote a short story set far in the future of the series called "Space, Time & the Incurable Romantic" which was published in Amazing StoriesAmazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
#602. This story features Marcus Cole being revived after a long time in stasis. The world that created the device Cole used to heal Ivanova (and kill himself in the process) has been discovered, and enough additional information has been found to revive him. While Ivanova herself does not appear, Cole uses some of her hair that was on his uniform and an imprint of her thought patterns and memories. He uses this to create a clone that believes she is Ivanova. He deliberately traps himself and the clone on a remote planet so that he can live out his days with her.
External links
- The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5: The definitive B5 reference and episode guide
- Babylon 5 Encyclopedia (fansite)
- Susan Ivanova Character Profile (fansite)
- Downloadable short ebook: Space, Time & the Incurable Romantic.pdf