Babylon 5 character
Susan Ivanova
Affiliated with	Babylon 5, Earth Alliance
Race	Human
Home planet	Earth
First appearance	Babylon 5: In the Beginning (chronological) Midnight on the Firing Line (airdate) Fair Use Screenshot from the Babylon 5 DVDs This work is copyrighted. ... Midnight on the Firing Line is the first regular episode of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. ...
Last appearance	Sleeping in Light[1]
Portrayed by	Claudia Christian

Susan Ivanova is a fictional character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Claudia Christian. She holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander during the first season; she 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 Alliance warship, the "Warlock-Class" ^[2]. 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 of Babylon 5 she appears only once, in the series' final episode. Sleeping in Light is the final episode of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. ... Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5 Claudia Ann Christian (born 10 August, 1965 in Glendale, California) is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director. ... Babylon 5 is an epic American science fiction television series created, produced, and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. ... Claudia Christian as Susan Ivanova in Babylon 5 Claudia Ann Christian (born 10 August, 1965 in Glendale, California) is an American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director. ... The Earth Alliance is the name of at least two fictional governments or alliances in modern science-fiction. ...

Character description

Overview

Like many of the show's characters, Susan Ivanova seemed locked in a tragic cycle. The particular millstone around Ivanova's neck was love—not only romantic love, 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 fierce 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 ingenious in coming up with ways to solve any situation she finds herself in. In general usage a tragedy is a play, movie or sometimes a real world event with a sad outcome. ... Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness. ...

Early life and career

Susan Ivanova's mother, Sophie, is established to have committed suicide 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 commit suicide. 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 ten 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 from Susan 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. Spoiler warning: In the fictional universe of Babylon 5, the Psi Corps was an agency of the Earth Alliance responsible for telepathic individuals. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with sedative. ...

Over the course of the series Ivanova had two major romantic interests. The first, with telepath Talia Winters, was largely implied, though after Talia's betrayal and departure from Babylon 5, Ivanova did admit to possibly loving her ^[3] . In the first season her relationship with Winters got off to a rocky start, and her inherent distrust of anyone in Psi Corps led Ivanova to behave rudely towards Talia. However, they eventually became friends, and possibly lovers by the time of Talia's departure from the series. Ivanova is clearly hurt by the revelation that Talia was 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 began in a rocky manner, as Ivanova regarded Marcus as reckless and annoying and often told him so. However, they eventually became uneasy friends, and when he sacrificed his life to save hers at the end of the fourth season, Ivanova was 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 the captain of a new class of Earth Alliance warship. Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters in Babylon 5 Talia Winters is a character appearing on the science fiction television show Babylon 5 during its first and second seasons. ...

Interestingly, Babylon 5 creator Joe Straczynski often spoke of Ivanova's supposedly "Russian" temperament and character. His comments, as well as Ivanova's own quips, hint that her world view may have been shaped by the difficult 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, and rarely discusses religion with anyone, Ivanova is established as ethnically Jewish when she sits Shiva after her father's death. Her uncle on Earth, a devout Jew, visits her after her father's death and she comes to accept her Jewish 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. J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski (born July 17, 1954) is an award-winning American writer/producer of television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. ... A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organisations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal. ... This article is about Jewish event. ...

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 EarthForce in this episode and becomes "Ranger One", the head of the Rangers. Sleeping in Light is the final episode of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. ... Marcus Cole, a Ranger, portrayed by Jason Carter in Babylon 5 A Ranger (Minbari: AnlaShok) is a fictional class of warrior that plays a prominent part of the science fiction television series, Babylon 5. ...

Relationships

Over the course of her life that is dramatized in Babylon 5 Ivanova was involved in a series of relationships, all of which ended badly, the most emphasized being her relationship with Marcus Cole, a ranger assigned to Babylon 5 in 2260. While he fell in love with her early on, she did not begin a romantic relationship with him, possible because of pain from her previous failed relationships. Marcus Cole, played by Jason Carter, is a fictional character in the universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5. ... Marcus Cole, a Ranger, portrayed by Jason Carter in Babylon 5 A Ranger (Minbari: AnlaShok) is a fictional class of warrior that plays a prominent part of the science fiction television series, Babylon 5. ...

Their story had a tragic ending in the year 2261, when she was gravely injured in an epic battle to liberate Earth from the dictatorship of President Clark, and was sent back to Babylon 5 when her condition was found to be too grave for her to recover; it was felt that Babylon 5's medical facilities could keep her comfortable until she died. When word of this reached Marcus, he searched for a way to save her, until he found Dr. Stephen Franklin's notes on The Alien Healing/Execution Device, a device that took life energy from one individual and gave it to another. In the Science Fiction series Babylon 5, William Morgan Clark was the president of the Earth Alliance. ... Stephen Franklin is a fictional lead character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, played by the late Richard Biggs. ...

Armed with the knowledge that it was stored for safekeeping on Babylon 5, he returned and used it to save Ivanova's life, thereby sacrificing his own.

Only then did Ivanova realize the depth of Marcus' love for her, and mourning her loss, she requested 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 lesbian 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. A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women. ...

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."^[4] Joseph Michael Straczynski (born July 17, 1954) is an award-winning American writer/producer of television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. ...

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."^[4]

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, "I think I loved Talia."

Departure from Babylon 5

Amidst the confusion over whether the show would get picked up for a fifth season, Claudia Christian declined to renew her contract, and did not appear in the fifth season. 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. Image File history File links TheBabylonProject. ... Byron, played by Robin Atkin Downes, is a fictional character from the television science fiction drama Babylon 5, introduced in the fifth and final season. ... Lyta Alexander, played by Patricia Tallman, is a fictional character from the television science fiction drama Babylon 5. ... The Telepath War was a conflict in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. ... Elizabeth Lochley, played by Tracy Scoggins, is a fictional character from the television science fiction dramas Babylon 5 and Crusade. ...

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 Stories #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 manages to steal some of her genetic material 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. Amazing Stories magazine, sometimes retitled Amazing Science Fiction, began in April 1926, becoming the first science fiction magazine and one of the pioneers of science fiction in the United States. ...

Trivia

• In the time between the pilot of Babylon 5 and the first season, it became known that the previous second-commander of the station, Laurel Takashima, was intended to be a traitor. When Ivanova was created to replace Takashima in season 1, Straczynski used the fans' knowledge of this plotline as misdirection, as the true traitor plot was moved to the characters of Talia Winters and to Michael Garibaldi's second in command.

• While "Ivanova" is an authentic Russian name, the pronunciation used in the series (with the accent on the second syllable) is not; it should be pronounced with the accent on the third syllable.

• Short phrases and words in Russian which Ivanova utters throughout the series reveal very strong English accent. In the dubbed German version the same words are said without notable accent.

Tamlyn Tomita as Laurel Takashima in The Gathering Laurel Takashima is a fictional character who appeared in the Babylon 5 pilot movie The Gathering. ... Andrea Thompson as Talia Winters in Babylon 5 Talia Winters is a character appearing on the science fiction television show Babylon 5 during its first and second seasons. ... Michael Garibaldi, played by Jerry Doyle, is a fictional character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. ...

References

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

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)