Virtual reality?
So begins another episode of the television series, Babylon 5, a
stunning piece of science fiction programming first conceived in the
visionary mind of television writer, J. Michael Straczynski, in 1986.
After an uphill battle of five years to find a company "that believed in
the story enough to let us tell it," the series went on the air in the
United States in the Fall of 1993 and reached around the world by the
end of its first season. Currently, in America, it can be seen on
cable's TNT network.
In it, Judaism was one of the 14 Earth religions represented
at a stationwide festival highlighting the various religious beliefs
practiced on the space station. When Straczynski, serving as both the
show's chief writer and executive producer, found himself in need of a
second storyline for a later episode, he decided to centre it around
Commander Ivanova and the death of her father back on Earth. It is
in this particular episode, simply titled "TKO," we learn the full extent
of Ivanova's Jewishness.
We may be disappearing on Earth, but deep in television's sci-fi space, at least,
Jews survive. What's more, they're credible characters, not simplistic stereotypes. New York writer Sande H. Zirlin takes a closer look.
"IT WAS THE DAWN of the third age of mankind ... it began in the Earth
year 2257 with the founding of the last of the Babylon stations, located
deep in neutral space. It was a port of call for refugees, smugglers,
businessmen, diplomats and travellers from a hundred worlds. It could
be a dangerous place, but we accepted the risk because Babylon 5 was our
last, best hope for peace..."
What makes Babylon 5 unique from a Jewish standpoint, is the
presence of a primary character who is Jewish. A Jew who is not saddled
with the stereotypical characteristics we so often see when we are
portrayed on television.
That character is Commander Susan Ivanova, the space station's First
Officer and second-in-command. It is said of her, she was born August
30, 2230 in St. Petersburg, Russia, joined the EarthForce in 2247 and
graduated from Officer's Training School in the year 2249. Her first
assignment was to an isolated Earth Alliance outpost on Jupiter's moon,
Lo, in 2250; she was assigned to the Babylon 5 space station in the year
2257, as a Lieutenant Commander, and then appointed its First Officer,
with the rank of Commander in the year 2159.
Ivanova is played by Claudia Christian, a versatile 31-year-old actress
with a long list of movie and television credits to her name. Claudia
brings to her character a winning smile and a caustic wit that becomes
part of her character's persona - a no-nonsense combat pilot with an
exemplary military record and the strong convictions to speak her mind
when she deems it necessary. The two are perfectly suited for each other
and this makes for a strong, characterization on the screen.
The Jewish presence on board Babylon 5 had already been established by
the fifth episode of the first season, back in 1993. But it was done in
a very "matter of fact" manner in an episode titled, "Parliament of
Dreams."
As the storyline unfolds, we find that Ivanova's father, Andrei Ivanov,
a noted Russian scholar, has died after a long illness. She is troubled
by his passing, but doesn't return home for his funeral, citing pressing
work committments aboard the space station. And she manages to keep her
emotions in check while in the pressence of her co-workers.
A short time later, a life-long friend of the family, Rabbi Yossel
Koslov, played eloquently by veteran actor, Theodore Bikel, arrives at
the station. He comes to console Ivanova and convince her that to
achieve closure, she has to grieve for her father in the traditional way
and sit Shiva. As the story within a story reaches its conclusion,
Ivanova, with the help of Rabbi Koslov, comes to grips with her father's
death, and grieves as Jews have grieved for nearly 6000 years.
If we as Jews are perceived by people as being what they see on
television, then Stracrynski's Babylon 5 has done us a great
service, not only in one particular episode. Or with one particular
character; but in the overall concept of the show. A concept that
"delves into the realities of people who have different philosophical
beliefs and different religious beliefs."
As a Jew in the 20th century, it's reassuring to know that in at least
one corner of the futuristic world of science fiction, we, as a people,
continue to be. We have survived mankind's migration to the stars with
our Jewish traditions and values still intact, and our beliefs firm.
On a television series that is seen all over the world (including
Israel) by more than five million people every week, a strong, positive
Jewish presence on a weekly basis, is a delight to behold; be it the
sight of a serviceman acknowledging his Jewishness at a crowded
festival; the nation's First Officer solemnly sitting Shiva for a
father; a rabbi from Earth transversing the stars to council a member of
his flock; seeing a government official from Earth named Ari Ben Zayn;
watching the heroics of a visiting doctor named Laura Rosen; or
listening to that very same First Officer volunteering to help the
people of a conquered world escape total annihilation by issuing them
falsified travel documents, in a veiled reference to the heroic work of
Swedish Diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, during WWII.
As Babylon 5's ground-breaking characterizations find their way
into the media history books, we can only look forward to seeing more
manifestations of Commander Ivanova's "Jewishness."