Born in St. Petersburg, an unorthodox Jew, with a very tragic family history, Commander Ivanova is a combination of strength, competence, dry humor and sensibility. She's a very private person and keeps her life and her feelings to herself. She had to run away from people and from her own feelings so many times in her life that now it's almost impossible for her to come back. She doesn't allow herself to have any intimate relationships with anybody. Duty always comes first.

The strength of her personality is shown in the firmness of her opinions, in the fear and respect her comrades show her, and in her incontestable loyalty. Without a blink, she is ready to risk her life for her ideals. But she prefers to abandon these ideals than to betray a friend.*

Claudia's sarcastic wit and brash portrayal of Ivanova lends to the enigma that is the defining heart of the character. There are just too many shining moments from the series to count. "Ivanova is God. Ivanova is always right.", is a mantra that every good Bab5 fan says at least once a week. "No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.", is one of my personal favorites.

As a big admirer of Claudia Christian I'd have to say the role of Ivanova is one of her shining moments. But it's by far her only one. She has an incredible range that is unfortunately not taken advantage of more often.

Now in syndication reruns, Babylon 5 is a great way to enjoy CC every week.

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*some information obtained from The Claudia Christian Tropical Page