Babylon Confidential

Back on set Joe stopped calling me into his office, and I’d stay in my trailer on breaks and head home straight after work. We’d shot the last episode of the series, “Sleeping in Light,” and were preparing to shoot two Babylon 5 TV movies. Everyone had already started auditioning for other jobs. I’d even read for the character Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager, a role that ended up going to Jeri Ryan.

I really thought that any discomfort between Joe and me would vanish once the show was over. But sadly for both me and Susan Ivanova, that wouldn’t happen.

* * *

Joe had originally intended Babylon 5 to run five years. Every season our ratings got better. Internationally, our popularity was higher than ever. Under ordinary circumstances we would have been able to complete the five-year story arc without a hitch. But in the fourth season the network—Warner’s Prime Time Entertainment Network—started having financial trouble, and it looked as if we weren’t going to have the money to do a fifth. Just to be safe Joe shortened the story arc so that by the end of season four all the loose ends had been tied up. The story was over. We filmed what was supposed to be the last episode, and my manager signed me to star in a TV movie on the USA cable network called A Wing and a Prayer. It was the first time I was the star of a Movie of the Week. I’d been a co-star, guest star, and everything in between, but never “the star,” and it was a big opportunity to take a leap forward in my career.

Then we learned that TNT and Warner Brothers had come through with the money for a fifth season.

That’s when the problems started. I couldn’t sign up for twenty-two episodes because I needed the first few episodes off to do the Movie of the Week. Joe promised that he would write me out for those episodes. He’d done the same thing for some of the other cast members. I was happy with that, but the cable network wasn’t prepared to take me on if I was double booked, because it would affect their ability to get insurance. I pressed my manager, because I was committed to continuing with the show, and he got USA to agree that everything would be okay if I got a guarantee in writing from Babylonian Productions stating that I would be released for those episodes that would be shot while A Wing and a Prayer was shooting.

Joe told me that he was unable to do that. If he renegotiated in writing for me then it would open the door for the rest of the cast to do the same, and that would affect the budget and scheduling and jeopardize the entire fifth season. TNT wanted all the lead actors, which included me, committed to all twenty-two episodes.

They set a deadline for me to sign the contract. I was caught between a rock and a hard place and hoped that Joe and the producers could find some way to work around it.

Joe and the key cast members attended a sci-fi convention in the UK, and some of the studio guys were there, too. They plied us with wine and good scotch, and we went to bed at the hotel completely bombed. At 3 a.m. someone knocked on my door. It was a producer with a contract in hand. He started blabbering, pressuring me to sign. I found out later that they tried the same thing on some other cast members who still hadn’t signed on for the new season. I rang my manager in L.A. to ask him for advice.

“Claudia, no fucking way are you signing anything at 3 a.m. in a foreign country when I haven’t even seen the contract. I’ve been asking these guys to fax me something all week, and they haven’t sent me a goddamn thing!”

I packed my bags and left the UK. The deadline passed, and by the time I got home there was a fax waiting for me telling me that I was fired from the show. My manager contacted them to see if we could salvage the situation. The producer’s reply was that we were a “a day late and a dollar short.”

That’s show business. They had to move on with their production schedule. Joe had scripts to write and he needed to know if the female lead was part of the story. I understand that. I was upset that I couldn’t continue with the show, and I really felt that things could have been worked out. But at the end of the day it was something that often happens in the entertainment business—two parties who can’t reconcile due to scheduling conflicts.

What I don’t think any of us were expecting was the explosive reaction of the fans when they learned negotiations had broken down and I wouldn’t be coming back. Joe had dumped a male lead and numerous other cast members, so I don’t think he or the producers anticipated there would be much of an issue in replacing me. Instead, the blogs and forums started filling up with questions from fans demanding answers. Joe started receiving death threats. I got my share of hate mail as well. There were even fans asking questions about the technicalities of contractual agreements, show-business law, and what could be done to get me back. Sci-fi fans really are a loyal bunch.

Ultimately, losing Ivanova meant that Joe had to make substantial changes to the development of season five. An episode entitled “The Very Long Night of Susan Ivanova” was renamed “The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari” and given a completely different storyline. Even now, when I attend conventions fans often complain that my character should have had a better send-off, and I tend to agree. Writer Harlan Ellison wrote something into an episode implying that my character left for more money. I think it was a personal jab at me, and I think it was in poor taste. Ivanova and I have one more thing in common: neither of us is so career-oriented that we would choose wealth and advancement over personal loyalties.

Eventually things did die down. I shot my movie, the fifth season of Babylon 5 went ahead, and I literally traded places with Tracy Scoggins. I appeared on the Highlander series as the immortal swordswoman Katherine, while Tracy left Highlander to play Babylon 5’s Captain Lochley.

Ironically (and maybe a little irritatingly), they were able to book her initially on an eight-episode contract.

* * *

I valued my friendship with Joe, and it was sad for me that things ended the way they did. I still think of him fondly and can’t thank him enough for creating a character of such dignity and integrity that she would continue to resonate so strongly with our audience.

Below are some excerpts from a live AOL chat between Joe and me from happier times, when the series was just starting to gather a large following. It’s moments like these that I enjoy remembering and talking over with fans:3

QUESTION: Claudia, what do you see in Ivanova’s future?

CLAUDIAB5: Lots of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll and the Captaincy.

JMS AT B5: (stunned silence)

CLAUDIAB5: You told me to express my humor, Joe.

JMS AT B5: (Current needs: glass rum, gun, two bullets.)

CLAUDIAB5: On my way.

…

JMS AT B5: What most folks don’t know, btw, is that Claudia (not kidding here) has a genius IQ, and reads a massive number of books per week.

CLAUDIAB5: Here’s your fifty bucks, Joe.

JMS AT B5: I live to serve.

…

QUESTION: jms and cc: what is the general mood of the show taping? Is there a lot of joking, etc. or does everyone pretty much take things seriously?

CLAUDIAB5: We have a ball making B5. At least I do.

JMS AT B5: Simple answer to the question: as you walk down the halls of the B5 production office… the one sound you hear the most is laughter. And every day, everybody eats lunch together behind the stage, writers, actors, producers, directors, crew, everybody. People have fun, have birthdays, hang out after work… it’s a great, fun environment… and a lot of practical jokes.

And Joe was right. Babylon 5 was great fun, a ball to work on, one of the highlights of my career, and I never tire of sharing the joy we had making it with the fans who continue to watch and support it.

* * *

Despite my regrettable exit, after four years on a high-rating sci-fi series there was no shortage of work for me. Checks came in the mail every day, and life was good.