A few months ago, or maybe longer, who can keep track of time anymore, the Comet network began airing reruns of Babylon 5.
It was conceived and presented like a grand scifi novel, not at all like episodic tv of the time. As the show went along, it built an entire universe of complex characters with complex motivations whose loyalties and understandings would change organically throughout the course of the show.
Years later, Lost would try to hold down something similar, but JJ Abrams’ revolving door of writers and producers could never master a coherent vision. And as polished as the 2004 reboot of Battlestar Galactica was (and it owed more than a little to B5′s operatic tone, though it was produced by a Star Trek alumnus), nothing could quite match the scope and originality of Babylon 5.
J. Michael Straczynski may very well have made the greatest scifi series ever.
While there were many wonderful and colorful characters on Babylon 5, I think many would agree the standout was Ambassador Delenn, a mysterious representative of the Minbari people, who would undergo a dramatic physical transformation (literally emerging from a chrysalis like a butterfly) so as to merge human and Minbari species. She was known as “the one who is” and provided a voice of wisdom and comfort, a true spiritual leader to those around her.
No mere romantic foil, Delenn was something new in the presentation of female leadership: she may not have been a warrior, but she fought with wit and cunning, a diplomatic charm and charisma that won hearts and minds. Delenn was a character who understood sacrifice, for herself and for others and never questioned when it was necessary. Her strong belief in her purpose and, later, in her joining with John Sheridan, was an unbroken thread that held her world together.
Straczynski wrote some of the best material for the show centering on Delenn and he couldn’t have cast a better actor to deliver his words.
Delenn was played with fierce intelligence and otherworldly gravity by Yugoslavian actress Mira Furlan. At 13 I remember being smitten with her accent and her smile, but mostly just carried away with her performance: while almost all of the human characters on the show were recognizable American stereotypes, Furlan made you believe Delenn was truly from Somewhere Else. Learning how her experiences during the Serb/Croatian War helped her in her interpretation of Delenn, only adds to the seamless intensity and soulfulness of her performance. She was one of a kind and there have been no characters to come close to Delenn and no performance like Furlan’s, either.
This was posted on Mira’s Twitter earlier tonight:
Straczynski confirmed not long after that Mira has passed away, only 65 years old.
Here is his memorial to Furlan (for convenience, I’ve typed it up below each passage):
When Mira Furlan came to audition for Babylon 5, her home country of Yugoslavia was in turmoil and shattering into two separate countries. During our first meeting, we spoke about her work and her life, and I learned that she had been part of a touring theater group that continued to cross borders of the disintegrating country despite receiving death threats from both sides in the civil war.
I expressed my admiration for her courage, but she shrugged and waved it off. “What’s the worst that could have happened? Yes, they could have killed me. So what? Art should have no borders.”
Very few people knew that side of Mira: the fiery, fearless side that fought ceaselessly for her art. She brought all those traits to Delenn, and in turn I tried to write speeches for her that would allow her to comment on what was happening to her homeland without calling it out by name. I guess I must have done it correctly because one day during the Minbari Civil War arc, she appeared in my office door, a cup of tea in one hand, in full makeup but wearing a pull-over robe from wardrobe, and said, “So, how long did you live in Yugoslavia?”
Her husband, Goran, has always been the rock of her life. He was an is a gentleman, quick to laughter, an accomplished director and as much an artist as Mira, which made them the ideal couple. I’ve rarely seen two people so utterly meant for each other.
I remember the last time Mira appeared at a convention with me and some of the other cast. She didn’t quite understand what it was all about, but gamely did her part. When the audience question period came along, a fan held up his hand and said to Mira, whose Yugoslavian accent was much stronger in the beginning than it became with time, “Say ‘moose and squirrel.’”
She had no idea what this meant, but she said “Moose and Squirrel” and the room erupted in one of the longest sustained laughs I’ve ever seen at a convention. We explained it later, but really, all that mattered to her was that the audience had been happy.
We’ve known for some time now that Mira’s health was failing…I’m not sure that this is the right time or place to discuss the sheer randomness of what happened…and have all been dreading this day. We kept hoping she would improve. In a group email sent to the cast a while back, I heard that she might be improving.
Then came the call from [actor] Peter Jurasik (Londo Molari). “I wanted you to know that Goran’s bringing Mira home,” he said.
“Do you mean, he’s bringing her home as in she’s better now, or is he bringing her home as in he’s bringing her home?”
“He’s bringing her home, Joe,” Peter said, and I could hear the catch in his voice as he said it.
And as a family, we held our counsel, and began the long wait, which has now ended.
Mira was a good and kind woman, a stunningly talented performer, and a friend to everyone in the cast and crew of Babylon 5, and we are all devastated by the news. The cast members with whom she was especially close since the show’s end will need room to process this moment, so please be gentle if they are unresponsive for a time. We have been down this road too often, and it only gets harder.
If you are a fan of Mira’s work, fire up those special moments when she shook the heavens and relive the art she brought to her work. For any actor, that is the best tribute possible: for the work to endure. As much as this is a time to grieve, it is also a time to celebrate her life and her courage.
All of our thoughts tonight will be on the memories she left behind, the dazzling light of her performances, the breadth of her talent, and the heart and love she shared with Goran, and with all of you.
izzy806
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