Dunno if this was shared before, but the DS9–B5 thing has a lengthy writeup on Plagiarism Today (link).
Babylon 5 and the absurdities of the plagiarism charge
- Thread starter Bad Thoughts
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Good article.
I agree that instead of focusing on the similarities, which a vast number can be attributed to things havibg nothing to do with plagiarism, you focus on the differences. And there are a LOT of differences between them.
I agree that instead of focusing on the similarities, which a vast number can be attributed to things havibg nothing to do with plagiarism, you focus on the differences. And there are a LOT of differences between them.
Half way through, Sisko and Sinclair both go bald.
Yes, and often the reason is to mock things. That comment was meant to point out the absurdity of comparing the characters at all. You guys may wish to lighten up.
I apologize -- this is the Internet and parody is dead, so sometimes I just can't tell when someone's speaking ironically.
I should've used an emoticon. 
Anyway, thanks.
Anyway, thanks.
I should've used an emoticon.
No worries! And now that I know you were kidding, it's damn funny.
Ah, both shows rip off the 1989 film Arena. (link) 
(Which is set on a space station with a cross section of aliens and has actors from both B5 and DS9, including Shimmerman as an alien with loud clothing.)
(Which is set on a space station with a cross section of aliens and has actors from both B5 and DS9, including Shimmerman as an alien with loud clothing.)
The greatest absurdity in this case is, that somebody always comes up with this topic - even decades, after the shows were shown on TV for the first time. To compare them, for me, there is nothing more to say than: I love them both, and I love B5 a little bit more because of the (in my eyes: ingenious) way, JMS placed hints for the future in earlier seasons.
So very recently I read somewhere about some of the thought processes behind the development of DS9. After the launch and success of TNG, the producers saw that fans were willing to get behind a Trek that didn't have the original crew, so when they were thinking of the next spin-off they thought about doing away with the trekking part and have the crew remain stationary. Now to me, this seems like a very reasonable development, trying something different to what has come before (especially with TNG still in production, once it wrapped then they got right into developing another starship-based series), the fact it coincides with another sci-fi show taking place primarily on a station seems more coincidental to me.
I tnink it's the many other similarities that cause these charges to come up. It's not just the space station setting, it's the station commander having some special destiny tied to aliens (no other Trek series had that), and a long multi-season war arc (something no other Trek show did), etc. I'm not saying this is so, just that I see where the perception might come from.
This is a tell: Star Trek is only ever meant to be one thing, no one may ever change it, no one may ever think if changing it.
Most of those parallels are either the result of long-term industry trends (e.g., the move towards serialization), and/or grow logically out of the limitations placed upon the show by its setting (i.e., if you can't boldly go, you've got to face the consequences of staying in one place, which organically lends itself to arcs); or, they're the logical results of needing to find a way to distinguish yourself from TNG (i.e., both being set on space stations, both being more deconstructionist of TNG utopianism).
A tell of what? I was merely stating why some people might see more similarities than it merely being set on a station.
It is akin to squatting: claiming a group has certain rights because others have not claimed them before. There is nothing special about those things you noted, and the fact that J Michael Straczynski may have used them 60 seconds before Michael Piller means nothing.
I didn't say otherwise.
Also, there´s the possibillity that Straczynski (maybe unconsciously) might´ve ripped off Valérian and Laureline. But that we can shove under "everything is based on something".
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JMS setting his concept on a station makes sense, had he made Babylon 5 a starship then he'd probably have been berated and accused of ripping off Trek. Since no sci-fi shows at the time were on stations, making that his setting would allow it to stand apart from the rest. The Trek producers were then looking for a way to make another spin-off stand out from TOS and TNG so, likewise, making it a station immediately does that.
So either way they respective creators are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
So either way they respective creators are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
In the damned if you don't category, JMS was following some common Star Trek tropes regardless: a uniformed, Earth-based service that is charged with defense, diplomacy and administration. 1-4 on the callsheet are officers and one alien.
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