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They were two of the most ambitious sci-fi series of the 90s, both set on a pivotal space station. This video explores the fascinating parallels, from galactic factions and faster-than-light travel to the troubled commanders at their helms. Discover 11 similarities between DS9 and B5.
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00:00Hello everyone, Sean Ferry here for Trek Culture, and it is finally time to take on the big elephant in
00:07the room.
00:08I know, I know. You've been going, why haven't we done this? Why haven't we finally put this to bed?
00:15The reason is, look, it was busy, and then, you know, I had a problem with the plumbing, so I
00:19had to get a plumber in for that,
00:20and it just, it just, everything got all on top of me.
00:23Alright, so I'm sorry it's taken us this long, but let's do it.
00:25So, let's go through 11 huge comparisons between Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5.
00:33Number 11, Inspiration.
00:35Brandon Tartikoff suggested putting Deep Space Nine on a space station to differentiate it from the original series in the
00:42next generation.
00:43Where they would both have been wagon-trained to the stars, this was going to be the Rifleman in space.
00:48Other inspirations for DS9 include World War II, the Cold War, the American Red Scare, and even the Kon-Tiki
00:58voyage of Thor Heyerdahl.
01:00More inspiration came from film and literary genres.
01:03With cyberpunk, with film noir, with mystery thrillers, obviously sci-fi, psychological thrillers, pulp, even Greek and Shakespearean tragedy.
01:11J. Michael Straczynski, who was the creator of Babylon 5, he elected to set Babylon 5 in a space station
01:19rather than exploring different alien planets every week.
01:23Quite frankly, it was going to bring down the bloated budgets that often go into sci-fi series.
01:29Straczynski wanted his show to have the scope of epics like Dune, The Lord of the Rings, and even the
01:36Foundation series.
01:37Where, week by week, you could see the direct effect that each week's actions have on the characters.
01:45He would also take inspiration from mainstream dramas like Hill Street Blues for his character development.
01:49He was inspired by notes on mythology, sociology, psychology, history, and science.
01:55More specific references include the legend of King Arthur, Roman mythology, Shakespearean tragedy, Babylonian mythology, and Christian history.
02:05Number 10, Galactic Factions.
02:07Deep Space Nine's writers populated the show with such, you know, species as the Klingons, the Romulans, the Bajorans, the
02:15Cardassians, and of course the Federation.
02:17They were already established in earlier Star Trek.
02:20Deep Space Nine allowed more room to explore their historical, sociological, and religious interconnections.
02:29They also introduced new factions like Section 31, the Secret Police of the Federation,
02:34the Dominion, who would of course go on to become the main antagonists of the show,
02:38and the Prophets, who were worshipped by the Bajorans and their counterparts, the Par Vraith.
02:44Straczynski, on the other hand, introduced factions that were more reminiscent of high fantasy.
02:48The First Ones were the first inhabitants of the Milky Way galaxy to gain sentience.
02:52The first of these, the immortal Lorian and the Firstborn, made contact with other species and helped them to grow
02:58and develop.
02:59Taking inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien's High Elves, the First Ones would then leave the Milky Way galaxy, passing
03:07out beyond the Galactic Rim.
03:09Lorian withdrew to the planet Zahadun.
03:11The Vorlons, who represented order, and the Shadows, who represented chaos, would then stay behind to guide the so-called
03:19Younger Races.
03:20The Younger Races included the Earth Alliance, the Imperialistic Centauri, the once peaceful but now expansionist Narns,
03:29the spiritual but aggressive when provoked Minbari, and varied races across the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.
03:35Number 9. Space Stations
03:37Built in the 23rd century, Babylon 5 was built after the close of the Earth-Minbari War,
03:44and it was the last of a series of Babylon stations built as part of a project to foster galactic
03:49peace.
03:50Financed by the galaxy's five ruling powers, it was governed by an advisory council consisting of their ambassadors and the
03:57League of Non-Aligned Worlds.
03:58Earth Force, the Earth Alliance's military, handled the station's administration and defence.
04:03An O'Neill Cylinder, five miles long, Babylon 5 was built near the planet of Epsilon 2.
04:09It rotated to create artificial gravity, but it could adapt to different atmospheric settings when different races and species came
04:17aboard.
04:18It was located near a jump gate, which is a huge structure that gave access to hyperspace.
04:23It was a city of around 250,000 people. It served as both a port in a storm, but a
04:29home away from home for all types of creatures and characters throughout the galaxy.
04:34If Babylon 5 was like a floating city, then DS9 is more like a town.
04:40That is, it had about 7,000 occupants versus the 250,000 of Babylon 5.
04:45It was originally built as an ore refinery by the Cardassians via Bajoran slave labour during the Cardassian occupation of
04:52Bajor.
04:53It fell under Bajoran administration once the Cardassians pulled out, who then invited the Federation to come in and support
04:59them during their application for Federation membership.
05:02With the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole, it would then become a port and one of the last stops or
05:08first stops in the Alpha Quadrant.
05:11Number 8. Bajoran wormhole versus hyperspace.
05:14At the time of the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole, scientists were estimating it would take the fastest starship around
05:2167 years to make the 90,000 light-year journey between the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants.
05:28The Bajoran wormhole, which was the first stable wormhole ever discovered, made that decades-long journey almost instantaneous.
05:36To the Bajorans, the wormhole was the home to the prophets, the celestial beings that guided over their people.
05:42Most other cultures in the Alpha Quadrant and Gamma Quadrant saw it as merely a passageway.
05:48The downside of having a stable wormhole is that it made the Alpha Quadrant vulnerable to attack from forces from
05:54the Gamma Quadrant, such as the Dominion.
05:56While Deep Space Nine's wormhole was two fixed points at either end, Babylon 5's junk gates could connect any two
06:04points throughout the galaxy.
06:06Hyperspace travel was depicted as being more dangerous than wormhole travel, and this was depicted throughout several episodes, where ships
06:14would travel between the two jump poids via tachyon beams.
06:18This added some dramatic stakes in some of the episodes.
06:22Ships that got lost in the beacons were technically lost forever.
06:26However, this could be sorted by a series of ships connected to each other, with one connected to the lost
06:34ship.
06:35However, the longer a ship remained lost, the more likely it was that it would never be found.
06:40Number seven.
06:41Commanding Officers with Emotional Baggage.
06:43Babylon 5's first commanding officer, Michael O'Hare's Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, was deeply troubled by missing memories from his service
06:53and the Battle of the Line.
06:54This was the Earth Alliance's last-ditch attempt to stop the Minbari invasion of Earth.
06:59He would later learn that the Minbari had been capturing humans, but he would also learn that Minbari's souls were
07:05being reborn in human bodies, which would then force the Minbari to surrender.
07:10When O'Hare departed, Bruce Bockleitner's Captain John Sheridan took over.
07:15Nicknamed Starkiller, Sheridan destroyed the Minbari flagship.
07:19With the loss of the Black Star, the Minbari grudgingly accepted his command of Babylon 5.
07:25He was burdened by the loss of his wife, an archaeologist who was killed during a mysterious expedition to the
07:31planet Zahadun.
07:33Tracy Scoggins' Captain Elizabeth Lockley took over command after Sheridan was promoted to President of the Alliance.
07:40A recovering alcoholic and drug addict, she was haunted by the loss of her friend Zoe to an overdose and
07:46her tumultuous relationship with her alcoholic father.
07:49Deep Space Nine's only commanding officer for the majority of the show, Benjamin Sisko, arrived on the station full of
07:57the trauma and loss that he had experienced during the Battle of Wolf 359,
08:00with the destruction of his ship, the USS Saratoga, and the loss of his wife, Jennifer.
08:05Though in Emissary he is depicted as a man who is already on his way out of the service,
08:10an experience with the prophets allows him to accept the trauma he was living with and then move on in
08:18a way to help the Bajorans.
08:20Now a single father raising Jake alone, he is able to deal with much of his trauma, even going so
08:28far as to shake the hand of Jean-Luc Picard.
08:31Number 6. Conflict
08:33Conflict is the heart of good drama.
08:35However, when The Next Generation was going into production, Gene Roddenberry issued a directive that said there would be no
08:42interpersonal conflict between Starfleet officers.
08:44You know, sounds like a great version of the future, and an absolute pain in the hoop for the writers.
08:49To get around this, when Deep Space Nine was being developed, there was a huge influx of non-Starfleet officers.
08:58You had Odo, you'd Quark, Rom, Nog, even Keiko O'Brien, Kai Winn, not least of all, Kieran O'Reese.
09:06From the off, Emissary depicted Kieran O'Reese very anti-Starfleet,
09:11as she initially took them to be a simple replacement for the Cardassians who had just left.
09:16Sisko's ascension to becoming the Emissary of the Prophets did nothing to endear him to win a Dami,
09:22who would consistently attempt to work against him.
09:25Episodes like The Search would highlight Starfleet's mistrust of Odo,
09:29while The Assignment would see Quark and Rom struggling with what they believed were Starfleet ideals.
09:36Straczynski and Babylon 5 had no such Roddenberry-esque edict to deal with and could expand on this much further.
09:44Survivors, Death Walker, and Interludes and Examinations depicted Earth Force personnel clashing over
09:50new policy, matters of principle, and addiction.
09:54Mind War, Spider in the Web, and Dust to Dust established the animosity between the Babylon 5 crew
10:00and the Psy Corpse operative Alfred Bester.
10:04Gropos Believers and the Quality of Mercy depicted Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Franklin's
10:10struggles with his father, religious beliefs, and other medical practitioners.
10:15By any means necessary, voices of authority, and, and for now a word,
10:21depicted conflicts between Sinclair and the Labour leaders, his own government,
10:25Sheridan and the increasingly fascist government, and Babylon 5 and the media.
10:31Number 5
10:31So, what's the story?
10:34Straczynski planned Babylon 5 like a novel for television, with each season being a chapter.
10:40As a way of dealing with actors being unavailable for certain episodes,
10:44he wrote back doors into each character that would allow them to disappear with minimal impact on the story.
10:51He also foreshadowed future season's long-running arcs with several standalone episodes in the first season.
10:57For example, the antagonistic relationship between Centauri ambassador Londo Malari and Narn ambassador Gekar
11:04foreshadowed the upcoming war between their two peoples.
11:08The arrival of the mysterious Mr. Morden laid the groundwork for the show's major arc, the Shadow War.
11:14The antagonism between Babylon 5's first officer, Susan Ivanova, and the telepath Talia Winters
11:20set up the relationship that would go on between Babylon 5's crew and Alfred Bester.
11:25He was, of course, an agent of the Psy Corps, an Earth agency that trained and recruited telepaths.
11:31Much of Deep Space Nine's first season focused on standalone episodes,
11:35though both Ira Stephen Bear and Ronald D. Moore pushed for more serialization.
11:39Some of the major plot lines of Deep Space Nine include, obviously, the Dominion War,
11:43the Bajoran recovery after the Cardassian occupation,
11:47Quark's relationship with other Ferengi.
11:50Such episodes as Emissary, Past Prologue, and Duet, not to mention In the Hands of the Prophets,
11:56all serve to set up these long-running storylines.
12:00Number four.
12:01A leads to B, which leads to C, which leads to A.
12:04A causality loop is a type of temporal paradox where Event A leads to Event B leads to Event C,
12:11which leads back to Event A.
12:13Both Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine used this in their stories.
12:18In Deep Space Nine, it's revealed that the United Federation of Planets wouldn't exist
12:22if it hadn't been for the presence of Sisko, Bashir, and Dax in early 21st century Earth.
12:29They, in the episode's past tense, are thrown back to San Francisco,
12:34where Sisko and Bashir find themselves inside a sanctuary district.
12:38Unfortunately, a historical figure, Gabriel Bell, is killed at a scuffle,
12:42but Sisko is able to step into the role and ensure that history runs as it was meant to.
12:48In Babylon 5, the Minbari ended the Earth-Minbari War
12:52after it examined people like Jeffrey Sinclair and other pilots
12:56and discovered that Minbari's souls were being reincarnated in humans.
13:00They also discovered that Sinclair was an important leader from their past
13:04who had in fact unified their culture.
13:07Sinclair only became this leader because he travelled back in time during the Shadow War.
13:13If he hadn't, Minbari society wouldn't have become the unified culture
13:17that launched the Earth-Minbari War.
13:19Number 3. Let Us Pray
13:22Although Deep Space Nine's humans tended to lean toward Roddenberry's atheistic look at the future,
13:28the alien species had no such restriction.
13:31Religion had unified the Bajorans under the Cardassian occupation
13:35with their faith in the Prophets being, as is often described,
13:40one of the only things that allowed many of them to survive their brutal treatment.
13:45In the cards and Treachery, Faith, and the Great River
13:48displayed the Ferengi belief in the Great Material Continuum.
13:51The Sword of Kalas, Soldiers of the Empire, and your Cordially Invited
13:55all discussed the Klingon belief in their gods,
13:58who, to be fair, they had risen up and slain millennia before.
14:01So, you know, peaks and troughs.
14:03Although himself an atheist,
14:05Straczynski believed that omitting human religions would not be realistic in the future,
14:09so characters in Babylon 5 followed Catholicism, Judaism,
14:12and a new religion that was called Foundationism.
14:16Alien religions on the show included the pantheistic views of the Mimbari and the Narn,
14:22and the Bacchanalian views of the Centauri.
14:25Humans and aliens related through religion.
14:27In Grail, Delenn and her aide, Lenier, welcomed a Grail seeker as a true seeker.
14:35In Convictions, an order of monks settled on the station
14:38with a search for alien religions and names for God.
14:43Religion, naturally, caused interpersonal and inner conflict.
14:48Dr. Franklin's disregard for alien beliefs had tragic results.
14:51In By Any Means Necessary, Gakar and Londo battled over a sacred plant.
14:57Both Gakar and Dr. Franklin confronted their past via spiritual experiences.
15:03Number two, do as we say.
15:06Societies on both shows imposed rigid restrictions on individuals.
15:10These include the Ferengi defining themselves by their business acumen
15:13and barring women from wearing clothing,
15:16the Centauri putting social status ahead of personal welfare,
15:20the Mimbari emphasizing self-sacrifice,
15:22and the Cardassian devotion to the state.
15:25Section 31 claimed that protecting the Federation overruled all other considerations,
15:32which, in the run of the show,
15:34showed them acting in some pretty despicable ways
15:36for what they would consider the greater good.
15:39On Babylon 5, Earth's government required that any telepath must join the Psi Corps
15:45or take telepathy-blocking drugs instead.
15:48The Corps dominated their members' lives,
15:50dictating who they got married to and who they could even spend time with.
15:54They carried out questionable covert activity,
15:57all in the name of protecting the government.
15:59The Dominion were said to have the perfect order,
16:02with the Founders on top,
16:03the diplomatic corps of the Vorta,
16:06and the brutal fist of the Jem'Hadar.
16:08The Shadows believed that evolution was driven by conflict.
16:12Seeing identity as a product of ambition,
16:14they would ask people,
16:15what do you want?
16:16They would then incite wars between those who sought glory and profit.
16:20The Vorlons sought unquestionable obedience.
16:24Viewing identity as a tool for shaping personal goals,
16:26they would ask,
16:27who are you to force introspection?
16:30Number one,
16:31war.
16:31What is it good for?
16:33Straczynski was interested in what led to war,
16:36the effects of war,
16:37and the aftermath of war.
16:39Deathwalker explored the practical and ethical ramifications of punishing a war criminal.
16:45A late delivery from Avalon explained how cultural misunderstandings could incite war.
16:50The Narn Centauri War explained how old grudges could lead to fresh conflict.
16:55The Shadow War explored how powerful beings like the Vorlons and the Shadows
16:59could use less developed puppet races, if you will,
17:03to play out their conflict.
17:05Although this arc underpinned the first three seasons,
17:08Straczynski ended it in the fourth season,
17:10so that he could focus on the aftermath of the Earth Alliance Civil War,
17:15the creation of an interstellar alliance,
17:17and the Telepath War.
17:18During the Dominion War,
17:20Deep Space Nine opted to take a grittier approach
17:23than both Babylon 5 and its own earlier iterations.
17:27In fact, Ronald D. Moore would often have to fight Rick Berman
17:30over how explicit they wanted to depict the violence,
17:34the outcome of battles,
17:36and of course, the cost of war.
17:38The Siege of AR-558 remains one of the bleakest episodes of Star Trek
17:43that sees Nog lose a leg when he is shot by the Gem of Hadar.
17:47In It's Only a Paper Moon,
17:50the PTSD that Nog goes through after this is explored in great detail,
17:55and of course, In the Pale Moonlight,
17:57focuses on Captain Sisko's efforts to bring the Romulans into the war,
18:01and exactly what it cost him personally to do it.
18:05As you can see, there are many similarities between Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine,
18:09but also enough differences.
18:11They are two shows that completely stand on their own.
18:14What did you think?
18:15Let us know in the comments below,
18:16and let us know over on social media.
18:17You can find us on Twitter, Blue Sky, and TikTok at TrekCulture.
18:20We're on Instagram at TrekCultureYT.
18:22Thank you so much to Frank Chavez,
18:24who wrote this original article.
18:25Please do check that out on whatculture.com.
18:27I have been Sean Ferrick.
18:28You can find me on the various socials at Sean Ferrick.
18:31Until I see you again,
18:32look after yourselves,
18:33live long and prosper,
18:35and I'll talk to you soon.
18:36Thanks very much.