The problem I've seen with this argument is that all of the similarities are rather cosmetic. That list of so-called similarities between the pilots doesn't really make much sense to me, especially since most of those things were seen in Star Trek before DS9 was even brought to the table. Some are forced, others are pulled out of thin air, while some are indeed legitimate. The prosthetics (actually most heavily pioneered for Star Wars, while we're on the subject) are common to sci-fi that relies on actors rather than special effects. There are only so many ways to do "alien" and still have a human playing them. And truth be told, the prosthetics on the B5 trailer are a moot point anyway, since most were completely reworked for the show. The whole ordinally-named station thing is just plain stupid, never mind that it first appeared in Star Trek way back in the TOS days anyway. But I'm siding with the Trek argument here, and that's not what I'm trying to do. What I really would like to point out is that the two shows - and their stories - are very different despite some apparent similarities, and I'm not about to believe that anything was copied outright (one way or the other) without more than one person's rantings who has been connected with either project. I'm sorry, but I don't have the esteem of JMS to let his word be the basis for a crusade. If you want to compare the shows based on their qualities, then fine. But this is not a worthy debate since it's going the way of ATI vs NVidia, PC-Apple, etc. My honest opinion on the original thread subject is this: JMS does not do trek. His style wouldn't fit. Let him do projects where he can break his own ground, it'll be more enjoyable that way.