If it were only a matter of set design, you wouldn't hear
 a peep from me.  For what I hope will be the last time, here's
 how it lays down:

              BABYLON 5                       DEEP SPACE 9
 Commander Sinclair                        Commander Sisko
 Casino                                    Casino
 Bar                                       Bar
 Female second in command                  Female second in command
 Shapechanger in original script           Shapechanger in pilot script
 Located near a jump-point (warp)          Located near wormhole (warp)
 Number-designated space station           Number-designated space station
 Hookers                                   Hookers
 Similar prosthetics                       Similar prosthetics
 Similar sets                              Similar sets
 Female 2nd fending off attack at end      Female 2nd fending off attack
 Bazaar                                    Promenade
 Cmdr. haunted by recent war               Cmdr. haunted by recent battle
 Cmdr. is unmarried                        Cmdr. is (now) unmarried
 Freeport/port of call                     Freeport/port of call
 Travelers/diplomats/smugglers             Travelers/diplomats/smugglers

      Those are the highlights.  There's more, but this point has
 been belabored far more than is reasonable at this point.  With
 one bit of new information...I've heard that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry
 has been quoted as saying that B5 has borrowed from DS9...now I
 can't personally confirm this, I wasn't there, but if those who
 sent me private mail testifying to this want to come forward, they're
 welcome to do so (though no onus is attached if they don't).

      Can such things happen by accident?  That's more a question for
 others.

      Now, again, I don't want to go on about this in extremis.  The
 only reason I replied was because you asked, and seemed to think that
 the only similarity was in the set design.  As has been stated
 (repeatedly), they will be very different shows, in many ways, in
 terms of the stories and the characters and the fact that we just
 operate in a completely different fictional universe.

      So that said...let's move on.  In future, if anyone wants to
 get the details, they should be referred to this message.  There's
 going to be a lot to discuss, and a lot of new stuff coming down
 the road in terms of B5, and I'd hate for this topic to end up
 just a constant rehashing of point-by-point similarities.  Best to
 talk of B5 in terms of B5, not via comparison to others.

                                                                  jms