Editing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (section)

== ''Babylon 5'' controversy ==
''[[Babylon 5]]'', another science-fiction series with a similar premise, set on a space station, aired around the same period as ''Deep Space Nine''. ''Babylon 5'' creator [[J. Michael Straczynski]] indicated that [[Paramount Television]] was aware of his concept as early as 1989,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-14441 |title=J. Michael Straczynski post |publisher=Jmsnews.com |date=December 7, 1994 |access-date=November 7, 2010}}</ref> when he attempted to sell the show to the studio and provided them with the series [[Bible (writing)|bible]], pilot script, artwork, lengthy character background histories, and plot synopses for 22 "or so planned episodes taken from the overall course of the planned series".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-7864 |title=J. Michael Straczynski commenting on B5's attempted sale to Paramount + B5/DS9 similarities |publisher=Jmsnews.com |date=January 13, 1996 |access-date=November 7, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=April 8, 2003 |last=Sylvain |first=Nicholas |url=https://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/ds9season1.php |title=Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Season One (review) |publisher=DVD Verdict |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031011154632/https://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/ds9season1.php |archive-date=2003-10-11 }}</ref>

Paramount declined to produce ''Babylon 5'', but later announced that ''Deep Space Nine'' was in development, two months after Warner Bros. announced its plans for ''Babylon 5''. Straczynski stated that though he was confident that ''Deep Space Nine'' producer/creators Rick Berman and Michael Piller had not seen this material, he suspected that Paramount executives used his bible and scripts to steer the development of ''Deep Space Nine''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-7652 |title=J. Michael Straczynski post from 1992 |publisher=The J. Michael Straczynski Message Archive (jms.com) |date=February 4, 1992 |access-date=October 26, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-3367 |title=J. Michael Straczynski post from 1997 |publisher=The J. Michael Straczynski Message Archive (jms.com) |date=September 15, 1997 |access-date=November 16, 2007 |archive-date=December 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207130339/http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-3367 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="GEnie">{{cite web|title=B5 information from GEnie|url=http://mirrors.ntua.gr/b5/GEnie/jms92-02|publisher=National Technical University of Athens|access-date=July 6, 2016}}</ref> He and Warner Bros did not file suit against Paramount, largely because Straczynski did not see it as a productive option, with negative repercussions for both TV series. In 1993, he responded to a ''Deep Space Nine'' fan who saw the lack of legal action as proof that Straczynski's allegation was unfounded with: "If there is any (to use your term) winking and nudging going on, it's on the level of 'Okay, YOU (Paramount) know what happened, and *I* know what happened, but let's try to be grownup about it for now,' though I must say that the shapechanging thing nearly tipped me back over the edge again. If there are no more major similarities that crop up in the next few weeks or months, with luck we can continue that way."<ref name="GEnie"/>