DS9 is a rip off of B5 for the same reason that all these crime dramas compete for the same air time. DS9 was something put out to compete with something that paramount and cbs felt could steal some of their market share. In show business its all about numbers and as you can see when one show goes on the air on one network there is a virtual carbon copy of it on another. CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox have been doing this for years. J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of B5, attempted to sell his idea for B5 to Paramount in 1989 but was rejected. He provided Paramount with the series bible, indepth character profiles, and a synopsis for the first 22 B5 episodes. Paramount developed DS9 at the same time WB was developing B5. The first season of DS9 was very similiar to B5's first season. Too many episodes had too much in common for it to be a mere coincidence. After all, Paramount had all the material Straczynski provided to make a rip off of B5 which they did. And besides all that, I think Roddenberry would have been ashamed of DS9. Those who knew him best, like his wife, have stated as much. The whole war plot would have disgusted him. That wasn't his vision of the future. Look back at old TOS shows like "Day of the Dove", "Arena", "The Devil in the Dark", "The Corbomite Manuever", and "Errand of Mercy" among many, many others. Roddenberry viewed warfare as crude and barbaric and used it in his own productions only to illustrate how stupid it really was. DS9 embraced it and gloried in it. Gene wouldn't have approved. Voyager had way too much battle in it as well. Enterprise started well, but finished badly and like the last two series became a "OK Coral" show with bullets flying.