Star Trek: Deep Space Nine changed one key detail of the show to avoid another clash with their arch rivals, Babylon 5. There are various similarities between DS9 and Babylon 5, that go beyond their space station setting. Both shows are political thrillers, dealing with the nuances of intergalactic conflict, be it DS9‘s Dominion War or Babylon 5‘s Shadow War. Indeed, the similarities between DS9 and Babylon 5 led to accusations of plagiarism back in the early 1990s.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe avoided further accusations of DS9 plagiarizing Babylon 5 when writing season 2, episode 22, “The Wire”. The episode is centered on Garak (Andrew Robinson) and his shady past as a Cardassian spy. “The Wire” is a key moment for Garak’s friendship with Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), and it’s also the episode that introduces the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian intelligence agency that would go on to play a role in future DS9 episodes. However, they almost had a different name that would have risked plagiarizing Babylon 5.
In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 22, “The Wire”, it’s revealed that Garak was a member of the Obsidian Order, the primary intelligence agency of the Cardassian Union. Originally, the Obsidian Order was going to be called the Gray Order, but the name was changed when Robert Hewitt Wolfe realized that the Gray Council played a key role in five seasons of Babylon 5. The Gray Council in Babylon 5 were the main governing body of the Minbari Federation, one of the member races of the Interstellar Alliance.
Robert Hewitt Wolfe described how he approached changing the Cardassian spy ring’s name in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion:
Hewitt Wolfe has a point; the Obsidian Order sounds far cooler than the Gray Order, and its namesake is more fitting for the Cardassian Intelligence agency. Obsidian is a hard, brittle mineral which is generally black. A pitch-black harshness perfectly sums up the methodology of the Obsidian Order in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, proving Hewitt Wolfe made the right choice.
Although Babylon 5 premiered in 1994, one year after Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, DS9 was accused of plagiarizing J. Michael Straczynski’s space station show. The reason for this was that Babylon 5 had been in development in parallel with DS9, and Straczynski had pitched his show to Paramount. Not long after Paramount rejected Babylon 5, they announced Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, suspicious timing that suggested the studio took Straczynski’s ideas and adapted them to their new Star Trek TV show.
J. Michael Straczynski has always made it clear that he never believed that Rick Berman or Michael Piller had directly ripped off his ideas. However, he did believe that Paramount may have been influenced by his Babylon 5 pitch, though he declined to mount legal action. While the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5 creative teams were magnanimous toward each other, each show’s respective fan communities were far less civil, engaging in arguments about plagiarism and which show was better throughout the 1990s. 30 years later, both classic sci-fi shows can be enjoyed, freed from the petty fan arguments of the 1990s.
All episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Paramount+.