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Now I know Babylon 5 isn't up there with Star Wars and Star Trek (or even Firefly, BSG, and Stargate) in terms of popularity (which is a travesty), but there are so many similarities between B5 and Mass Effect that it can't be a mere coincidence.

Both of them feature a unified Earth that still maintains multiple unique cultures - this is a weaker point as it occurs in most SciFi.

Both make heavy use of 'jump gates' (or derivatives) to travel the galaxy - not exactly the strongest point, but it is notable that no other popular scifi work (of the last 30 years) features this.

Both feature an extensive amounts of individuals with 'super powers' (Biotics and Telepaths) - granted Star Wars features Jedi, but they are not nearly as widespread as biotics and telepaths are. It is also notable that both works feature 'dust' that can accentuate or grant biotic/telepathic abilities and both works have said individuals removed from the general populace and funneled through special schools. Also, they both have renegade human factions experimenting on biotics/telepaths in order to increase their power.

Both feature a space station that has a security council and representatives of all major worlds - notable that this isn't even featured in DS9 as said space station is not a major political hub. It is also notable that the Citadel is an ancient artifact and that the planet B5 is orbiting has an incredibly ancient and powerful machine built into it.

Both feature a form of a first contact war - granted, the war in B5 is significantly more devastating than the one in Mass Effect. It is also notable that races in B5 were greatly impressed by the bravery of humanity and races in Mass Effect were impressed/worried about the amazing military capabilities of the relatively new human fleet.

Both hammer you over the head with the 'humans are special' trope - In B5 humans are being born with 'minbari souls' and have advanced rapidly into becoming one of the major galactic powers. In Mass Effect human military doctrine is arguably superior to other races and they also rapidly became a galactic power.

Both feature an ancient powerful race and a cycle of destruction - The Shadows and Reapers are eerily similar especially in the relatively unorthodox structure of their ships (Shadows resembling spiders and Reapers resembling cuttlefish). The primary difference between the two is that the Shadows are agents of chaos and the Reapers are allegedly agents of order.

Both of these ancient powerful races have other significant similarities - They both possess a great degree of mind control/influence over weaker races to the point where they are able to cause divisions within the various governments. Also, both works feature a human faction falling under control of these races and producing ships/other units with a mixture of human/Shadow/Reaper technology.

There are some passing similarities between the alien races - Narn were 'uplifted' and then devastated by the Centauri just as the Krogans were 'uplifted' and punished with the genophage by the Salarians and Turians. The Asari and Minbari are relatively neutral, somewhat reclusive (at least about their culture), more advanced and powerful than their fellow races, and possess more powerful biotics/telepaths than other races. Also, there is a significant romantic relationship between an Asari/Minbari and each series respective lead character. Of course in Mass Effect you can choose an alternate route, but I think the Liara romance is possibly the canon one.

There are interesting similarities between both series lead characters - Both Shepard and Sheridan are career soldiers who had been involved in significant conflicts prior to each series. They are both brought back from the dead and are tasked with unifying the races against the Shadows/Reapers. Also, both the Shadows and Reapers respect this individual and attempt to recruit them to their cause. Also, both of these individuals are the first ones in their respective works to successfully destroy a Shadow/Reaper vessel.

Both feature a powerful, advanced, and small warship from which the lead launches the majority of his actions - The Normandy SR1/SR2 and the White Star. DS9 also features another powerful frigate, the USS Defiant. It is notable that DS9 borrowed heavily from B5 as JMS pitched his story to Warner Bros before choosing a different company to pursue the production of B5 with.

Both feature an elite, multi species organization - The Rangers and the Spectres.

Both place heavy emphasis on foreshadowing the coming invasion based on ancient sources - G'kar refers the Shadows mentioned and illustrated in the Book of G'Quan and the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime blasts Shepard with a vision of the Reaper invasion.

Both of the ancient evil races employ a younger race as a secondary force - In B5 this is the Drakh, in Mass Effect the Collectors.



These are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. The only reason I bring it up is because a lot of these elements are fairly unique to the two works. It may be coincidence, but I think it is likely that there are few B5 fans at Bioware.

Not surprising. Mass Effect is basically a mass collection of generic sci-fi ideas bundled together into a huge package with some nice wrapping paper and a big bow delivered by a former postman who took an arrow to the knee. So was B5 (maybe not the Skyrim meme part though).

LordofHats wrote:Not surprising. Mass Effect is basically a mass collection of generic sci-fi ideas bundled together into a huge package with some nice wrapping paper and a big bow delivered by a former postman who took an arrow to the knee. So was B5 (maybe not the Skyrim meme part though).

Actually B5's primary source of inspiration was the The Silmarillion.

Edit: Other similarities

Both the Reapers and Shadows 'harvest' other races - Reapers use the biomass to create their troops and new Reapers, Shadows use humans (and presumably other races) as living CPUs in their ships.

Both the Reapers and Shadows operate under the belief that they are meant to guide the other races be it growth through war or harvesting them to prevent their total destruction.

Both have a Lazarus Project that revives a dead/near dead human with synthetic parts. B5 uses a control chip in Mass Effect Miranda wanted to use one.

Amaya wrote:
Both have a Lazarus Project that revives a dead/near dead human with synthetic parts. B5 uses a control chip in Mass Effect Miranda wanted to use one.

When did this happen in B5? Sheridan got resurrected, but that was basically the result of magic and universe juice, not technology.

Are you thinking of of Jha'Dur?

There are a lot of similarities between B5 and ME, but I don't think they're excessive, because there are also many differences. For examples, there's no Dilgar analogue, the Shadows aren't the ultimate power in the universe, the Shadows aren't any sort of secret, and the Shadows don't seem to really cull the universe.

Most races believe that the Shadows are nothing but legends, except the Minbari and Vorlons.

http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Lazarus_Project
http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/A_Spider_in_the_Web

Season 2, episode 6.

You make a convincing case. Seems like Mr. Karpyshyn is a B5 fan although it doesn't seem like he's done any work for that franchise.

They may have had Babylon 5 influence them, certainly.

I mean, Warcraft is an offshoot of Warhammer and you see how popular that is.

B5 is by far the most obvious influence, so i have no argument with the OP. Obviously the Shadows and Reapers are FAR too similar to be coincidental. The 'first contact war' along with the vision of future humanity in general are also eerily close.

What ME is missing, imo to its great detriment, is the Mysticism (for want of a better word) in B5. I love all that stuff in the show.

Also the earth minbari war is a key part of the background in B5 yet the First contact war in ME is basically a foot note.

Oh and a quick note the Reaper general shape is based on the Phylliidae family, not cuttlefish.

EDIT: Another thing they should've stole from B5:
The shadow's Motivation. I may sound slightly unhinged but the shadows actually have a fair argument. The reapers whole ethos on the other hand is critically flawed not to mention excruciatingly inefficient.

Karon wrote:They may have had Babylon 5 influence them, certainly.

I mean, Warcraft is an offshoot of Warhammer and you see how popular that is.

Which one?

Don't get me wrong WoW is usually fun to play, but the story and setting are pretty crap. It has nice visuals, but it so generic. Warhammer might be generic in some ways, but it makes up for that by being over the top in terms of pretty much everything.


The Reapers, as villains, are greatly inferior to the Shadows. I agree that the Shadows motivation makes much more sense because it is, sadly, true that war leads to massive technological breakthroughs and strengthens the winning faction.

The Reapers whole deal about wiping out organic life is just nonsensical.


It's a testament to Bioware's skill at creating great characters that Mass Effect is as well received as it is because the main story line could be significantly better. It's not bad, but it's not the greatest either. The setting, characters, and side quests are typically brilliant though.

Amaya wrote:
The Reapers, as villains, are greatly inferior to the Shadows. I agree that the Shadows motivation makes much more sense because it is, sadly, true that war leads to massive technological breakthroughs and strengthens the winning faction.

Well, not always. And, really, I think they knew that on some level, they just didn't want to admit that they were wrong, just as the Vorlons didn't.

The whole idea of the Shadows and Vorlons being, essentially, petulant children did make for a very good story, though.

Amaya wrote:
It's a testament to Bioware's skill at creating great characters that Mass Effect is as well received as it is because the main story line could be significantly better. It's not bad, but it's not the greatest either. The setting, characters, and side quests are typically brilliant though.

I said this before, but the moment Shepard first said "Reapers" my heart sank.

Mass effects setting is garbage and it's aliens are completely uninteresting. The characters however are really great, i mean they even made a stereotypical hispanic gym-nerd a decent character, though i would have to give Freddy Prinze jnr some credit.

Another thing they stole:

SPOILER

The catalyst says, kinda as a side note, that the sapient organics will live forever 'in synthesis' with the reaper concioussness, they will in essence live forever, just in virtual space rather than realspace.

This is a complete rip of the work the Sci-fi writer/screenwriter Alex Garland did for the game 'Enslaved'. Now i havent played the game but i did read the story as i was impressed with Garland's Halo movie script. At the end you find out why the antagonist, an AI called Pyramid, is killing Humanity. He is killing them to preserve them in his data banks. I think he says something about them now being in paradise etc.

You are right.