TenForward: Where Every Vulcan Knows Your Name

Yeah I've always felt that the Sisko as messianic figure aspect was... idk. A little bit too conceptual for what star trek is structured to deliver, the fan backlash that forced all the bottle episodes in later seasons is evidence enough of that. It really was tragically under explored.

I have seen it described that "B5 is to Star Trek what Star Trek is to Star Wars" and I think that's a pretty fair assessment. In star wars, the aliens and culture are just deep enough that the plot can float in it without dragging the bottom. In Trek, the plot is deep enough that instead, the aliens and culture float on it. And in Babylon 5, the aliens and culture ~~have bathrooms and the plot works outwards from there~~ are the plot.

(There's so many things I could go on about that I've cut down for brevity reasons - The G'kar/Londo vs. Quark/Odo relationships, that Sherridan as the messianic figure was from the less advanced culture instead of playing into the "enlightened liberator viewed as the chosen one" trope like with Sisko, the emphasis on the Captain's role as a diplomat rather than space administrator, the sacrifice of earth because the scope of the Shadow War was so much larger than the concerns of a single race that Clark simply couldn't be a priority vs. the whole maquis thing (which I did think was very good in DS9 to be clear), everything with the psicorps, that the resolution of the existential threat comes not from martial prowess or military strategy but bloodsoaked negotiation, Zathrus, the list goes on for way longer than I want to admit)