Babylon 5 is a tribute to Lord Of The Rings

Babylon 5 is a tribute to Lord Of The Rings?

Abso-fraggin'-lutley!

Rangers?
Check
World/universe saved by miniscule people no-one had previously bothered with?
Check
Devastating aftermath reflecting "The Scouring of the Shire"
Totally!
Also contains: wizards, telepaths, ancient evil, mad emperors and lost technology used for nefarious purposes.
I think Babylon 5 is a much better tribute to Lord Of The Rings than Peter Jackson could ever conceive of, simply because the Vorlons represent God, personified in Tolkien's mythology of only being able to save the world by destroying most of it and the Shadows represent the Devil or corruption personified by Morgoth, Sauron and the Ringwraiths.

Parallels between Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5

Parallels between Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5

Or, pretty much bits when the former rips off the latter.

1. The human commander of a space station is a religious leader to a particular alien race

2. The two main human characters in the pilot episode are a navy commander (as in rank as well as position) and his "sidekick", a senior non-commissioned officer*

3. Both are war veterans, with the commander being one of very few survivors of a disastrous space battle against superior alien forces. Who gave up at the last minute, thus saving Earth (hooray!)

4. A ballsy female first officer who has a somewhat tangled love life

5. An unlucky-in-love doctor/chief medical officer who is something of a lady's man

6. A life-or-death struggle for control of the station emerges during one episode between the station's occupier-commanders and a battle group sent on behalf of the stations actual builders

7. A "War in Heaven" emerges between God-like aliens for the "souls" of lesser races

8. There's a female character called Lyta

9. There's a male character, a planetary leader even, called Dukat/Dukhat

10. The station is under the command of a ranked captain the year an interstellar war breaks out

The station orbits near:

11. An "interdimensional portal" (a stable wormhole exiting in the Gamma Quadrant http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Gamma_Quadrant/ Jumpgate http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Jumpgate for hyperspace http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Hyperspace travel)

and

12. A seemingly innocuous planet, later found to be the home of an ancient civilisation crucial to the show's plotline

13. Aggressive aliens are introduced who can camouflage themselves but tend to avoid the use of cloaking devices on their warships

14. A major character is "interviewed" by an inquisitor, the process bordering on torture despite being carried out by an allied human in everyone's best interests

15. The station is lent a prototype cruiser enhanced with borrowed advanced alien technology during the course of the show

16. "Holo-brothels"

Plots involving

17. Interplanetary terrorism

18. The aftermath of a military occupation

19. Political intrigue

20. Racism and discrimination

21. Labour strikes

22. Prophecies
and

23. Various coups; actual, attempted and plotted by military, paramilitary and non-military organisations

*Both Miles "Chief" O'Brien
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Miles_O'Brien
and Michael "the telepaths made me do it" Garibaldi http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Michael_Garibaldi
are depicted as having the rank of "Chief Warrant Officer", although O'Brien is generally considered to be a Senior Chief Petty Officer by the fan-base