From: "kevs -Kevin McCully" kevs90000@yahoo.com.au Subject: Re: [B7L] Crossovers
***Babylon 5 imitated B7, and other shows, profusely. It is well known that it's creator JMS is a B7 fan. There is a costume used in the "Jack The Ripper" Episode (can't remember the name, sorry!) which is almost identical to that of the Caliph of Crandor.
I'd call it "paying homage" pather than imitating. The episode you're thinking of is "Comes the Inquisitor".
I don't think that Sebastian's costume is a deliberate copy of the Caliph's; it's just formal Victorian wear - top hat, cloak, cane and so on. Now the cane having arcane powers when its "lid" is removed - detecting lies, that sort of thing- I can believe that was "influenced" by Blakes 7.
There were things slightly later in the series that "echoed" B7 most strongly. The "visions" above Z'Ha'Dum (where each of the group saw images that made them want to approach; if they had they would have been destroyed) reminded me strongly of the Liberator's burglar alarm, for instance. (That could be the episode "Hour of the Wolf" but I'm not sure.)
Wildean