When Babylon 5's pilot movie aired in January 1993, creator J. Michael Straczynski billed it as the first installment of a groundbreaking "novel for television." He promised a carefully planned 5-year storyline, full of unusual characters, revolutionary special effects, and epic battles between starships and ideas.

The relationship between B5 creators and Star Trek wasn't much better, at least at first. The competition between the shows for actors, directors and publicity rapidly became unfriendly.

Straczynski maintains that Trek's reputation as the only successful SF television show -- Babylon 5 was the first non-Trek dramatic series set in space to have more than two seasons in decades -- made it much harder for him to get his series on the air.

A number of Star Trek's younger producers got along with Straczynski, though, as did several of Star Trek's most famous faces.

Walter Koenig's regular guest appearances on B5 helped smooth relations, but the most important bridge was built by Majel Barrett, Gene Roddenberry's widow and a regular face or voice in every incarnation of Star Trek.

Barrett played the widow of the Centauri Emperor in "Point of No Return", a pivotal third-season episode that is the exact midpoint of the B5 series. Strazcynski presented the character as a seer and prophet, and wrote lines for Barrett that were as much about Gene Roddenberry as the fallen fictional emperor.

Not all of the fans noticed, but the war between Babylon 5 and Star Trek was over.

Babylon 5 was never a big hit, but its innovative writing and inexpensive production made it a commercial and critical success. It helped break the perception that only Star Trek could survive in the television marketplace.

As a result, Voyager is one of many space-oriented shows on the air today, and very few people expect any show to be the One True Way to do science fiction.

Meanwhile, fans will always argue that "my show is better than your show," but it's more likely to be with a smile than an email filled with insults.