"'Without ST none of these other series would have been born."

Sounds good. Only thing wrong with it is that it ain't true.

Prior to ST, there were the SF anthology shows such as the Outer Limits
and Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond and Men Into Space and many others;
just prior to ST there was Lost in Space. (And by the way, most critics at
the time panned ST because they said it was just a cheap attempt to cash in
on LiS's popularity.) So you could easily say that ST wouldn't be on the air
except for LiS, if you're going to follow your logic to its ultimate
conclusion. And let's not forget Forbidden Planet, which is almost a
template for ST.

Finally, I'd note that if ST was responsible for other shows coming
along in that same vein, why have there been no others in 25 years until B5
(in terms of series set in our future, with us as a spacefaring civilization,
with a fully worked out cosmology/universe)? Do you know why it took 5 years
to sell B5? Because we were told, by execs at CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, Showtime,
HBO, and elsewhere that -- and this is a direct quote -- "There's no room for
any other SF show of this kind other than ST. The market won't sustain it."

ST has been used as a rationale NOT to do space SF for *years*. We had
to fight like mad to overcome that notion. So you'll understand why, having
fought for years to overcome the roadblock that ST was in terms of selling
B5, why I can only shake my head when someone tries to attribute the presence
of this show to ST.


jms