Similarities between Buffy the vampire slayer and babylon 5?

maybe its just me but this has been bothering me for a while but i cant seem to find anything written on the internet about it.i'm a huge buffy fan and i love babylon 5 but when my boyfriend first introduced me to the latter i felt like joss whedon or the writers in buffy seem to be fans of babylon 5 as well.there is buffy jumping into her death in the season 5 finale sacrificing herself which is kind of simlar to sheridan jumping in the season three finale.then there is lyta and willow which are both very powerful with a tendency to go dark ( also in the eyes) then there's G'Kar and xander both loosing an eye and wearing an eye patch....?? just curious if anyone else ever noticed it?