For the next would-be Roddenberry or Straczynski...

 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF CREATING A STAR TREK-STYLE SCIENCE-FICTION TELEVISION SERIES:

1. Thou shalt not insult the intelligence of thy viewers...especially the fans!
2. Thou shalt keep thy stories firmly grounded in real science (or at least plausible extrapolation therefrom) and not ignore the laws of physics for the sake of a desired storyline or plot twist.
3. Thou shalt NOT send thy starship captains into dangerous off-ship situations when subordinates are available to do the job (AKA the David Gerrold "No More Kirks" rule).
4. Thou shalt make thy characters fully realized and believable, rather than just cardboard caricatures.
5. Thou shalt NOT resort to time-travel, parallel-universe or alternate-history stories more than once per season. (Cue filkertom's "Time Plot"...)
6. Thou shalt not depict entire planets' societies as global monocultures.
7. Thou shalt not make thy storylines excessively serialized, self-referential and/or convoluted, lest thy new viewers be utterly bewildered and change the channel in disgust. (Xena, New Galactica and Farscape writers, I'm looking at YOU.)
8. Thou shalt include women, gay and lesbian, transgender and minority characters in thy stories in a coequal, non-exploitive and respectful manner.
9. Thou shalt strive mightily to strike a fair balance between action for excitement's sake and thoughtful dialogue, and seek reasoned solutions to conflict wherever possible.
10. Above all, thou shalt NOT write boring or pretentious stories!

And for TV network executives: Thou shalt give thy series a fair chance to find its audience and promote it adequately before moving its time slot or cancelling it. (Fox suits, I'm looking at YOU; you still aren't forgiven for the Firefly debacle.)