11 Wildly Inaccurate Movie Science Tropes

That said, maybe the reason all these aliens look some much like us is down to the fact that seemingly every habitable planet in the universe is a carbon copy of Earth.

It's a wonder anyone ever bothers with environment checks at all, seeing as our heroes will almost always be able to stroll out of their spaceship, taking deep, invigorating breaths of alien air and not immediately crumpling to the floor like a paper bag full of jelly due to the difference in gravity.

They will invariably set off into a lush green jungle with a few token similar-but-not-quite animals in it, possibly heading for a big, shiny, gravity-defying city in the distance.

Alternatively, they might find themselves in a barren desert in which the people will live in adobe-style mud huts (probably wearing robes because trousers are for Earth losers) despite being a supposedly space-faring society.

For bonus points, the planet will usually consist of a single biome, whether it's an ice planet or a desert world, despite that fact that most planets have an axial tilt (the "wobble" that is responsible for seasons) - particularly the ones that are likely to produce complex, spaceship-building life.