rationalskepticism.org

Matthew Shute wrote::this: Almost every extraterrestrial in every far-flung solar system that the Enterprise visits turns out to be... yet another humanoid with different knobbly bits on his face or head. H. P. Lovecraft would not have been impressed.

Space. The unfathomable void. Fools on the starship Miskatonic, its miscalculated mission to explore strange worlds, attempt to seek out beings who had mercifully not noticed us until now, will finally establish the utter irrelevance and alienness of human affairs in the cosmos.

I used to put it down to a chronic lack of imagination, but yes, I assume it has more to do with practical difficulties and cost.

I think I'd be more annoyed if the aliens had exotic physiologies but still exhibited blatant human social behaviour, civilisation and cognition. At that point, it becomes a cartoon. I find it easier to accept aliens that act completely human when they look near human.

And aliens with truly alien minds would make for a very different show.