Most aliens are humanoids with human characteristics, i wouldn't call it varied, only variations of the little green men. Sorry, persons.
It's hard to image aliens to begin with, but they could've tried harder. Maybe not Solaris, but something in between.
As for robot rights, they're just bits and bytes inside tins, c'mon, no never systems there, no sentience.
But the general worn out look of the universe is very compelling indeed. The Alien movies are another example in that respect.