In every sci-fi film ever

43. Alien race that all dress like Earth Wind & Fire in the 70's.

^^^ wd watch a movie about an alien race that was Earth Wind & Fire tbh

44. Supposedly violent and dangerous street gang who look like a bunch of stage school kids going on a trip to the funfair.

45. aliens kill people in a rape-y way for some reason DO U SEE?

46. Bizarre future sport that's a cross between BMX, basketball, and paintballing.

47. Public videophone booths.

48. contract killer/drug smuggler with a heart of gold

49. The alien sidekick character has some bizarre allergy to water/orange juice/hummous, that turns out to be important at some critical point in the movie.

50. Small child who is a computer genius.

51. Audio surveillance bug that has a huge flashing light on it.

52. Bomb has bright red numbers counting down to detonation, and beeps every second.

53. Alien character corrects well known human scientist on some aspect of quantum physics.

54. this guy:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pvnRmfPyLCk/T6_oucuOS-I/AAAAAAAAHHk/-JpPCC7WepU/s320/That-Guy-Michael-Ironside-Free-Willy.jpg

55. Character named after sci-fi author most of the audience aren't familiar with.

Sentient onboard ship's computer with variegated moral compass

57. Thin weedy looking evil dude turns out to be super strong and easily beats the shit out of the hero and his muscular partner.

58. Stripperific female character turns out to be highly dangerous killdroid.

59. Tiny gun that can blow massive holes through concrete walls, demolish city blocks, etc..

^"NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' 'BOUT!"

60. Global mega corporations with names in the format '<Japanese name> <Hispanic name>'.

61. "...but then, what IS... reality? Is it for US to tell them what it really is?..."

62. biologist so impressed by alien capabilities that she urges her shell-shocked crewmates not to kill it

63. Prominently displayed logo of company that has since gone out of business.

64. All important character names begin with Qua- sound.

65. All important character names end with coughing-up-a-hairball sound.

66. Alien speaks with exaggerated Russian accent.

67. Place names have a number randomly tagged onto the end, ie, "Welcome to the city of Manchester 5!".

68. Name of future city is just the name of a real life present day city with 'New' in front of it, ie, 'New Boston', 'New Berlin', 'New New York'.

69. pod head + wiggly appendages + spindly exoskeleton = horrific, unknowable alienness

70. tall, elegant alien slowly tilts head to the side, radiating compassion

palms gradually extend outwards, a gesture of pure peace and goodwill

71. more blinking lights than is conceivably necessary

72. some kind of monk

73. 'spice'

74. Sound waves can travel through a vacuum.

75. Space ships fly and manoeuvre through space as though they were aircraft.

76. various races of cartoonishly 'weird'/monstrous looking aliens tend to hang out together in bars, as if they're only 'alien' vis a vis humans but not to each other

77. White plastic everywhere - spacesuits, spaceships, spaceplates, spacephones, spacedoors, spacetoilets

78. Conflict of logic results in malfunctioning A.I.

79. post-apocalyptic villains who dress like the hell's angels crossed with sigue sigue sputnik

80. someone's wearing an eyepatch

81. "don't you see...[insert detailed explanation of how the aliens are just like us, whether because warlike or peaceful]...they're just like us."

82. Movie is clearly some classic book, just IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE
http://www.containsmoderateperil.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/treasure-island-in-outer-space-01.png

83. ancient religion whose teaching are pretty unclear beyond awesome telepathic or telekinetic powers

84. wise-cracking robot

85. "Based on the short story by Phillip K Dick"

86. In a time travel movie, a character who can't believe that Ronald Reagan was/is/is going to be President.

87. Character staring blankly into space, is plugged into some kind of computer network.

85. city of the future resembles 20th century community college campus designed in the brutalist style

88. ^^^

89. British accents (especially for villains)

lol

Maybe also the triumph of humans vs said protean energy entity (HAL?) vis a vis man’s “humanity,” emotion, instincts, perseverance

Right. Also

Strategic location of and destruction of alien power supply unveils these pretentious, often toga-wearing interstellar intellectuals to be in fact some kind of puny, looked-down-upon life form, some sort of street pigeons of space.

Earlier tonight overheard my girlfriend, an addictive consumer of junk sci fi, angrily exclaim from the next room:

“Come ON! Why is it always a HIVE mind??”

You want maybe a Hadoop Mind?

226 alien looking exactly like a human except with e.g. blue or orange skin

227 puzzle, code, language or devastating situation barely solvable using current Earth technology within 1-24 hours

232. As plot is stalling out, supporting scientist character pops in to report that they've finished running some tests on the creature, comatose survivor, mysterious signal, or strange energy pulse they picked up from the spaceship earlier. They don't quite know what to make of it, but the heroes had better come take a look.
232a. The comatose survivor has finally woken up and is acting very strangely...

233. Breathless back-of-envelope calculations of how quickly a creature that multiplies at this rate could spread to cover the planet.

234 Female 'other' (alien, robot, whatever) turns out to be evil.