Outer Space Clichés

[MikeandRaph87]

Often in pop culture in outer space settings we tend to see planets where often all species are the same no races or different languages among them. If there are such as in Star Wars there is little difficulties in communication. One thing in particular Star Wars is guilty of is a single environment for a particular planet. Our own being habitual has several environments. Often we see a rocky planet, a snow covered planet, a desert planet, a planet that is just a giant casino. Does the idea of planets not having various nations, languages, species, and environments bug anyone else? I am sure it all boils down to plot convinces, like the lack of alien language barriers or breathable air as the most common examples, but I was wondering why it is not often if at all depicted in Sci-Fi. Those such traits would reflect more of what we know from our own planet.