If this world was earth, then why hasn't anybody noticed that something has happened to the researchers? If an alien ship was found on earth, wouldn't a larger expedition occur then a bunch of robots? Wouldn't the alien ship be dragged to a more secure facility, where several large groups of scientists could work on it?
Notice the lack of any communication stations, they were working under the radar. Maybe these researchers aren't working for a larger group, and didn't call anyone and didn't move the ship because they wanted to take the glory for themselves.
If the alien sphere and Les came from different planets (Say, somewhere in M81, and earth) then why is the only VCR player we've found so far is connected to the alien ship? This can only mean two things:
1. Les somehow hooked up the VCR to the screen.
2. Les and the sphere came from the same planet.
In 2 Les can't be from M81 since he and Claire seem to know each other quite well. So it's one or the other; either they both came from M81 or neither of them did.
3. The ship was basically gutted when they found it and the scientists found a use for it so they put some human components in.
If 1 is true, then why hasn't Les taken apart more of the ship.
There's not much more to be taken apart besides the sphere thing. And I don't think it would be an easy job trying to take it apart without ruining something. Maybe he just didn't get the time to take it apart. Maybe he was just being lazy.
If I found an alien sphere on earth, and I could hook my VCR player to its main view screen, then I'll try to take the ship apart.
Though you have to remember, once you take something apart it's hard to put it back again unless you know how to.
But except for the busted controls, the ship is intact. In fact, the busted controls proves that Les never tried to take apart the ship because if he did, the broken console would be a logical place to start.
Maybe the controls were busted after the scientists disappeared?
It appears to me that number 2 is true, where the ship and the robots on it were sent to this planet, but something happened (Which busted the control panel), perhaps causing the robots to lose focus and revert to some base routines (If a robot was programmed to do research, it would find something to research)
That is a possibility. But if the robots are alien and from M81, why is there a powering station with roman numerals on them?
The facilities we are in bothers me though. Why put the access to the sewer systems behind the fridge?
That is strange. I have no idea why they would put it behind there.
Hmm, maybe they were trying to hide something?
Like that chemical analyzer and humanoid robots?
The chemical analyzer
isn't new technology by our standards, just the end product.
The robots are the strange thing. Maybe they came along with the sphere half built?
Anyway, these technologies aren't enough. Where's the automatic doors? Where's the touchscreen computers with Win9000 OSes? Where's the beds that aren't crap? Where's the sinks that don't look like junk? Where's the futuristic looking stove, fridge, cabinets, lamps, vending machine, etc? And don't say that these scientists are poor. Even if they were, they should at least have access to some luxury technology that doesn't look like it was built in the 21st century.