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Romance in SF/F

S

suarezguy

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
A lot of people complain that most romances in SF/F movies, certainly in blockbusters, work the least well of all the elements, that they feel thrown-in.
Is that artificial flavor the main problem or are there others?
I think a part of the dislike is that some think seeing the hero pining makes him or her look weak.
What are some of the best instances of romances in SF/F (for diversity's sake, let's not count Han/Leia or Superman/Lois Lane).
 
Crichton/Aeryn is the gold standard, but Adama/Roslin ain't too shabby. Personally I liked Starbuck & Anders' starcrossed and tortured relationship.

I dunno what makes a romance in sf/f work. Same stuff that makes anything work - that its believable, that you relate, that there are some surprises but nothing out of left field.
 
I think the writers and producers have to pay attention to the chemistry between actors. Jadzia and Worf were not planned to have a relationship, but after viewing the rushes from their scenes together in 'The Way of The Warrior,' the writers saw potential. Shep and Teyla, on the other hand, have never had any chemistry together, but the writers continuously tried to suggest otherwise. It may have been believable on the page, but it wasn't believable on the screen.

Other than that, what Temis said.
 
Well, last time this topic came up, I believe I listed Kyle Reese and Sarah Conner in The Terminator as a good example of romance done right in a sci-fi film. That scene in the motel room where he bares his soul to her, right before they make love, is very moving IMO. And then there's Sarah's closing recording for their unborn child: "In the few hours we had together, we loved a lifetime's worth." Pretty beautiful and effective stuff, especially amongst all the carnage and death in the movie.

I also think the romance between the characters played by Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen in Starman is quite touching. He plays an alien that takes the form of her recently-deceased husband, which naturally freaks her out at first. But as the film progresses, and he gradually starts to learn about humanity, the two of them fall in love. Thanks largely to the performances by Bridges and Allen, it's a very convincing love story.

Trek has been notoriously hit-and-miss with romances, but
I rather liked the very unexpected coupling of Spock and Uhura in the new movie. There wasn't a great deal of screen time devoted to their relationship, but what little we saw of it totally sealed it for me as a believable romance (indeed, perhaps the fact that the film didn't make a huge deal out of it helped make it more plausible). She accepted him for who he is (emotionally reserved and all) and he clearly felt free to open up to her more than he would to anybody else. Like I said, it's something totally out of left field: I never would have thought to include such a development if I were writing the screenplay, but it works (thanks, once again, largely to the performances of the actors, in this case, Quinto and Saldana).
 
Well, I think most complaints about sci-fi love stories may come from the more famous examples of it such the the George Lucas Love Story http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GeorgeLucasLoveStory or the romantic tumor http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RomanticPlotTumor. I think the ones that work best are the TV version ones, like the previously mentioned Farscape. You need chemistry along with believable writing and development for it to properly work out and that fits TV better than movies.

Also, make sure that if there is a love interest plot going on that it actually fits the characters without derailing the main plot and if it IS a contrived tack-on that it at least stays minor enough not to mess with everything else.
 
I'd say there are many, many great ones in anime... but I'll probably let the more knowledgeable ones point out specific examples.

I'll say that Full Metal Panic has a great one, even though it's a pseudo-love triangle.
 
The two leads in Farscape were exceptional in my opinion. The chemistry between the two actors was electric. But then again, how often does that kind of serendipitous casting happen in any drama?
 
Indy/Marion in Raiders was good but dropped for Indy/Willie in Temple of Doom which didn't work. When they finanlly brought Marion back in Crystal Skulls they wasted the opportunity.
 
suarezguy said:
A lot of people complain that most romances in SF/F movies, certainly in blockbusters, work the least well of all the elements, that they feel thrown-in. Is that artificial flavor the main problem or are there others?
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I think the shoehorning is the main problem, when it's clear the writers/producers/whomever realize that they don't have a romance plot in there and just decide to squash the male and female leads together. Painful to watch. Also, where love tends to be sexual desire sublimated into a form more acceptable to a theocratic society, there's always the lingering sense that the romance portrayed is playing second fiddle to its own underlying reality.

That said, I think the best sci-fi romance plot is also the best romance of any genre I've ever seen: WALL•E and EVE. Towards the end of the film I felt like a toddler every time they were onscreen together.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
 
That, and it's kind of easy to see why WALL-E would fall for the first female he met: Poor guy's been completely alone for 700 years, he ain't gonna complain.

That said, I do think WALL-E was overall great but the romantic plot was superb.
 
Deckerd said:
The two leads in Farscape were exceptional in my opinion. The chemistry between the two actors was electric. But then again, how often does that kind of serendipitous casting happen in any drama?
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There are quite a few examples, but they tend to be of the non-romance variety (outside the realm of fanfic) - Kirk and Spock, Archer and Trip, the Petrelli brothers. Not sure why sci fi has such terrible luck with opposite-sex pairs in general.

Oooh, I forgot: Kara and Lee had plenty of chemistry, too. It's just that I liked her with Anders more. My own little personal shipper war. :D

And we can't forget Mulder & Scully. Yeah, that pretty much proves it: chemistry is largely provided by the actors. The writers just need to recognize it and write for it.
 
My problem with Kara is that she was such an irritating character I don't think she worked well with anyone. Mostly she was asking for a punch rather than any romance. I prefer the tension of unrequited love anyway. Mal and Inara, for instance.
 
Yeah, I think it can have a place, but I think it's hard. And I think a lot of writers (and possibly audiences) want short cuts: hook up the cute guy and the cute girl without any rhyme or reason. In other words, I wonder if people just want the sexy without the actual relationship.

I think X-Files, Mulder/Scully, and Farscape, John/Areyn, have been the best. I even liked X-Men, both the comics and film. Most of the couples have been well thought out. For example, I thought the Cyclops/Jean/Wolverine triangle was interesting without being melodramatic. All of these folks are more than just pretty faces. They care about each other and have stories that involve their feelings. X-Files was brilliant in that they never showed an actual boyfriend/girlfriend relationship (except in the movies) and yet the pairing seemed caring and dynamic.

Worst? Star Trek has sucked, especially with Trip/T'Pol. I think that pairing is the worst relationship probably on television or in sci-fi/fantasy/horror. I mean, how can you root for a couple that begins with a woman trying to change herself using drugs for a guy? I want to believe first and foremost that they cared about each other, and they never really sold me on that idea, except maybe in one episode at the end of the series for five minutes. (Not enough.)
 
Temis the Vorta said:
Crichton/Aeryn is the gold standard
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Agreed. The chemistry was off the scale with that one. For mine, Sheridan / Delenn (Babylon 5) is the only other one in that league. I struggle to think of any others (there are those who cite Avon / Servalan from Blakes 7, but I reckon if it had happened one of them would probably have killed the other :lol:). Certainly it was an area in which Trek comprehensively failed, IMO.
 
Temis the Vorta said:
Crichton/Aeryn is the gold standard, but Adama/Roslin ain't too shabby. Personally I liked Starbuck & Anders' starcrossed and tortured relationship.

I dunno what makes a romance in sf/f work. Same stuff that makes anything work - that its believable, that you relate, that there are some surprises but nothing out of left field.
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I agree with everything you have said, especially Starbuck and Anders! :lol: I've only seen to part 4.5 so who knows how annoyed/happy I will be by the time the last BSG DVDs are released here!

My favourite Star Trek romance (however short-lived) was probably Worf and K'ehleyr, followed maybe by Tasha Yar and Castillo in Yesterday's Enterprise. I could just gush over those two. Maybe they worked so well due to the fact they were kind of one-off, no stupid plotting keeping them apart and it was all pretty much straight to the point. Unlike what may have been my other favourite (T'Pol and Trip) who could of been awesome, the actors had incredible chemistry, but they were held back by fairly lacklustre writing. Oh well, that's why fanfiction is out there! ;)
 
I enjoy most the 'opposites attract' romantic pairings. TNG's Picard/Vash, Star Wars' Han Solo/Princess Leia Organa, SG1's Vala Mal Doran/Dr. Daniel Jackson, and FireFly's Captain Malcolm Reynolds/ Inara Serra, all of these couples have a very compelling 'battle of wills' dynamic to their relationships.

Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie
 
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commodore64 said:
Worst? Star Trek has sucked, especially with Trip/T'Pol. I think that pairing is the worst relationship probably on television or in sci-fi/fantasy/horror. I mean, how can you root for a couple that begins with a woman trying to change herself using drugs for a guy? I want to believe first and foremost that they cared about each other, and they never really sold me on that idea, except maybe in one episode at the end of the series for five minutes. (Not enough.)
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Romance in sci-fi/fantasy works when the creators intended it from day one as a fundamental part of the story, like with Farscape. With the ENT example, it was more a contrivance done to bring in younger viewers who just wanted to see a young guy and a young woman showing flesh and making out. It can work in Trek (Picard/Vash, some of Kirk's flings) because even if they weren't series fundamentals the writers still bothered making them more character driven romances that worked with those character's personalities instead of just viewer magnets.
 
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