From meeting on Star ships to tracking unidentified flying objects, love and romance finds its' way into some of the best Sci-Fi movies and shows ever made. I have showcased 6 of the most well-known and epic love stories.
Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey (The Amazing Spider-Man)
When I first heard that Gwen Stacey would feature as Peter's love interest in The Amazing Spider-man, I was pretty thrilled. By then the Peter Parker/Mary-Jane roller-coaster had gotten repetitive and more than a little boring. My only hope was that she would have more in common with the comic-book character that she was based on than Peter's prior love interest.
Boy oh boy, was I not disappointed. The Peter/Gwen dynamic was amazing from the get-go and carried on improving in excellence throughout the film, capturing the wide-eyed wonder of young love, with all its playfulness and intensity perfectly (especially considering that both of the actors were a fair bit older than the characters that they were portraying).
The chemistry between the two is undeniable, and the best part? Peter trusts her enough to not bother with all that 'I can't tell you my secret identity because you won't be safe' stuff. She's in on it fairly early on, even protecting her new found knowledge from her father, who is actively on the Spider-hunt by then. Spider-Man isn't the only amazing thing in this movie.
Clark Kent and Lois Lane (Smallville):
Generally speaking, Clark and Lois make a pretty good match for each other. Lois is pretty obviously an integral part of Superman's identity and we could be here all day discussing this particular duo in all their various incarnations, but for the sake of brevity we'll focus on just one - the Smallville version.
From the moment she debuted in season four, Lois' dynamic with Clark quickly became one of the highlights of the show and a welcome change of pace from all the melodrama that was Lana Lang. It wasn't a matter of will-they-won't-they this time, it was more like how-will-they. Watching their bond blossom was one of the best parts of the series, especially in later seasons. With Lois' arrival, we knew we were one step closer to Clark embracing his destiny as the (pause for dramatic effect) 'Man of Steel'!!
Fox Mulder and Dana Scully (The X Files)
You probably saw this one coming. The couple that basically embodied the will-they-won't-they archetype, the nature of their relationship was one of the most prominent questions throughout the X-Files' run, which is bizarre seeing as the whole show is based on the unexplained...
What made this pair so great was extreme differences in their personalities. Here were two people - the skeptic and the believer, the stoic and the (occasional) smart arse - who by all counts should not have been able to stand being in the same room together, let alone love one another. And yet, thrown into increasingly bizarre scenarios and forced to fight their way out by relying only on each other, that's exactly what ended up happening. It was like Pride and Prejudice, but with more death and aliens and less ball gowns and rolling estates.
Spock and Uhura (Star Trek)
Sometimes, less is more and in 2009's Star Trek we got just that, at least when it came to romance. When Uhura shuts down Kirk's advances we, at first, assume it's because he's sort of a douche, but later, when the cadets are given their assignments, it's shown that she's already spoken for (that and Kirk IS a bit of a douche). We finally glimpse something between her and Spock when she insists on being assigned to the same ship as his. But at this point it could still be merely a close, albeit controlling, friendship.
But then Vulcan is destroyed, and we get the scene between the two in the lift. Friends don't kiss each other like that. At least if they do then I have been severely neglecting my friendship duties. This is followed up with the scene before Kirk and Spock beam aboard Nero's ship (when her first name is finally confirmed).
Zoe and Wash (Firefly)
Fans of Joss Whedon know the risks when entering into any of his stories. You will fall head over heels for his characters. You will love them, and want good things to happen to them. And then Joss will wait until the most perfect moment, and he will cut off their heads in front of you while whistling a jaunty tune. Buffy and Angel. Willow and Tara. Wesley and Fred, and my heart just broke all over again just having to type that last one.
So we all should have known better when Joss introduced us to Zoë (Gina Torres) and Wash (Alan Tudyk), a happily married couple who could not be better for each other. There was certainly some of that same "opposites attract" thing that made Han and Leia work. Zoë is a capable, hard-ass former soldier. Wash is the best pilot in the universe, who also occasionally plays with dinosaur toys. But he makes her laugh, and neither of them care whether they made sense to anyone else. They simply work, and as with all great couples, the strengths of one shore up the weaknesses of the other. Watching Zoë and Wash, there was no question that they would love each other until the day they died. And then one of them did. Because it was Joss Whedon and we should have known better.
Penelope Widmore and Desmond Hume (Lost)
Say what you will about Lost's many convoluted mysteries and the mystical hoo-hah of the finale, the one thing the show did very, very well was craft characters. And while the love triangle of Jack, Sawyer, and Kate may have gotten a lot more attention over the years, you'd be hard pressed to find a love story in the show that is more purely, hopelessly romantic than that of Desmond Hume and Penelope "Penny" Widmore. They were star-crossed from the get-go, and we all know what happens to star-crossed lovers, hint either one or both of them die (think Romeo & Juliet). They came from different worlds. Her dad didn't approve of Desmond (been there). He winds up stranded on a magical island that really doesn't want to be found. The usual couple problems.
After all, she's his constant. Is there a more romantic concept than that? The idea that she is the one person that anchors Desmond across divergent realities and all the wibbly-wobbly, headache inducing insanity the Lost writers could come up with. She never stopped looking for him after he disappeared, and she eventually found him. The only downside: when you've conquered barriers of time and space to save the love of your life, that bouquet of flowers on Valentine's Day isn't going to pack quite the same romantic punch.
In conclusion I believe that there is one important message to be garnered from this list - if you ever find yourself on a mystical island or on a futuristic star ship then be sure to take what romance you can where you can and when you can! After all you never know when you might be killed by some deformed space creature or supernatural being.