Romancing SciFi

How do you feel about romance in Science Fiction? I feel like it doesn’t add anything.

I compare Alien to the “not a prequel” movie Prometheus and I feel the romance detracts from the story. It changes the reason for the tension, and that is distracting to me.

“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction — its essence — has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.”

I love that quote from Isaac Asimov (and that it was in Stargate). With that in mind, I feel like I can’t write off romance in completely. It is part of “the human condition”. Completely fair.

But … why that one aspect? Is it because it sells? Or is it just used badly? And what even is “badly”? Is it just in a way that I don’t like?