[It's going to take more than that before he stops seeing her as human. Visuals do a lot.]
Honestly..? If we're talking about the genre in general, I like the balance between escapism and realism. Unlike movies with pure fantasy elements good sci-fi tends to give a plausible explanation for the futuristic technology, while still asking the audience to suspend their disbelief. It makes it more believable than blaming everything on wizards, I feel.