Case in point, the grand-daddy of all great SF films is 2001 . Clarke and Kubrick together, writing a piece that stands the test of time. Great SF, no matter how you look at it. Provocative, wondrous, beautiful. Get something happening, please.
Death is an essential part of hero-dom.
Where most modern hero deaths go wrong is in the execution of the death. For instance, the tragic hero, while living, plants the seeds of his own destruction. King Arthur is an excellent example. I don't think that there are many people out there who would gainsay me in saying that he's a heroic kind of guy. Beowulf saves his entire nation from the dragon ravaging in it, in an epic battle that kills them both.