The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Balancing out an event like the Marathon with the opening date for a decent film is, indeed, an ongoing concern for venues like the Drexel. Places with an abundance of screens (like the Gateway) have more flexibility in this regard, but the Drexel's three screens don't exactly provide the same leeway. And having CAPA as their bosses probably doesn't make some of those scheduling decisions any easier.

That being said the reason for the ever-shifting dates for the Sci-Fi Marathon is solely down to the Drexel as well. It's not THAT hard to book a date far enough in advance, especially if it's during a traditionally dead time like March and April. But for too many years, I think there's been an assumption on their part that the Marathon will happen at some point in the spring, followed by not enough action to nail down that date. And don't think that this hasn't hurt the event. L.A. is spot on about the need to inform out of towners about the date well in advance, and as last year's extremely late date showed, a Marathon in 70+ degree weather will likely continue to struggle to draw a larger crowd (and that version of the event wasn't helped by the Drexel's faulty HVAC system...never though I'd sit through a Marathon where I was sweating through most of it....in a t-shirt!).

In response to Aaron's comment about a possible switch of venues: to me (and I'd wager to most of the crowd), the Sci-Fi Marathons (and the old Night of the Living Drexel events....and at least half of Shock Around the Clock) have been defined by Bruce's creative influence. Take away the eclectic trailer reels, the programs and fliers, the specialized contests and his affable presence as a Host Organism, and what do you have? A selection of 11-13 films. Yeah, the Drexel has been a consistent home for years, but if the theater burned down, or if Jeff was outed as a Communist, or if there was some kind of other riff that forced Bruce to pack up his ray guns and go to another venue, I doubt that there would be a mass exodus from the ranks. Put it this way: all due respect to him, but how many people buy a ticket to see Jeff talk to the crowd?

Oh, I was in no way trying to say that it's the Drexel and Jeff Frank that make the event a success or not. The years of the marathon at the Rife center and the Continent still felt like the same type of event, and that is almost entirely something that - to my perspective - seemed to be because of Bruce.

I meant more that, in the hypothetical scenario, if Bruce were to look for a different home for the event, while Jeff and the Drexel wanted to keep it, there could be logistical issues involving the intellectual property rights of the Sci-Fi marathon, it's numbering, etc. And that was also still a hypothetical - you're way more privy to insider information regarding the organization of the events than I am.

I'm sure that most of the loyalists would follow Bruce to a science fiction marathon anywhere in the city, even if it had to be called something entirely else. But if Jeff wanted to keep the official name, numbering, etc.? What would happen then? The more casual marathoids could end up confused about which event was the "real" event, advertising could be an issue, and so on.

Again, I'm not certain any of this is the case. Nor am I saying that there would be conflicts if Bruce wanted to take the event elsewhere, or even that Jeff would care if Bruce decided to do so. I'm just throwing possibilities into the ether.

Was away for a few days.

Nothing makes my marathon more than Jeff trying to cover at the mike for Bruce. It glorious for that one segment. Anything more than that though... Jeff has been great and accomodating and I would hate to see the marathon part ways with him, especially if the split was contested. But, I would follow Bruce. My fear is some day he is going to retire. I'm hoping Joe is ready to step up.

As for the date, why not embrace Easter? This was more of an issue for me in the past when coming back from DC and I recall suggesting ti just about every year when this topic came back. Two weeks after Easter. It should always miss March Madness that way, folks who might be waya for Easter and the week after would be back, it is a dynamically fixed date. As someone mentioned, the date of Easter is plotted out for the next centruy or so. Boston has President's Day and I think Case Western is on MLK or so close it would be too close. Other than those two, there are no other good 3 day holiday weekends that aren't prime movie weekends, (Memorial Day, July 4th (which isn't always next to a weekend, I know)) or too close to Horror (Labor Day, Columbus Day) or Holidays we will never see a marathon on (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.)

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The wages of sin are royalties.

While Jeff is dithering on a date for this year, the Boston SF Festival and Marathon has already set the Date AND released preliminary art for Next Year:

http://sf.theboard.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

The Marathon is the last two days - Feb. 16th & 17th. So, you can mark you calendar now and book your flight when they allow bookings. Having a set date does have advantages............

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

...AND(!) they've already booked MOTIVATIONAL GROWTH 2! Book yer flights, kids!

Yeah, well Jeff told me he already booked AUTOMATONS 2 for this year so......

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

I rather sit and watch Automatons 2 than watch antoher William Shatner doc.

I'd rather watch Jonathan Frakes doing a documentary called the The Number 2's than watch Automatons 2.

I think I'd rather watch a William Shatner documentary on Electroma than watch Automatons 2.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

too funny

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Jaws3dfan®
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Going to have to go to Boston next year, now that I live here.

Looking forward to this year too.

I'll have to go to the afternoon showing of Iron Man 3. In digital REAL3D of course. That will help kill some time.

CAPA are the ones who make the final decision when Jeff can put on the SF Marathon. Why can't they pick a date?