The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Once again, sorry I was unable to attend. But I'm glad to hear that people enjoyed Safety Not Guaranteed. I guess that shows that one person doesn't speak for the entire audience, doesn't it? No matter how many times you say it.

I really really really wish that The Ship of Monsters had not been shown. Let alone as the "surprise" movie. There were actually rumors floating around that somehow the marathon had gotten its hands on a copy of Star Trek: Into Darkness (likely prompted by the fact that promotional material was on the ticket desk) and that we were all in for a serious treat. While perhaps this was overly wistful thinking it shows how seriously psyched up everyone got with the prospect of a "surprise movie". People were buzzing about this during each break speculating on what it could be. The fact that the surprise was a Mexican sci-fi musical without subtitles I believe contributed to the disappointment.

In addition, the surprise slot was slated just when the marathon had really built up some momentum at after Inception. Unfortunately The Ship of Monsters killed virtually all of it. I squarely fell into the category of people who were sorely disappointed by the lack of a "Gotcha!" via Bruce after about 15 min. Bruce, apparently prompting the crowd to turn the whole affair into an MST3K-type of experience starts heckling. The audience? Well, from where I sat, it seemed confused and/or pissed and didn't seem terribly interested in joining along with any jeers.

I wish I could have stayed awake for the rest of the affair, but like I said, after The Ship of Monsters there just seemed to have been a palpable deflation of momentum in the marathon. Instead of following up with something snappy, we were shown a slow-moving meditative dark foreign drama in Vanishing Waves. This is where I fell asleep.

Everything (aside from Time of the Robots) up until this point was solid. I really enjoyed seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen, and furthermore thought that its position (leading off) was a great call, as I believe the film would have dragged had it been placed later on in the lineup. Time of the Robots kept my attention out of sheer curiosity, but I think that a remix of movies can be replaced by the real deal. I slept through Dr. Cyclops, and tried to watch Upside Down but honestly found the whole premise to be silly and the eons of exposition at the beginning of the film to set up its premise to be obnoxious.

What is with all these posts with mentions of "sleeping", "zzzzzzzzzzzz" and, shudder of shudders, "leaving early"!!! WTF!!!?? LEAVING EARLY!?

Wimps!

I know some may not have found the full schedule to their liking, but, come on. Where is that Marathoid spirit?

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I had one friend leave with 2 movies to go and 2 other people in our group leave at ELEVEN THIRTY!!! (am) (in addition two four that left after vanishing waves and 2 during the "surprise feature")

I am really bad at quick headcounts (and please correct me if I'm wrong) and I know some people were probably still out getting concessions, bathroom etc. but it seemed like there were only 50-75 ppl left for Dr. Strangelove

I think folks would stay until the end if Bruce would go back to hand filling out the names on the Certifcates and mailing them to folks. Seriously, it always thins out, I'm not sure if it was more notiecable this year or not. I know I was the only person in my row for Strangelove.

I am curious what Will thought of the marathon and if he watched and/or enjoyed movies like Safety Not Guaranteed.

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Who was inducted into the Hall of Fame?

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I believe it was the 35mm projector...

It was, in fact, 35mm film.

And Will was there through most of the event - I think he left before Strangelove, but I'm fairly certain I saw him behind me right up until then.

Aaron, I saw him as well, didn't track when he was there and not, but was just curious about his opinion afterwards. I actually moved around a bit and stood for parts of several films to help stay awake. I may disagree with his writeup, but I am curious about it. And yours as well. I know you usually take some time, but I was starting to wonder about you.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

To me it was more noticeable - but I could have just been a> bad mathing or B> bad mood

yes for all the horse beating I think we deserve a Will recap .

I'll do one soon!

Yeah, I'm overdue for doing my write-up. Honestly, it's because this was just not a good marathon for me. It had nothing to do with the line-up even, just the whole "standing in line-going to Free Comic Book Day and costuming-coming back to the marathon" thing. I was tired, and just not feeling the event this year, and I'm not really all that eager to write about that.

Plus, ya know, a hallmark of my write-ups has been listing all the trailers and shorts. And that was pathetically easy this time around.

I took some time before commenting on this year's marathon. First, and foremost, once again Bruce and Co. busted their asses to do the best they could. And I think we know that you cannot please our whole crowd the whole time. They looked tired and sad. And that actually made me feel for them. That, in and of itself, means a lot. Having said that, I would much prefer to go to the Drexel Grandview next year. They genuinely seem to appreciate our presence there at the horror marathon last year. I was talking to one of the staff and she said they were thrilled. They love the same stuff we do.
Food. It was bad and ultimately, was one of the factors on me leaving early. I miss the North. I too have dietary issues and I did not park there, so I couldn't keep a cooler in the car.
Movies. I sort of miss the days of Robot Jox, Stingray Sam, Sudden Impact and Them. Hell, even Tokyo Gore Police and Tetsuo. I guess what I am getting at is that there seems to be a trend in doing a lot of art house type stuff these days. Don't get me wrong. I love them too. And almost every one of the movies would have fit the bill as the one "in my head" sort of movie. Not 24 hours worth. In a way, it was like the horror marathon last year. Too much thinking. By the time the other stuff came, I was way gone. I would also have loved to see some old scifi stuff from the 50s.
It was really cool. I got the same seat I had last year and the same gentleman was in front. The man next to me was awesome and I'd like to think that we had a good time. One of the things I considered is this: What if we revisited a 'thon from the past, down to the trailers ( I know- another reason to go to Grandview). I think it would be nostalgic and a great time.

The Boston Marathon Board has done just that, covering 30+ years. I am such a nerd that I actually enjoyed the write-ups without having been there. See:
http://sf.theboard.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1334368597

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Thar’s only two possibilities: Thar is life out there in the universe which is smarter than we are, or we’re the most intelligent life in the universe. Either way, it’s a mighty sobering thought. - Walt Kelly

Very disappointed in this year's SF Marathon. Where to start.

First the movie lineup:
The movie lineup was subpar. The only thing I like was 2001, Danger Five, and Space Milkshake. I was pissed of that there was no Gravity, no Spaceboy, none of the Bread films. Gravity and the Bread shorts are available digitally. Spaceboy remake was shot digitally. It seams that they did us a favour by at least screening Duck Dodgers. Were the f**k were the trailers. I do understand that digital projection is newish. I more upset that they didn't put any effort to burn a DVD of trailers and spread them out over the course of the marathon. Why took a long break into 2001 that film isn't that long? A half ass job of Screeing Danger 5. The rest of the lineup was filled with one good but out of place film Dr. Strangelove an non SF film. That horrid south of the border s**t fest that it takes two cans of PBR to get through "movie" An forgettable boring film about lovers on an binary planet system. I fall asleep during Vanashing Waves due to the PBR consumpson during that s+++ty monochrome movie. Inception watch it a few times and not interested in seeing it again. It is a good movie.

Second the Food:

The food was sub par again. I barely spend any money at the consessions this year and the year before. I had to go next door to Cosi to get a decent dinner during Inception. The pizza was s**t. The only reason I got it to help soak up the PBR.

Third the Staff:

An rare point of the SF Marathon was sthe staff. They were great as always.

It seems to me that CAPA are trying to its best to kill off the SF Marathon. I don't blame Bruce. He did the best job that he could under the current situation. For the first time in 12 years going to the marathon I feel that I wasted money on the ticket. I'll be hard press to purchase another ticket for next year SF Marathon if there is going to be antoher SF Marathon. I'm just so pissed of on how this year SF Marathon was handle. It is time to split and find a new home for it.

Postscript

Time of the Robots was the biggest waste of time. Whomever the talentless hack that decided to "harmony gold" (1980's anime fans hopefully get the ref) footage from public domain films just need to stop. Yes you are good at video editing. The video quality was at it worse. First of it would have look better if the footage was keep at its original 4:3 aspect ratio. It was pixelated so munch that it became unwatchable. There are Youtube videos that look better than Time of the Robots. This so called movie is worse than Automatons. Please no more of this experimental films. Automatons didn't work. Time of the Robots didn't work.

Worst SF Marathon ever. Now I know how the Drexel North marathonoids feel. Rest in Peace SF Marathon you had a good run. It sadden me that the SF Marathon died a slow painful death this year. I will remeber the goodtimes. 1987 to 2013.

You may be correct that this is the worst marathon. I have been to every one of them since the first at the North when I was 17. They kind of blend together over the years. But as I said elsewhere, the surprise movie was a joke that more than fell flat. The lineup wasn't that bad, though. The lack of classic trailers and shorts hurt, and I am hoping that is a one time thing and there just wasn't time to get stuff converted over.

Just curious, you didn't mention it by name, willcail, but what did you think of Safety Not Guaranteed?

Finally, while I agree this might have been the worst marathon, my view is that is like saying Cars 2 is the worst Pixar film. No question that it had issues and there are better movies, but even a bad Pixar film is a pretty good movie. I'm not ready to say the marathon is dead. There were a lot of positives this year and I have hopes for a better year next year since I give them a bit of a pass on the conversion issue. I'm hoping Jeff's extra time, might allow an earlier date announcement, perhaps a food truck or two and maybe a great guest or premiere.

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The wages of sin are royalties.