The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Just a few thoughts from this year's festivities ... in no particular order.

We had less-than-ideal seats, so the 3D from Cat Women was particularly headache-inducing, but otherwise our location wasn't bad. Talking seemed a bit up in our area, but it wasn't the worst I've had to endure (though it seemed to annoy the people I was with more than it bothered me.)

Temperature was overall fairly good, though my girlfriend remarked several times that it was too hot. She was leaving early anyway, though, and the heat definitely settled down in the wee hours.

Food was reasonable. Drexel Cafe and pizza ... good staples. No point in the schedule where I was comfortable going out to eat anyway.

The lineup was incredible. Easily one of the best we've had in years IMHO. Some disappointment at so much DVD projection, but the quality was good and I'm not a purist. Projection quality was better than most years, not as good as some ... reasonable response to framing and film-break issues.

Sound could have been better, several prints were either too quiet or too shrill ... or both. Definite balancing issues. May have been unavoidable.

Thoughts on the films:

Logan's Run - Fantastic. Print was in pretty good shape, little red-shifting and a few large scratches, but otherwise very very watchable. Always one of my favorites, and really epic enough to warrant seeing on the big screen. Plus, Jenny Agutter ... ROAR!

Timecrimes - WOW! Primer with no glaring logic holes! Good humor, fantastic script, excellent execution. Probably the "find" of the Marathon. Guaranteed to hit the shelf as soon as it's available.

Famous Monster: Forrest J. Ackerman - Very nice little documentary, and worthy of a DVD projection (ala Sputnik Mania.) Kicking myself for not getting up to the mansion during the few months it was still open (when I lived in SoCal.) Ach so. Very worthwhile.

The Time Travellers - I wanted to catch this because I'd somehow never managed to see it at all. Relatively unexciting film, rates as mediocre in my book, BUT it was a really fantastic print (Bruce said it was a circa 1999 re-issue.) Still considered a rare-to-find classic, and worth a viewing.

Alien Trespass - Half as clever as it thinks it is, and a quarter as clever as it needed to be. Nice schtick, and decent execution, but nothing to really grab you and pretty thin on humor and wit. Wasn't a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but I probably wouldn't recommend it as a rental.

Cat Women of the Moon - Perhaps better than watching the actual film, though more surviving female cat-suit footage would have been preferred.

Mutant Chronicles - I expected this to be horrendously bad, and honestly I was happy enough with what we get. It suffers from most of the fundamental problems of game-based-movies, ludicrous plot devices, imagery, story, etc. It's an utterly cliche'd, razor-thin-plot version of The Dirty Dozen, but honestly I enjoyed it. Things blew up real good, and the imagery is interesting and well done if not a bit difficult to explain. Definitely deserves better than the 20% rating it's got on Rotten Tomatoes.

Tokyo Gore Police - Ummm ... I'm still not really sure what I watched here. Or if I enjoyed it. But that's become par-for-the-course with the super-extreme Japanese offerings of the marathon. Enjoyed it more than Ichi the Killer at least. Though that's not saying much.

Robocop - One of the few things worth watching from Verhoeven, though I wish I'd taken the opportunity to cat-nap here instead of Rollerball. Well done, and one of the modern classics. Still enjoyed catching it big-screen, cause things blow up REAL good. Besides, Peter Weller rules.

Rollerball - I was really looking forward to this on the big screen, so I was disappointed when I blacked out around the flaming-tree party. But I was awake again from the Tokyo match onward. Highly underrated movie, IMHO, and well worth the time and trouble.

The Thing From Another World - I'm continually reminded at how well constructed this film is. The dialog is incredibly snappy and intelligent, the story is nicely tuned, and it's an example of good, solid filmmaking in an often dubious genre. Wish it could have shown at a better time when more would have been awake to appreciate it, but it's already opened a marathon once, so I'll take what I can get.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Reminds of the reason I actually used to love this franchise. Fantastic print of it, too, with very little damage to speak of. Odd sound issues, but otherwise an extremely good showing. Probably the crowning masterpiece of the entire franchise ... but sadly a reminder that it was really all downhill from there.

Edit: Upside-down-backward on The Day the Earth Stood Still trailer ... very nice touch.

One final note ... I'd ask for a moment of silence for the Eegah trailer, which is currently in critical condition and will most likely not survive the film break. It will be sorely missed.

Otherwise, thanks again to Bruce and the crew of the Drexel for putting on a spectacular Marathon and keeping us all entertained!

_________________
David A. Zecchini; Creature of the Wheel, Lord of the Infernal Engines
"Damnati Im Ludum" (VitruvianZeke@att.net)

My 2 cents for what it’s worth….(2 cents, I guess.)

Logan's Run – Fantastic way to kick off the marathon! There are a handful of films that stand out as icons of my childhood years…Star Wars, Clash of the Titans and Logan’s Run. Seeing this again on the big screen, even with all of its faults, was like traveling in a time machine back to my wonder years. I’m sure a lot of us felt the same. Great print. I wasn’t expecting it to look nearly this good. This is one I’m glad was a film instead of a DVD projection. I must admit, I had forgotten about the old man and his incessant blabbering about his cats, but I loved the rest of the experience. Thank you for finding and screening it!

Timecrimes – at the marathon, here’s usually one premiere or film I hadn’t been aware of that really grabs me, and makes me glad I was there. This was definitely it. Excellent, smart, inventive film. We even skipped Tokyo Gore Police in the middle of the night and migrated to the halfathon to see Timecrimes again. The second viewing is a great experience too, seeing things you weren’t looking for the first time. I will definitely recommend this one and buy it when it’s available on DVD.

Famous Monster: Forrest J. Ackerman – I love to see people who are very very passionate about something. This film (video) resonated with a lot of us, I think. I was aware of the late Mr. Ackerman, but I now have a fuller appreciation for his life’s work. As a kid collecting and obsessing over “Famous Monsters” I was the lucky beneficiary of his obsession.

The Time Travellers – Pristine print, and great film for snarking. I think most people were pretty good about not going overboard with the commentary this year. We only had 2 or 3 that were snark-worthy anyway. This one helped get it out of our systems. Hope no one went into epileptic seizure at the end.

Alien Trespass – I really liked the imagery and the sentiment, but it really didn’t live up to what I hoped it would be. It was fun, though. My daughter really liked it.

Cat Women of the Moon – Another snarkfest. With the exception of the constant maniacal cackling coming from a couple rows behind us, the snarking made the film more enjoyable, because it really was not a great film. The audio was so low you couldn’t hear most of it, the print was horrible and the 3D effect hurt to look at. The only parts of the film that really stood out in 3D were the phallic stalagmites in the foreground. Was the 3 Stooges short added as part of the entertainment or did the reel come that way because most of the film was missing? LOVED Spaceboy! And also loved the Hannah-Barbera cartoon before (Tor?) that was a crowd favorite! This whole section of the ‘thon was great fun.

Mutant Chronicles – I slept through this one. I did try to watch it, but I’m not a fan of explosions and effects just for the sake of spectacle. Plot seemed very thin…Like watching someone play a video game. It seemed like a lot of people liked it, and that’s cool…it just wasn’t for me.

Tokyo Gore Police – I watched 2 minutes before my daughter and I migrated (wisely, I think) to the halfathon to see timecrimes again. So there’s not much I can say about this one. The first 2 minutes made me physically ill, and I didn’t see the value of sitting through it.

Robocop – This one was fun. Maybe I’m wrong, but this seemed different from the Criterion version I have on DVD. Was this the original theatrical version? Decent print, and great to see it on the big screen with a marathon audience at 4 in the am. Glad the time slot was switched with TGP. Good call.

Rollerball – OK… I really don’t get how this is science fiction. Is it because the sport didn’t exist and it was set in the future? The only thing I saw in this film that qualified as Sci-Fi was the big computer that answered questions. Didn’t really like this one at all. For me, it was a sports movie. Could have just as easily been “Slapshot” or “Brian’s Song” with a computer and futuristic font on the jerseys.

The Thing From Another World – I stayed wide awake for this one. I would have loved to have seen an actual film print, since this was the same DVD I have at home projected. But it is a great film, and I appreciated it being booked.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – Wide awake for this one as well. I’m so glad I got the chance to see this on the big screen, because I had only seen it on video before. Fantastic print! I was really surprised at the quality given its age. Khan was a great theme for the thon. Love the shirts…kudos to the designer.

I know I gave a couple of films the thumbs down, but that’s just a matter of personal taste. It’s to be expected. Overall, I thought the ‘thon was a huge success, and I really appreciate everyone involved in making it happen. We had a great time!

THANK YOU!!!!!!

I attended the first 4 or 5 sci-fi marathons (god, I miss the Drexel North), then had a long absence, then I attended the last 3 (2007-2009). This year’s ‘thon was my favorite sense I’ve been back. Solid line-up of films, the return of pizza, and I was really amazed at how many first-timers were there.

Logan’s Run – Great way to start the marathon! I’ve never seen this on the big screen before and I was very happy with the condition of the print.

Timecrimes – Great movie! A lot of time travel stories have major loop holes or just don’t make a lot of sense, but this movie didn’t fall into these categories. Funny and entertaining.

Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman – Great Documentary. I found myself thinking, “a really want to go visit his house”, then they dropped the “it’s closed” bombshell. Crap!!

The Time Travelers – Cheesy! This movie has the flaws that Timecrimes didn’t. I think the end of the movie was trying to say that they were in an infinite loop, but they weren’t. They went through the portal that was stuck in the 100,000 years in the future position. How is that looping? Oh well, only a movie.

Alien Trespass – This was okay. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t fantastic either. I enjoyed the attempt to recreate a ‘50s era sci-fi flick.

Cat-Women of the Moon in 3-D – Maybe it was where I was sitting, but the 3-D effects only worked part of the time; and when they worked, they were terrible. It was so damaged and skipped around so much that it hardly seemed worth showing.

Mutant Chronicles – I really enjoyed this. Action-packed, cool monsters, awesome fight scenes … this is the kind of movie that keeps you awake. Is it a movie that makes you think … no; have an in-depth plot with twists, turns, and surprises … no; but it was entertaining.

Tokyo Gore Police – Japanese movies never fail to make me say WTF? I think that’s what I like so much about them. Over the top blood & gore + crazy dialog = me laughing my head off. This is the point of the marathon that I started feeling tired.

Robocop – Cool movie. I’ve seen it a lot and it’s the only one of the franchise that I actually like. I had one or two head snaps during this one.

Rollerball – I’m sorry James Caan, but I’m just not a fan of this movie. Slow movies like this are what really do me in at marathons. I kept falling asleep until the game against Tokyo, then I was okay for the rest of the movie … I just couldn’t shake that tired feeling.

The Thing from Another World – I don’t know if it was the donuts or what, but I really got my second wind during the break before this movie (the donuts are always fantastic by the way, anybody know where they are from). I didn’t feel tired anymore and stayed awake for the remainder of the marathon. But about the movie … I had never seen the source material for John Carpenter’s The Thing, and I was very impressed. I loved the characters, the humor, and the alien. I thought it was funny that we saw a movie with a character named Scotty before watching Star Trek. KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES!!

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – This movie was actually my introduction to Star Trek. My sister was a huge Star Trek fan and took me to see this when it first came out in ’82. That very same sister also took me to the very first “It Came from the Drexel North.” She passed away almost 8 months ago, so the last 2 hours of the marathon really meant a lot to me this year. The movie is my favorite Star Trek movie and one of my favorite Sci-Fi movies of all time.

The marathon is always one of the highlights of my year. I had a great time this year; the t-shirt is my favorite marathon shirt (kudos to whoever designed it), the snarking was at a very good level, and I’m already looking forward to next year …. (and the upcoming horror ‘thon). A very big thank you to everyone involved.

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Remember ... no matter where you go, there you are.

Logans Run - Good starter. The carousel scenes freaked me out for some reason. I'd never seen the movie before so I was very pleased to get a chance to seeing as how it is awesome.

TimeCrimes - I really enjoyed it. A nice simple movie with the character making some interesting choices. Do you think he was just waiting for the police to pick him up at the end?

Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman - I saw the second half of this because I went out for some reason. Sad I missed the beginning. I really enjoyed what I saw of it.

The Time Travelers - While I love stuff like this the "lumicord" was a BIT much for my tastes. I felt very meh about this one. However, the Ackerman appearance was funny and Danny was good for a laugh or two.

Alien Trespass - It wasn't as campy as I expected so that was kind of disappointing but over all I enjoyed it.

Cat-Women of the Moon - I wish something else had been played instead of this. A nice cheesy 80's movie would have been fun. I missed that kind of movie this year. I left after the Three Stooges played. That was enjoyable at least.

Mutant Chronicles - I'm a sucker for stupid action and chicks who fight like badasses. I loved this one...I'm not going to lie. I know it's not the ultimate in cinema but I thought it was really fun.

Tokyo Gore Police - I COULD NOT make it through the bad dubbing. As much as I wanted to watch this the dubbing was just so bad.

Robocop - Thought I'd sleep through this one but I was actually pretty entertained. I forgot how much I actually like this movie.

Rollerball - Zzzzz...I watched up until the flaming trees and decided that nap time was in order. Not really my thing but glad they got the print for those who wanted to see it.

The Thing From Another World - Super well done. I loved all of the actors and actresses in this one. I think the dvd projection was good in this case.

Star Trek: Wrath of Khan - I slept. It's a good movie though.



My overall marathon experience was so so. My friend brought some new people and they hadn't seen each other in 2 months so they decided to spend the entire 24 hours talking. Talking as in having full voiced conversation. I could not for the life of me concentrate on the movies very well and was about to kill during Mutant Chronicles. The actual movie line up or the crowd did not add to the so so-ness. Just the 2 girls.

My boyfriend came for his first time and said it's his second favorite thing now next to MarCon. He also stayed awake the entire time!

Thanks to Bruce and the gang for finding my phone, providing an excellent line up, and making it all possible.

Brought my daughter Megan to her first marathon, and met Justmegan while waiting in line. Huh.

Logan's Run. The first half is goofy fun, and then they had to start taking themselves seriously so the second half drags a bit too much. Still, overall, gald to finally catch up with this film.

Timecrimes. Really like to see it again to put the pieces together a bit more. A good example of what a smart script can do with a limited budget. Glad this played early, because trying to add it up at 6 am would have made my brain explode.

Famous Monsters. Maybe the best booking of the bunch. Perfect personality for our crowd, and well made to boot. Really enjoyed it.

The Time Travelers. A good example of what a not so smart script can do with a limited budget. Some entertaining bits, and not too long so to wear out its welcome. Glad I saw it once, don't really need to see it again.

Alien Trespass. Well made, well acted, but I generally like my comedies with laughs. Not even close to as good as Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

Cat Women of the Moon. Look what the cat dragged in indeed. The Three Stooges looked so tired. Did find the Hanna Barberra cartoon hilarious.

Mutant Chronicles. Ordinary straight to video fare in my book. Not particularly good or bad.

Tokyo Gore Police. Went out to eat, the first time I've done that at a marathon, but this isn't my cup of tea.

RoboCop. Still works. Great film. Hadn't seen it in a few years, so it was a nice revisit.

Rollerball. Biggest disappointment of the marathon for me. Liked the game sequences, but the rest of the movie dragged badly.

The Thing From Another World. Great dialogue, smart characters, really enjoyed the film. Disapointed in the video projection, though.

Star Trek 2: Never seen in before. In contrast to the boring Star Trek The Motion Picture, this is a genuine pleasure, with an involving plot, great villain, and a genuinely emotional ending involving Spock's demise.

Aftre the oversnarkfest of last year, I have to say I had no major problems this year, and I sat in almost the same seats. Also, I don't know how you guys do it, but the quality of the prints not dragged in by the cat was really amazing.

Thinks for playing the Muppets Loew's into. I really wanted my daughter to see that. Movie, movie, movie, movie...

I had a great time as always.

The T shirt was great. Also, this was the first time that when I got home and showed it to my wife, she said, "Why didn't you get me one?" I immediately called Bruce.

The Radio Cafe was great. I recommend the chicken salad sandwiches.

My favorite films were Logan's Run and The Thing From Another World. I had not seen either for a long time. Both were very entertaining.

I enjoyed Alien Trespass and Time Travelers a lot. I liked most of Tokyo Gore Police.

In fact, I liked the whole lineup except for Mutant Chronicles and Catwomen. Catwomen really did hurt the eyes and wasn't worth the effort. Mutant Chronicles was not my kind of movie. I wish I had realized in time that I could have been watching Logan's Run again at the Halfathon instead.

I enjoyed Robocop. I took a nap during Rollerball and when I woke up I found that James Caan was still arguing about retirement.

We left after The Thing, not because we don't like Trek, but because we had seen that movie many times, and we wanted to stay awake on the drive home.

The result was that for me the thon started and ended with great movies: Logan and The Thing.

Snarking: very toned down this year. I don't know why. The only time it bothered me was the cackling during Catwomen.

So, great time. Looking forward to the next one.

Great time as always!

I was surprised by Alien Trespass. I was expecting it to be a spoof like Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, but instead it was more like a standard 50's film that was just made with today's production values. It was good, but nothing I'd run out to see again.

I was also surprised by Mutant Chronicles. It contained far more action and special effects than I thought it might, considering it's basically a lowbudget flick. It may not have been the most brilliant movie ever, but it was definitely entertaining, especially the second half of it. Thanks for booking it, I enjoyed it.

Tokyo Gore Police was exactly what I was hoping it would be. Completely over the top. I was thinking about complaining that the ending was a bit too much, even for this movie, but then the chief took off and started flying around the room, and I just don't see how anything could be any cooler than that! Utterly brilliant!

The end implied that there might be a sequel. I really want to see that now too!

Star Trek II was yet another brilliant choice for an ending movie! It was exactly what was needed to wake me up, a good interesting movie with a decent amount of action.

Way to end on yet another high note!

Great time as always. Thanks to Bruce and Jeff and Kathy and all the staff and volunteers. Always one of the highlights of my year but I really enjoyed this year's lineup. I may be moving this year and future marathons are up in the air. It's hard enough sometimes to make the 6 hour drive now. But definitely over 20 days of memories since 1989. Here is my rundown:

Logan's Run was definitely a highlight of a steller lineup. I had one snark I wish I had said louder: when they went into the orgy room And cut to Jenny Agutter I said "You go ahead, I'll catch up with you."

Timecrimes is my DVD find of the marathon. This is the new discovery that's worth buying on DVD.

Famous Monsters was interesting but I'm glad it was short. F**k Speilberg and Lucas and all those who could've and should've helped fund his museum. They wouldn't be anywhere without Forry's influence on fandom.

Time Travelers-I'm glad I saw it at a marthon. I love seeing old rarities at these, even if they aren't good.

Alien Trespass-not very funny but I'll take it over Larry Blamare films any day.

Cat Women-a clever way to sneak more trailers and shorts in. Terrible 3-D but whatever...

Mutant Chronicles-nothing special, but violent and fast paced, and decent enough.

Tokyo Gore Police-I saw in on Halloween at a theater here, also video projected but subtitled. I had just ordered the DVD before Bruce announced it. Couldn't think of a better crowd to see it with.

Robocop-fantastic though I slept through the third quarter of it. At least I saw it on the big screen last year or I'd be kicking myself.

Rollerball-I like the strange movie for some reason. Maybe I'm just a sucker for "big" budget seventies sci-fi.

I left after Rollerball. I didn't have much time to visit family this trip so I skipped out when The Thing was on DVD and I'm not a Star Trek fan. If it wasn't the last movie I could've enjoyed Khan enough, though. But sleep sounded better to my old bones.

_________________
"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick a**. I'm all out of bubble gum."

Well, once again, for MovieWeb I wrote up a recap of the event.

Here it is:

http://www.movieweb.com/news/NE6oPbbcPvuV9d

That is quite a thorough rundown, AEinhorn. Did you get all your info from Bruce or did you write down all the trailers as you went along?
I appreciate seeing all the trailers and shorts listed, it gives me a better feel for the event. Bruce did a good job as always with the themed blocks of trailers.

I was surprised to not see a Wolverine trailer shown before Mutant Chronicles.
Also, it appears as if Gravity and Spaceboy were left out of the mix this year. Is that true? Bummer.

Thanks for the recaps, everyone.

_________________
Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

I wrote the trailers down as we went along. Getting them from Bruce would have made entirely too much sense.

We did see Spaceboy. It was in the break between the incomplete "Cat Women of the Moon" segments. Always a treat. I don't think Gravity was screened though, unless I just missed it.

Great article, AEinhorn.

No Gravity. Bruce said they would try for next year. I would be happy if they could get it copied to DVD. The quality of the image isn't that big a deal for me.

I have a few minutes finally for my recap.

This had to be the worst I felt prior to a marathon and was the first time I seriously considered going home early. However, the programming was so solid, I decided to stay to see a few more films and started to actually feel a bit better. I ended up having to call of on Monday but it was worth it.

Before I get to the films, I want to concur with folks that the staff was great. They seemed overwhelmed and a bit stressed at the concession stand, especially at pizza order time, but they were never rude and I always got what I ordered. The folks in the Cafe were great, especially the short, African American cook. She was as pleasant when she gave me my burger around 2 am as she was when she gave me my burger just before noon.

Thanks to Bruce for all his hard work. It was a wonderful lineup, one that he is going to have a hard time topping.

I was sad to have missed out on T-shirts, but was very happy with Bruce's offer to order extra. I was holding seats (more on that later) and by the time my last friend came in, he had to take back his backpack with water, which I told him he would, I didn't get back out in time to get one. I wish they had kid sizes, but I don't know if there would be enough demand. Oh, it was nice to see there were several kids there, and I think I saw at least one of them well into the morning. My son loved the Clone Wars activity book and the Monsters vs Aliens tattoos.

It was great to see everyone in line, watch Bob's DVD (I want a copy,) to play Fluxxx with Bob and his friends (and win), but I wish I had felt better. I had to go sit down for a while a few times to rest. I wasn't being antisocial, I was just trying not to fall over.

It also seemed like seating was more of an issue. I want to again apologize, if you are reading this, to the guy who was two seats over from me. I was one of the first folks in, and picked our regular seats. My one friend was late so another waited for her outside with her ticket. I didn't have anything else to mark seats with so I draped my arms across the seats on each side of me to hold them for said friends. The guy said he asked if the seats were open, and I swear I did not hear him. We would have gladly moved over, but the seat one of us would have had to move into and the one next to it were broken. The weld broke and you had to sit at a roughly 30 degree angle. I saw another group of folks arguing over seats. The one positive is we had that many folks that seating was an issue. I wish the broken seats were taped over. We had to tell several folks (who tried them anyway) that they were broken. Actually one guy did sit in one for the marathon.

I missed the music. I don't think anyone else commented on it, and maybe my memory is bad, but I don't recall hearing Rocky Horror, Martian Hop, etc. I also miss the slide show, though that is an occasional thing so I am used to it not always being projected. This is the first year, in a while, we didn't have music.

Projection. Reminded me of the Grand/Gateway marathons. Seemed more problematic than recent years. Lots of framing and focus issues as well as sound. That may not all be on the projectionist, and may just be in part just bad luck. The breaks also seemed to take longer to recover from. It may just be me, colored by not feeling well.

I was happy with the costume contest. I hope to keep supporting it and hope the costumes will continue to improve. I think Ro-Man might have gotten it except for the baby.

Logans Run - Nice film to start with. I recall the TV series much better than the film. I always like post apocalyptic movies, cartoons and TV shows.

TimeCrimes - Really enjoyed it. I did notice his "wife" had the girls shoes on so was suspicious it was her as quick as the cut was. Darn Jeff for warning me to pay attention to detail.

Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman - Nice. It was short, it would have been a great guest film. It is too bad about his collection. He seemed likely a genuinely sweet person.

The Time Travelers - I enjoyed it for what it was. It reminded me a bit, near the end, of the miniseries of the King story the Langoliers. The looping at the end was fun. Sort of the cliff notes version of the film.

Alien Trespass - I, too, expected more Lost Skeleton. I love that movie, but I was pleasantly surprised they went a slightly different route. I was surveyed out in the lobby on it.

Cat-Women of the Moon - I think this is the same print we had at the Continent. I like how it was handled, though maybe I would have enjoyed a full length movie instead. I didn't really like the Stooges short, never a Curly Joe fan. Probably the weak link.

Mutant Chronicles - This is where I thought about going home, but decided I wanted to see how this one went. I am glad I stayed. I really liked this. It was one of my favorite films of the marathon. I always like those Magnificent Seven, Dirty Dozen like films. Good casting, good fight scenes. A bit over the top in spots, but not so much as to ruin the film.

Tokyo Gore Police - Again, I almost went home, but stayed. This was where I was most exhausted and sick and I think I may have dozed, but I'm not positive. I have no idea why the schoolgirl prostitute was in a fight at the end and who she was fighting. However, I heard several folks say that so maybe my personal stay awake record is still intact. This was over the top, but at least the story made sense, for the most part. Again, good fight choreography.

Robocop - I was struck by the fake ads in this along with the fake ads from Tokyo Gore Police. Solid story, solid action/pacing and a nice trip back to the late 80s.

Rollerball - I've seen this several times, and while the sport scenes are cool, I guess I am always too tired to think about the deeper meaning of the individual losing himself to the corporation. In a way an interesting counter to Star Trek II.

The Thing From Another World - Saw the remake not long ago and had forgotten how different the two films were. As an aside, I laughed at the snark, that the projection booth is having a bad night when they have a film break on DVD. This is a great film, though I always found the "press release" at the end a little over the top. I would like to see again (in maybe 6 or 7 years) in some future marathon teamed with the remake. I think it was a good thing it was late or every movie may have had a spate of "Shut the Door!" snarks.

Star Trek: Wrath of Khan - Still as good as the first time I saw it. I still think some of the best uniforms in Start Trek history. Good movie to end on. Much more positive than some recent years.

Again, thanks to Bruce, The Franks, the staff, the art folks and everyone else who made this a great thon despite my health.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

Just a quick side-note, I've updated my history pages at www.vitruvianzeke.com with SF26. There are some sorting changes which could mean issues with the Alphabetized listing, so let me know if you see any errors.

http://www.vitruvianzeke.com/Marathonia/Marathonia.html

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David A. Zecchini; Creature of the Wheel, Lord of the Infernal Engines
"Damnati Im Ludum" (VitruvianZeke@att.net)