Time passes, but CWRU Sci-fi marathon
still going strong after 30 years
By Charles Cassady
happenings
Published Jan. 12, 2005

Let's do the Time Warp again...

It's the year 1975. Man is still alive. Woman has survived. And, if they are anywhere near the campus of Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, they may fiiiiiind...no, not the twinkling of starlight in eternal night, but fairly close. The beam of projector lamps in the Strosacker Auditorium, ushering in the very first CWRU Science Fiction Marathon.

It now seems so far away. Maybe it's only yesterday.

For this weekend the Marathon marks its 30th anniversary. In certain twisted circles it has become legendary, a yearly post- holidays tradition that draws visitors from all over the country, literally, for more than 24 hours of nonstop movie mutants and mutant movies at the Cleveland technical college at University Circle.

What does it say for human progress that the CWRU Science Fiction Marathon is still going strong after three decades years - wherein a student organization devoted to promoting serious space exploration closed down several years ago?

The Marathon begins Friday night at 8 p.m. (tickets to on sale at the Strosacker Auditorium box office two hours earlier), with the opening moments of last summer's disaster flick "The Day After Tomorrow" and concludes in the early hours of Sunday morning, with the closing credits of "Frequency" (both starring Dennis Quaid). In between are "Alien," "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," "Repo Man" and more.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to do the math on that one.

It's more than a full Earth day of nonstop screen fantasies and high weirdness, in the shape of features, countless (at least it seems that way) short films and coming-attraction trailers. And maybe some violent hallucinations after a while.

It is not necessary to remain throughout the whole Marathon, and you can drift in and out for sleep and other luxuries, or even arrive 12 hours late and still be in for an ultimate trip.

Some hardy fans have attended most of the Marathons over the previous quarter-century, believe it or not.

"I went to the first one, missed the second, and went to the next 25," said David Massaro, 78, a retired teacher on Cleveland's west side.

A fantasy-film collector and archivist, Massaro personally supplied prints in his collection of 16mm to earlier Marathons, especially of old cliffhanger serials. This was before the first generation of VCR tape players was commercially available to the general public, and the CWRU Film Society's revivals were one of the few places outside of TV reruns with late-nite horror hosts to catch the creature-features and far-out flicks in their entirety.

"It would be 3 a.m. in the morning [Sunday] when we finally got out," said Massaro.

He is unsure whether he will attend this year, since he already possesses most of the movies booked - "The Invisible Man," "Planet of the Apes," "The War of the Worlds" on tape, laserdisc or DVD. But going to the CWRU Sci-Fi Marathon is like nothing you can experience in your TV room.

It's like being immersed in "Mystery Science Theater 3000." The crowd is a mix of undergraduates, fringies, local characters, technogeeks and hardcore Marathon-goers, some proudly wear their Starfleet uniforms. They have no problem heckling the stuff on screen (or sometimes each other), especially during the lower-budget, less awesome cinematic fare.

This comes in handy when the mischievous programmers sometimes play a Japanese monster flick without English dubbing or subtitles.

In the recent past it was fashionable to bring hand-held laser-pointers and dot the movie screen (during an extremely boring interlude, three ruby-laser points managed to get a pretty entertaining simulation of 'Pong' going), until the multitude of laser-pointers led to a Homeland Security ban on the futuristic gadgets.

But Marathonoids still know how to have fun, video-projecting their X-Box or Play station games on the wall in tournaments in the upstairs lobby, or even setting up computers or internet terminals in their, for homework or web surfing.

The ones who try to endure the whole Marathon literally camp out in and around Strosacker Auditorium, in sleeping bags and bedrolls. It does look - and smell - uncommonly like a refugee camp after a while.

Patrons may bring coolers of snacks, but no glass bottles or metal cans allowed in the house, and no alcohol. There will be enough mind-altering stuff onscreen already. Nobody under 18 is allowed without parental supervision.

Free parking is available in lot 44 (corner of Adelbert and Murray Hill across from Fribley) after 4:30 p.m. on Friday. If you arrive earlier than 4:30pm, you will have to pay for parking in the Veale Parking Tower (lot 53) at the posted rates.

For a full schedule and further information, check out the CWRU Film Society's website http://films.cwru.edu/sfmarathon30/