Beam Somerville up.

By Sanjeev Selvarajah

A Science Fiction film marathon is coming to Somerville on Sunday and organizers are asking viewers to test the outer limits of what the genre can do.

“Don’t limit your definition of what science fiction is. It is all about what is possible” said Garen Daly, the ringleader of the successful Boston Sci-Fi Marathon run mainly by his company Zeotrope Media. The sci-fi genre draws in a crowd to festivals, conventions, and a TV channel because of the reaction it elicits from the general audience of television and film whether they are a casual viewer or the avid enthusiast.

At screenings, films will be shown with live music. The live music gives the film tsets the viewer firmly in the silent era of film. Other movies this week into the weekend are the 1978 “Battlestar Galactica” and “Zonad” a whimsical story set in a Irish Village. “It’s such a community event and it engenders a warm feeling of connection,” says Daly about the Marathon.

Daly said science fiction has reached the mainstream more than ever recently. “The same techniques used in comic books are on the nightly news. It’s a two dimensional visual used to convey action for newscasts” he said.