News post: Rangers print ad picture

<font size="+1">Rangers print ad picture</font>
<font size="3">See another element of the promotion campaign</font>

TV advertising, theatre advertising, car wrapping, banner advertising--you name it, SCI FI is running it. However, they're not ignoring the time-honored tradition of print advertising, and B5LR.com visitor Joe Beaudoin has kindly scanned in the ad that appears in the January issue of MAD magazine.

Click the image to see a larger version.



Many thanks to Joe for sending this in.

What a good-looking ad.

What a good-looking Captain.

*looks around* Did I say that?

Anyway, I really like the text on that ad. It says so much in only seven words - starting from the well-known Marines line was a neat idea.

It's a good choice of characters to put in, as well. B5 vets who haven't seen anything about Rangers (they're out there) will immediately recognize G'Kar; but the emphasis is definitely NOT on him.

I like how, although it's centered, there's nobody really front and center, so it gives the ad more of an ensemble feel than "a star and his supporting cast" look - even though Martel's in front of everyone else, showing that he's most likely the central character of that ensemble.

Still, it's centered. *information design gene twitches*



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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "I wonder," said Frodo, "but I don't know. And that's the way of a real tale."

The ad is also in the February issue of Scifi, which I got the other day because of the pages and pages worth of stuffage on the movie. The ad now adorns one of my binders.

I have to agree with your statements about it, channe -- I hadn't quite noticed that Martel wasn't centered until you mentioned it, but it does lend to the impression the picture makes. Something that vaguely bothers me is that neither of the minbari are pictured. The rangers are still primarily minbari, if I recall correctly, so why not show one? And the statement "the mostly human" is inaccurate . . . but saying "the mostly inhuman" or "alien" wouldn't work as well, I suppose. All in all, a good ad.

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"There is always hope. Only because it's the only thing no one has figured out how to kill yet."

This is the exact same ad that was in the most recent Wizard(a comics magazine).

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Deviot
Lincbot@yahoo.com.au

If that were my picture, I would have replaced Na'feel with Firell, to include another type of alien in there as well as keep another woman in there besides Cantrell (who is, incidentially, looking awesomely intense).

Let's face it, though - people will identify with the human main characters much faster than they identify with the aliens, however fantastically played they are. In all of B5, the humans were really at the center. Because it's a human story.

Therefore, calling it "the mostly human" both acknowledges the alien element while affirming to a possible audience that they won't be watching cultural gibberish!

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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "I wonder," said Frodo, "but I don't know. And that's the way of a real tale."

It's a good ad but I wondered at the words "mostly human" when three out of five are not human. Also JMS keeps telling us that the Rangers are a Minbari organization, so one would assume that it would be mostly Minbari.

If it succeeds in getting even one more person to watch it will have worked.

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I always seem to be diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

Am I the only one not getting a picture? If there is in fact a picture posted (which seems to be the case) then can someone provide a direct link?

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Marc Cosgrove

"From chaos, order came. As was inevitable." -Summoning light

It looks better - more balanced - with Na'Feel there instead of Firell, with G'Kar on the other side. Although with two humans and three aliens the "mostly human" does sound a bit funny.

The ad grabbed my attention at once in the SciFi Magazine. I think it's the best poster/cast pic of B5LR I've seen so far. The proportions are excellent (and G'Kar looks marvellous as ever ).

Why the Narns and the Drazi, not the Minbari... good question. Then again, all the previous ads/pics have focused more on the Minbari, with much less focus on Na'Feel and Tirk.

And besides, they look more alien, especially to someone who hasn't seen B5, I would think - a Minbari is just another human with a bone crest, as far as looks go.

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"Isn't the universe an amazing place? I wouldn't live anywhere else." - G'Kar, B5: Rangers
Kribu's Lounge | kribu@ranger.b5lr.com

The "Mostly Human" part is Supposed to look a bit off.

Does somebody need to hold up "LAUGH" cues?

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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."

It was also in the latest issue of Computer Games (the magazine) - right next to the table of contents. Not a bad location!!!

Cool ad!

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With a salad fork and a couple of purple wombats I could rule the galaxy.

Hmm interesting that one of the descriptive terms used is "The Few", I wonder if they know the historical significance of that term in Britain. It's the colloquial term for the brave pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain, immortalized as "The Few" when Churchill uttered the words "Never in the history of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few!"

It's very appropriate given the job the Rangers do, I just wonder if there was a deliberate connection being made!

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Back when I was a kid in Sunday School, Father Minkowski once said: "Given the crucifixion was a terrible thing for anyone to endure, if you could go back in time 2200 years, would you prevent the crucifixion of Christ?" Well after a heated debate, we all agreed the answer was no. The crucifixion was necessary to redeem the world. - Lt. John Matheson "The Needs of Earth"

"We live for the One. We die for the One!"

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dark Lord:
Am I the only one not getting a picture? If there is in fact a picture posted (which seems to be the case) then can someone provide a direct link?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I assume so yes. Anyway here is a direct link.

The few the proud the mostly human

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Deviot
Lincbot@yahoo.com.au

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Galahad:
It's very appropriate given the job the Rangers do, I just wonder if there was a deliberate connection being made!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In America, it means something similar. The United States Marines often advertise on television, and every ad features a handsome Marine in full dress uniform, with sword, looking quite lethal. Over this graphic, you hear:

The Few. The Proud. The Marines.

We've all heard it a million-and-a-half times, and for an American (the target audience of said advertisements) it's meant to immediately evoke a sense of honor, of people who protect us and take pride in what they do. Etc., etc.

Americans don't know much about British military history. But they do know about marketing campaigns.

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channe@[url="http://cryoterrace.tripod.com"]cryoterrace[/url] | "I wonder," said Frodo, "but I don't know. And that's the way of a real tale."

Yep. That Ad is so well known that one of the slang terms for the Marines is "the Proud".

I suspect they prefer that to Jarhead.

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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."