Galt's Gulch

Jerry Doyle, 'Babylon 5' Actor and EpicTimes Founder, Dies

Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 9 months ago to Entertainment
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Michael Garbaldi has died. If you ever watched the classic Sci Fi series Babylon 5, he was a main character throughout it. It was a greats series, an he played a really good part throughout.
SOURCE URL: http://www.thewrap.com/jerry-doyle-dead-babylon-5-actor-epictimes-founder-died-60/

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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 9 months ago
    Exposure to the B4 time warp is knocking off these B5 actors far too soon. Doyle as Garibaldi was a complex, admirable character well played.
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    • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 9 months ago
      Freedom! I wouldn't have guessed you were a B5 fan...I thought it was one of the best series of any genre made, just for the way the characters were played, the stories were so good and they worked in such layered connections. Jerry Doyle was indeed one of the key characters in how he fit into the stories. Thanks!
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      • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 9 months ago
        Best science fiction series made to date without question, imo. I tried to watch it when it was originally broadcast and could not get into the plot after missing a few episodes, then was off on business trips and didn't get back to watch until years later when it was rebroadcast (maybe on Turner cable.) Once I saw it from the beginning, I was addicted. Great theatre,great ethical message. So many superb scenes in support of individual liberty.
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        • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 9 months ago
          Yes, I got the full DVD set and every couple of years watch them all through. When you do that, it is so much easier to appreciate the masterful storytelling that went into it. I love the Lando character, the episode where he was chasing bugs with the sword was great, and J'Kar was a close second.Lots of con panel interviews on YouTube, you can see them as they were for real and JMS was at most if not all, his stories are really interesting. The fact they were the first to use a large part of 3d generation through the (then) new Lightwave software was something I did not know until I saw the "making of" special.
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          • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 9 months ago
            Its a shame that the original digital work hasn't been updated with more advanced digital tech. The scenes with combined digital and live actors are very difficult to update and improve the quality. I would have thought that the IP owners (Warner Bros, I think) would have already upgraded it, as STOS did. I bet there are talented amatuers who would work on it if given the opportunity. I would buy the bluerays of it.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 7 years, 9 months ago
    B5 is a superb show, and Garabaldi was excellent in it - probably tops after J'kar and Londo. There is great potential for a good remake, eliminating some of the weak 'topical' episodes, and bringing back into the plot arc some of the groundwork laid for the final battles - groundwork that went unused because the show was cancelled...and then reinstated at the last minute. (This forced 2 seasons into 1 (the 4th) and made the 5th season pretty 'empty'.)

    When I saw Jupiter Ascending I thought that the effects in that movie hinted at how B5 should be remade.

    Jan
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    • Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 8 months ago
      Agreed. The first three seasons were particularly good. The Fourth was anticlimactic and the Fifth was even more so, IMHO.

      One thing I did really appreciate with respect to the accuracy of a space-based battle was how B5 was the first to accurately portray the three-dimensional realities of any fight. It is one of the glaring deficiencies in Star Trek and it exists in Star Wars as well. The only other I have seen which attempts to point out the baseless notion of orientation in 3D space is "Ender's Game".
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      • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 8 months ago
        Yes, and that was where Lightwave helped them, as they could model it effectively. B5 lives in the annals of 3D history as the first major show to use it.
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        • Posted by $ jlc 7 years, 8 months ago
          I agree, though they still had humans do the dogfighting nav and firing. Considering the difference in reaction times between humans and computers, it makes sense for the pilot to establish general tactics - and provide for an occasional anomalous decision - and leave the fighting to the firing computer.

          I did like the 4th season. I especially liked that the answer was not "The Vorlons were Right", the answer was "Both of You: Get Out of Our Playground".

          Jan
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          • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 8 months ago
            Yes, JMS did a great job, harking back to the Garden of Eden scenario. He banished good and evil as overall controls, and left it to the individual to make their own choice. He never did engage the idea of computers being needed but that is a lot of what Sci Fi today uses, as the velocities are too great. The Lost Fleet series especially did that.
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  • Posted by BradA 7 years, 9 months ago
    To quote from JMS's letter (B5's creator) following news of Jerry's death ...

    It is another loss in a string of losses that I cannot understand. Of the main cast, we have lost Richard Biggs, Michael O'Hare, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway, and now Jerry Doyle, and I'm goddamned tired of it.

    So dear sweet universe, if you are paying attention in the vastness of interstellar space, take a moment from plotting the trajectory of comets and designing new DNA in farflung cosmos, and spare a thought for those who you have plucked so untimely from our ranks...and knock it off for a while.

    Because this isn't fair.

    And Jerry Doyle would be the first person to tell you that. Right before he put a fist in your face. Which is what I imagine he's doing right now, on the other side of the veil.
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  • Posted by Riftsrunner 7 years, 9 months ago
    I loved this show. I have all the script books and it great to see how JMS saw his characters and due to the costs, what was available, another script writer, and/or a director's vision how they changed. I believe it was a great series because it didn't create a utopian future where man had thrown off all their flaws and lived in shiny clean ships. It was what the future would be in reality, with crime, homeless people who were trapped in circumstances they had no control over, dirty and messy living spaces, everyone was imperfect and sometimes there isn't a happy ending to the every situation. My only regret was the late Season 5 renewal which change the final season and a half.

    Jerry makes 5 main characters, 2 minor characters dead from the show. So sad that so many of the actors have gone beyond the rim.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 7 years, 9 months ago
    The nice thing or maybe not so nice in not owning a TV for near 20 years - I thought it was longer but it isn't - is asking is what is Babylon 5? Now i'm forced to go to Google to see what I didn't miss.

    My guess from the description would have been Battlestar Galactica, Twilight Zone, or Star Trek.

    Edit...I found it.
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    • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 9 months ago
      B5 was unique in many ways, well worth the DVD costs. It had an intact story arc across all 5 seasons, but also the first 3 were on, then the 4th, and the 5th. As Jan pointed out the change in plans made the 4th and 5th less than they could have been. They also made several movies and prequels, as well as one last movie about 5-6 years ago. All in all some of the best Sci Fi made.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 7 years, 9 months ago
    He dies at age 60 and here I am age 69 a wannabe novelist hoping to start a series of novels based on a character while working on the first one.
    Oh well, everyone needs something to do, I guess.
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    • Posted by $ nickursis 7 years, 9 months ago
      He also got heavy into Right wing politics the last 10-15 years, and had a radio show. A lot of his views dealt with individual rights, freedoms and responsibilities. I never saw him as a Republicrat, it was just there was no closer party for him.
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      • Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 8 months ago
        Spot on. I listened to his radio show whenever I got the chance. He ran as a Republican for office in California not because he was a Republican, but because like Rand Paul he needed the funding. If it had been there, I think he would have been somewhere between a Consitutionalist and a Libertarian.
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