Michael Garibaldi
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Michael Garibaldi, played by Jerry Doyle, is a fictional character in the universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5.
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Personality
For much of the television series, Garibaldi is the Security Chief onboard the space station Babylon 5.
Although friendly with the other crew members he is very much his own man, and this independence leads him towards severe danger on more than one occasion. The Babylon 5 series arguably was never any one character's show, but the hard-nosed "no one bosses me around" yet "Daffy Duck loving" Garibaldi is perhaps the character that came closest to becoming its centerpiece.
Early History
Michael Garibaldi was born and raised on the Mars Colony. He was the son of Alfredo Garibaldi - who was an EarthForce infantryman. Garibaldi was raised in the Catholic church - he would later say he was raised a good Catholic boy. Later in life he became an agnostic but always maintained respect for the church.
Garibaldi was an honest man, this got him into difficulties with corrupt officials on more than one occasion. During one incident, a landing pad had been rigged to explode; when it did, a close friend of Garibaldi's died. His friend's daughter blamed him for many years, and Garibaldi retreated into alcoholism.
Garibaldi had problems for a number of years with alcoholism. This got him fired from several jobs. Eventually he was able to bring his alcoholism under control. While piloting Jeffrey Sinclair over the surface of Mars, the shuttle crashed. Garibaldi and Sinclair then had a trek of several days in order to make it back to civilization, during which point the two men became friends.
During this time, he also began a relationship with Lise Hampton. The two continued to maintain a relationship on an "off and on" basis for nearly 15 years.
The First Two Years
When Sinclair was picked to command Babylon 5, he asked Garibaldi to serve as chief of security. Lise refused to go with Garibaldi, and the two broke up at that point. Lise later was briefly married and had a daughter, but when she divorced her husband Earth-native friendly judges took her daughter away from her.
Garibaldi became an excellent chief of security over the next four years. He managed to keep his alcoholism under control, and became well liked by the security forces that he commanded.
During Garibaldi's second year, he discovered a plot to assassinate President Luis Santiago. When he confronted the plotters on the station, Garibaldi was shot in the back by his aide. Even though he managed to let Sinclair know, it was too late as Earthforce One soon exploded with the President on board.
For the next several weeks Garibaldi was in a coma. Even though Doctor Stephen Franklin did everything he could, Garibaldi refused to emerge from the coma. Franklin explained that he felt that a person in such circumstances would come to a point where they'd lose the will to live, and the body would then stop cooperating. Franklin felt that the debate was going on somewhere inside Garibaldi.
Franklin eventually decided to try an alien healing device on Garibaldi. Both he and John Sheridan donated life energy, which the machine transferred to Garibaldi. Once this was done, Garibaldi eventually emerged from his coma. Garibaldi discovered that Sinclair was gone, and Sheridan was the new commanding officer. Telepath Talia Winters was able to help him discover who had shot him in the back. With this information, Garibaldi's former aide was arrested. The new President Morgan Clark ordered the aide be sent back to Earth, but the aide disappeared en route.
Garibaldi struggled with the decision whether to return to his job or not. He felt that being shot in the back said something about the type of security officer he was. But Garibaldi eventually decided to come back to the job. For the next two years, Garibaldi served as chief of security. At some point, a smuggler exposed Garibaldi to a substance that eventually caused his hair to fall out. He became good friends with Sheridan. When President Clark began turning the Earth Alliance into a dictatorship, and with the reemergence of the Shadows, Garibaldi became the liaison between Babylon 5 and the Anla'Shok, or Rangers.
When Night Watch began to infiltrate station security, Garibaldi refused to go along with them. Garibaldi eventually helped to locate, identify, and stop the Night Watch people on the station. He then oversaw a security force that included Narn replacements. When Sheridan withdrew Babylon 5 from the Earth Alliance in the episode "Severed Dreams", Garibaldi led the forces that repelled the marine forces that boarded and attempted to take over the station. Initially Garibaldi was shown to have broken his leg during the fight. But when Jerry Doyle broke his arm during filming, in the next episode he was shown wearing a sling - Garibaldi explained this as that he fractured his wrist and forearm during the fight.
The Fourth Year
When the year came to the end, Sheridan went to Z'ha'dum. A Shadow attack force arrived at the station. Garibaldi went out in a fighter to protect the station. When Sheridan detonated the White Star - which had two fusion bombs on it - over the Shadow capital city, the force withdrew. Garibaldi was taken on board a Shadow vessel.
Garibaldi spent the next two weeks being worked over by the Psi-Corps and Alfred Bester. They had done this to program him into an agent that would betray Sheridan at an opportune time. Eventually, Garibaldi was recovered. At about the same time, a revived Sheridan came back to Babylon 5.
During the build up for the final attack on the Shadows, Garibaldi's mood had changed. While he returned to duty as security chief, Garibaldi no longer had any enthusiasm for the job. Zack Allan thought that he was just through a lot, and that he would recover sooner or later.
After the Shadow War was over, Garibaldi received a coded message that activated his programming. He then resigned from his job as chief of security. Over the next several months, Garibaldi worked as an independent investigator, helping people find what they had lost in the war. He became increasingly hostile towards the rest of the staff, and towards Sheridan in particular. Garibaldi explained his hostility towards Sheridan as fears that Sheridan was developing a cult of personality around him, and that Sheridan saw himself as the second coming.
When William Edgars hired him to work with the mega-corporation Edgars Industries, Garibaldi helped smuggle several items through Babylon 5 destined for Mars. It was then that he learned that Lise had married William Edgars. When President Clark began attacking ships departed for Mars. Garibaldi helped Earth Alliance forces capture Sheridan after luring him to Mars when Sheridan's father had been captured. However, Susan Ivanova decided that they would go on, and told Babylon 5 if Garibaldi showed up there that the son of a bitch was to be shot on sight.
At this point, Bester came to Garibaldi and turned his conditioning off. Garibaldi was barely able to convince his friends that Bester was behind all of his actions over the past year. With the help of Dr. Franklin and Lyta Alexander, he was able to help free Sheridan, and get him safely back to the fleet. Sheridan then took command of the EAS Agamemnon, and set the fleet on course for Mars.
Garibaldi remained behind on Mars. He helped take control of one of the bunkers at the Earth Alliance base. From there, Lyta Alexander was able to activate the telepaths that had been smuggled on to the Earth Force ships, and disable a majority of the ships.
After the battle of Earth was over, Garibaldi went looking for Lise. With the help of several Rangers, he was able to rescue Lise from the Martian Mafia. He then stayed with Lise for several days. At that point, with the consent of Lise, Garibaldi decided to return to Babylon 5 for one year to help Sheridan in the founding years of the Interstellar Alliance.
Head of Covert Intelligence
Garibaldi arrived at Babylon 5 shortly before Sheridan and Delenn returned. With the help of Dr. Franklin, he arranged a party for Sheridan, even though Sheridan had told him he didn't want that.
Soon the new Babylon 5 commander, Capt. Elizabeth Lochley arrived. Garibaldi helped with security for Sheridan's inauguration. Despite threats on Sheridan's life, Sheridan decided to go ahead with the inauguration, and Lochley agreed. Garibaldi followed her out of the President's office, and angrily confronted her about her decision. Lochley told him that as he wasn't actually part of the Alliance or Babylon 5 staff that his opinions didn't count for too much. Garibaldi continued working, discovered the man making the death threats, and killed him before the assassin could kill the President. After that, Garibaldi spoke to Sheridan about what Lochley had said, at which point Sheridan made him the Head of Covert Intelligence for the Alliance.
Garibaldi initially recruited several rogue telepaths to assist in intelligence gathering operations. This was followed by finding out that part of the Centauri government were behind attacks on ships.
When Bester arrived on Babylon 5, Garibaldi tried to take his revenge against Bester. He first stormed in on a meeting between Lochley and Bester. Lochley had him arrested. Even though Sheridan angrily confronted her later about that, she stood by her decision. During a later visit, Garibaldi walked into Bester's quarters with a PPG. He was going to shoot Bester, but then found out that Bester had done some further programming. Bester described the programming as "hitting him with an Asimov" - Garibaldi could want to kill Bester all he wanted, but the programming would not allow him to proceed.
Shortly after this, Garibaldi began drinking once again. He had done this in order to gain a sense of control over his life once again. However, the drinking would have serious consequences, not only for Garibaldi, but for many others as well. The drinking resulted in the death of a pilot who had information on the Centauri attacks against ships. Garibaldi's performance began to decline. Lise arrived on the station and found out that he was drinking once again. Even though she tried to help him, Garibaldi continued drinking.
Eventually, Sheridan found out that Garibaldi was drinking. While initially angry at Garibaldi, Delenn was able to calm Sheridan. He no longer felt angry, but Sheridan was disappointed that Garibaldi didn't feel that he could go to Sheridan with his problems. When Garibaldi told Sheridan that he had been drinking for a couple months, Sheridan said that is about what he had suspected. Sheridan had suspected that something was wrong for that amount of time, but Sheridan had tried to deny what was probably going on. Sheridan still needed to take action for what had happened, and he decided to suspend Garibaldi.
When Lochley learned that Garibaldi had been drinking, she also confronted him about it. Garibaldi told her she didn't understand what he was going through. Lochley revealed to Garibaldi that she did understand. Not only did her father have alcoholism, but she was not only an alcoholic as well, but that if it could be ingested or injected that she did it. Lochley got Lise to return to Babylon 5 to help support Garibaldi.
When Lise returned, Garibaldi decided that the time had come for him to leave. Lise wanted him to help with running Edgars Industries, and she wanted to give him a good life. Now, he suddenly realized that he had a way to solve two major problems. Using his influence, he managed to get Lyta Alexander released from jail and offered to funnel money and resources to her to finance her fight against the Psi-Corps. In return, she would remove Bester's programming, which would enable Garibaldi to "nail that sucker's head against the wall." She agreed to do that in two years if he was able to get her the funds to raise a real force against the Psi-Corps. He also found out that the entire board of Edgars Industries was trying to have him and Lise assassinated.
Garibaldi soon married Lise. He then took over the day to day operations of the company. With the new Head of Covert Intelligence Tessa Holloran - the former Number One of the Mars resistance - Garibaldi was able to find out all sorts of useful information on the board. Garibaldi not only fired the entire board, but he told them if they had either him or his wife killed, that there was money set aside that would be given to bounty hunters to take them all out. He told them to leave the cigars.
Soon, Garibaldi and Lise left for Mars. He told Sheridan and Delenn that he never expected to live that long. Garibaldi had been sure for a long time that his time on Babylon 5 would end with him face down somewhere in Brown Sector.
Head of Edgars Industries
Upon arriving on Mars, Garibaldi began a number of shakeups in the company. He found all the company troublemakers, and made all of them the new members of the board. Garibaldi told them that if he wanted to know if he was making a mistake, and that they needed to stand their ground with him. If they were right, they'd get a bonus. If not, he told them, he'd have them for lunch.
In the months following, Garibaldi began a review of Edgars Industries. They decided to retain all the projects worth saving, and expose the company's black projects.
Several years after Garibaldi had begun running Babylon 5, he helped build the new Victory-class destroyer vessels. While there had been a great deal of problems integrating Earth and Minbari technology, two vessels were built. The two ships built were the prototype Victory, and the second prototype Excalibur. While the Victory was destroyed in the Drakh attack on Earth, the Excalibur was able to help find the cure for the disease the Drakh spread on Earth.
In a series of books, several authors have explored the time between the end of Babylon 5, and Sheridan's death in 2281. While not canon, these books give an interesting glimpse into Garibaldi's future. In one book, Garibaldi is able to track down Bester. While he isn't able to bring himself to kill Bester, he does help bring him to justice. As a result Bester spends the rest of his life in prison, with his abilities suppressed by drugs. In the other book, Garibaldi is able to help find the Drakh Shiv'kala after the Drakh withdrawal from Centauri Prime. As a result, Vir is able to kill Shiv'kala, and release Sheridan's son David from the Drakh keeper.
Eighteen years after the end of Babylon 5, Garibaldi has a daughter named Mary. Dr. Franklin is visiting him while on vacation from his job. When Sheridan realizes that he has very little time left, he sends invitations to all his friends to come to Minbar for one last party. The invitation arrives while Dr. Franklin and Garibaldi are visiting. Despite having had differences with Sheridan over the years, Garibaldi says that Sheridan is his friend, and decides to go to Minbar. He eats one last meal with Sheridan. After Sheridan is taken from the galaxy by Lorien, Garibaldi makes one last trip to Babylon 5. He is there for the shutdown ceremony, and takes a piece of Babylon 5 with him before leaving for the last time.
After the episode "Sleeping in Light" Garibaldi returns to his family on Mars. When arriving home, he finds that his daughter had won a tennis match. Garibaldi's life after Sheridan's departure is mostly quiet. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski says that Garibaldi's ultimate fate would be much quieter than Garibaldi could have imagined.
500 Years Later
500 years after the events in the television series, Garibaldi and all the main players in that story are long dead. However, a member of the Earth Alliance brings back holographic recreations of Garibaldi, Sheridan, Delenn, and Franklin. Another civil war is about to occur, and the official programs all the recreations with information on current events. He begins reprogramming the recreations so that he can convince others that the Interstellar Alliance is evil.
However, while all this is going on, Garibaldi's Recreation is able to interface with the computer systems. Garibaldi's Recreation is able to send the government's attack plans to the rebels, who respond by launching an attack of their own. As a result, the government forces are destroyed. This results in what future generations refer to as the "Great Burn," where the humans had been reduced to a pre-technological state for several hundred years.
Other notes
Michael Garibaldi served as the head of Security aboard Babylon 5. A "Garibaldi" is a red shirt, named after the Italian revolutionary who was noted for wearing such a garment. Red shirts were worn by Security personnel aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 in "Star Trek". This may not be a coincidence.