Michael Garibaldi

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Babylon 5 character
Michael Garibaldi
Affiliated with	Babylon 5 Security
Race	Human
Home planet	Mars
First appearance	Babylon 5: The Gathering
Last appearance	Sleeping in Light (chronological), Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (airdate)
Portrayed by	Jerry Doyle

Michael Garibaldi, played by Jerry Doyle, is a fictional character in the universe of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

For much of the television series, Garibaldi is the Security Chief on board the space station Babylon 5.

Although friendly with the other crew members, he is very much his own man. This independence leads him towards severe danger on more than one occasion.

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Contents 1 Early history 2 The first three years 3 The fourth year 4 Head of Covert Intelligence 5 Head of Edgars Industries 6 500 years later 7 Other notes

[edit] 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 continued to have problems with alcoholism for a number of years, which 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, their shuttle crashed. Garibaldi and Sinclair then had a trek of several days in order to make it back to civilization, during which the two men became friends.

While on Mars, 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.

[edit] The first three 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, judges biased towards Earth natives took her daughter away from her.

Garibaldi became an excellent chief of security over the next few 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, despite Doctor Stephen Franklin's best efforts. 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, which he had confiscated from its previous owner, 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 attacked him. With this information, Garibaldi's former aide was arrested. The new President, Morgan Clark, recalled the aide 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 return. For the next two years, Garibaldi continued to serve as chief of security. 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 Nightwatch began to infiltrate station security, Garibaldi refused to go along with it. Garibaldi eventually helped to locate, identify, and stop the members of the Nightwatch 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 station security forces that repelled the Earthforce marines 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, but had initially not thought it bad enough to let Dr. Franklin put it in a cast.

[edit] 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.

The Shadows used Psi-Corps personnel to reprogram humans. Alfred Bester diverted Garibaldi's transport to a Psi-Corps facility of his choosing, and spent the next two weeks carefully reprogramming him to uncover a conspiracy against the telepaths. After ensuring he remembered nothing, he was released unconscious onto an empty ship near Babylon 5. 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 changed. While he returned to duty as security chief, Garibaldi no longer had any enthusiasm for the job. Zack Allan thought that he had just been through a lot and he would recover sooner or later.

After the Shadow War was over, Garibaldi received a coded message that activated his programming. He resigned from his job as chief of security to work as an independent investigator over the next several months, helping people find what they had lost in the war. He increasingly came into conflict with Babylon 5 staff, violently confronting Sheridan on two occasions. Garibaldi rationalized his hostility towards Sheridan as a concern that he was developing a cult of personality around him and saw himself as the second coming.

He was recruited by William Edgars' anti-Sheridan right-hand-man known only as Wade, to work for the mega-corporation Edgars Industries. Garibaldi gained some initial trust in the organization by smuggling several valuable items destined for Mars through Babylon 5 customs. It was then that he learned that Lise had married William Edgars. Garibaldi demanded a face-to-face meeting on Mars with Edgars himself, wanting to know what he was involved in. When President Clark began attacking civilian targets, Sheridan declared his intent to remove Clark by any means necessary. Edgars agreed to bring Garbaldi into the inner circle if he arranged Sheridan's capture. Knowing Sheridan's weaknesses, Garibaldi provided medical details that allowed Sheridan's fugitive father to be captured. He then contacted Sheridan to offer help in rescuing his father, provided that he came to Mars alone. Still having some trust in Garibaldi, Sheridan fell into the trap. With Sheridan captured, Edgars informed him of the plot to release a virus contagious to human telepaths only. Psi-Corps agents moved in swiftly.

At this point, Bester came to Garibaldi and released him from his conditioning. Bester had only needed to adjust Garibaldi's personality subtly, increasing his natural suspicion and mistrust of authority. Bester admitted that some of Garibaldi's actions, such as quitting his post as head of security for Babylon 5, had surprised him.

Garibaldi, captured by the Martian resistance movement, was only able to avoid execution with Lyta Alexander's help. He helped Dr. Franklin and Lyta free Sheridan, and got 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 a bunker at the Earth Alliance base. From there, Lyta Alexander was able to activate the weaponized telepaths that had been smuggled on to the Earth Force 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.

[edit] 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 new Babylon 5 commander Capt. Elizabeth Lochley arrived. Garibaldi helped with security for Sheridan's inauguration. Despite threats to his life, Sheridan decided to go ahead with the ceremony, 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, his opinions didn't count for too much. Garibaldi found the assassin and killed him before he 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 him. He first stormed in on a meeting between Lochley and Bester. Lochley had him arrested. Even though Sheridan angrily confronted her later about it, she stood by her decision. During a later visit, Garibaldi walked into Bester's quarters with a phased plasma gun, intending to shoot him, but discovered that Bester had done some further programming. Bester described it as "hitting him with an Asimov" - Garibaldi could want to kill Bester all he wanted, but he could not actually kill Bester, or through inaction allow Bester to come to harm, similar to Asimov's first law of robotics.

Shortly after this, Garibaldi began drinking 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. It resulted in the death of a pilot who had information on the Centauri attacks. Garibaldi's performance began to decline. Lise arrived on the station and found out about his drinking. Even though she tried to help him, Garibaldi didn't stop.

Eventually, Sheridan found out. While initially angry at Garibaldi, Sheridan was calmed down by Delenn. 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, but had tried to deny what was going on. With no other choice, Sheridan suspended Garibaldi.

Lochley also confronted him. When Garibaldi told her she didn't understand what he was going through, she revealed that she did. Not only did her father have alcoholism, but she had been addicted herself to a variety of drugs during her teen years. 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 run Edgars Industries, and to give him a good life. He suddenly realized that he had a way to solve two major problems. Using his influence, he got 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, so that Garibaldi could try 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. 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 about the board. He not only fired the entire board, but he told them if they had either him or his wife killed, there was money set aside for 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 had never expected to live that long. Garibaldi had been sure for a long time that his tenure on Babylon 5 would end with him face down somewhere in Brown Sector.

[edit] Head of Edgars Industries

Upon arriving on Mars, Garibaldi began shaking up the company. He found all the troublemakers, and made them all new members of the board. Garibaldi told them that 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 following months, Garibaldi began a review of Edgars Industries. He retained all the worthwhile projects and exposed the company's black projects.

Several years later, 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 prototypes Victory and 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 three novels - the last book of the Psi Corp trilogy, and the last two books of the Centauri Prime trilogy - the authors explored the period between the end of Babylon 5 and Sheridan's death in 2281. These novels are canon and 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 him, he does help bring him to justice. Bester spends the rest of his life in prison, with his abilities suppressed by drugs. In the other books, Garibaldi is instrumental in gathering intelligence on Centauri Prime and uncovering the machinations of the Centauri government. Later, he is able to help find the Drakh Shiv'kala after their withdrawal from Centauri Prime. As a result, Vir is able to kill Shiv'kala, and release Sheridan's son David from the Drakh keeper.

Garibaldi and his wife eventually have a daughter named Mary. By 2281, she is about 14 years old.

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 is visiting Garibaldi. Despite his differences with Sheridan over the years, Garibaldi says that Sheridan is his friend, and decides to go to Minbar. They share one last meal. After Sheridan is taken from the galaxy by Lorien, Garibaldi makes one last trip to Babylon 5, for the shutdown ceremony, and takes a piece of the station 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 his ultimate fate would be much quieter than Garibaldi could have imagined.

[edit] 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 an unnamed Orwellian society brings back holographic recreations of Garibaldi, Sheridan, Delenn, and Franklin. Another civil war is about to break out, and the official feeds all the recreations 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 hack into the computer systems. It is able to send the government's attack plans to the rebels, who respond by launching their own preemptive attack, crushing the government forces. This results in what following generations refer to as the "Great Burn", where humans are reduced to a pre-technological state for several hundred years.

[edit] Other notes

• He retains links to his Italian heritage through his cooking, for which he imports specialty ingredients from Earth.
• His grandmother was a Boston police officer.
• Garibaldi's hair is progressively shorter in each season. Unbeknownst to him, his hair loss is attributed (by Ivanova in "Racing Mars") to his exposure to a bottled substance unwittingly brought in by a smuggler.
• Is a huge fan of Daffy Duck, and the Duck Dodgers serial, to the point of having a huge poster of Daffy in his quarters. G'Kar even asks him if it is a portrait of a personal god for his household. He even tells Delenn watching the Duck Dodgers cartoon are his "second favorite thing in the universe". When Lennier ask who the poster represents, he answers "The egyptian god of frustration.", Lennier adds "He must be very important..."
• He is involved in a running gag with Talia Winters in that any time in the first season, she gets onto an elevator, Garibaldi is already on board. In "A Voice in the Wilderness", Talia complains to Jeffrey Sinclair that it seems any time she gets on an elevator, Garibaldi is there. Sinclair initially does not believe her until the elevator they are near opens to reveal Garibaldi. Both Talia and Commander Sinclair then decide to take the stairs.