Gary Hutzel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gary Dean Hutzel (1955-11-04)November 4, 1955 Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | March 1, 2016(2016-03-01) (aged 60) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Occupation | Visual effects supervisor |
| Years active | 1985–2016 |
| Known for | Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Battlestar Galactica |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | 4xEmmy Award |
Gary Dean Hutzel (November 4, 1955 – March 1, 2016) was an Americanvisual effects supervisor fromAnn Arbor, Michigan who worked on the television seriesStar Trek: The Next Generation,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, andBattlestar Galactica, among others. He was nominated more than 20 times forEmmy Awards, winning on four occasions.
Gary Hutzel was born inAnn Arbor, Michigan.[1] He studied mechanical engineering at theUniversity of Michigan for a period, but decided that he wanted to pursue a career in films and moved to California, where he studied photography at theBrooks Institute.[2][3] His first job in the industry was as a van driver for the commercial production houseFilmFair. While there, he decided that he wanted to pursue visual effects.[2]
His first visual effects job was as second assistant cameraman on the 1985 filmTeen Wolf.[1][4] He then began to freelance forCBS, working onThe Twilight Zone.[2] In 1986, he was recruited to work on the newStar Trek television series,Star Trek: The Next Generation as a visual effects coordinator.[5] He continued to work on the show for the following five seasons, before moving to work on the spin-off seriesStar Trek: Deep Space Nine where he was the visual effects supervisor for all seven seasons.[1]
During his work on theStar Trek franchise, he worked on a great number of visual effects shots including the breakapart model of theBorg Cube seen in the two-part episode "The Best of Both Worlds", the design of theUSSDefiant and the blending of old and new footage required for "Trials and Tribble-ations".[5] He also produced renderings for several non-canonStar Trek novels,[2] although he was known as being reluctant to usecomputer generated imagery and preferred to work with physical models where possible.[5] Hutzel co-wroteThe Magic of Tribbles: The Making of Star Trek Deep Space Nine – "Trials and Tribbles-ations" alongside Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block.[2]
Following the end ofDeep Space Nine, Hutzel worked on the filmRed Planet and theSpy Kids franchise.[5] He was hired by writerRonald D. Moore to work on the rebootedBattlestar Galactica television series. Hutzel had worked with Moore onDeep Space Nine. In addition, Hutzel went on to work on the prequel toBattlestar Galactica,Caprica.[1] He then worked as visual effects supervisor for the television seriesDefiance.[5]
Hutzel was nominated for more than 20 nominations forEmmy Awards during the span of his career. He won four in total, two for his work onBattlestar Galactica and one each forThe Next Generation andDeep Space Nine.[5]
While working on the special effects for theFreeform television seriesBeyond on March 1, 2016, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he had aheart attack and died.[5][1] Freeform released a statement saying "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and colleague, Gary Hutzel. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and our 'Beyond' family".[1] He was survived by his wife, a daughter and two sons.[5]
