Gary Dean Hutzel (November 4, 1955 – March 1, 2016) was an American

visual effects supervisor In the context of film and television production, a visual effects supervisor is responsible for achieving the creative aims of the director or producers through the use of visual effects. While it is a creative role, most supervisors possess a st ...

from

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

who worked on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', and ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...

'', among others. He was nominated more than 20 times for

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, winning on four occasions.

Early life

Gary Hutzel was born in

. He studied mechanical engineering at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

for a period, but decided that he wanted to pursue a career in films and moved to California, where he studied photography at the

Brooks Institute The Brooks Institute was a private for-profit art school in Ventura, California. It was formerly the Brooks Institute of Photography and was originally based in Montecito and Santa Barbara. His first job in the industry was as a van driver for the commercial production house

FilmFair FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop motion films using puppets, clay anima ...

. While there, he decided that he wanted to pursue visual effects.

Special effects career

His first visual effects job was as second assistant cameraman on the 1985 film ''

Teen Wolf ''Teen Wolf'' is a 1985 American coming-of-age romantic fantasy comedy film directed by Rod Daniel and written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. Michael J. Fox stars as the title character, a high school student whose ordinary life is changed ...

''. He then began to freelance for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

, working on ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

''. In 1986, he was recruited to work on the new ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' television series, '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' as a visual effects coordinator. He continued to work on the show for the following five seasons, before moving to work on the spin-off series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' where he was the visual effects supervisor for all seven seasons. During his work on the ''Star Trek'' franchise, he worked on a great number of visual effects shots including the breakapart model of the

Borg The Borg are an alien group that appear as recurring antagonists in the ''Star Trek'' fictional universe. The Borg are Cyborg, cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) linked in a Group mind (science fiction), hive mind called "the Collective". The Borg ...

Cube seen in the two-part episode " The Best of Both Worlds", the design of the USS ''Defiant'' and the blending of old and new footage required for "

Trials and Tribble-ations "Trials and Tribble-ations" is the 104th episode of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', the sixth episode of the fifth season. It was written as a tribute to the original series of ''Star Trek,'' in the ...

". He also produced renderings for several non-canon ''Star Trek'' novels, although he was known as being reluctant to use

computer generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images ma ...

and preferred to work with physical models where possible. Hutzel co-wrote ''The Magic of Tribbles: The Making of Star Trek Deep Space Nine – "Trials and Tribbles-ations"'' alongside Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block. Following the end of ''Deep Space Nine'', Hutzel worked on the film '' Red Planet'' and the ''

Spy Kids ''Spy Kids'' is an American spy family action-adventure comedy franchise created by Robert Rodriguez. The plot follows adventures of Carmen and Juni Cortez, two children who become involved in their parents' espionage organization. The films i ...

'' franchise. He was hired by writer

Ronald D. Moore Ronald Dowl Moore (born July 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Star Trek''; on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, for which he won a Peabody Award and an Em ...

to work on the rebooted ''

'' television series. Hutzel had worked with Moore on ''Deep Space Nine''. In addition, Hutzel went on to work on the prequel to ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''

Caprica ''Caprica'' is an American science fiction drama television series. A spin-off prequel of the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), Caprica is set 58 years before the main series. ''Caprica'' shows how humanity first created the Cylo ...

''. He then worked as visual effects supervisor for the television series '' Defiance''.

Awards

Hutzel was nominated for more than 20 nominations for

during the span of his career. He won four in total, two for his work on ''Battlestar Galactica'' and one each for ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine''.

Personal life and death

While working on the special effects for the Freeform television series ''

Beyond Beyond may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Beyond'' (1921 film), an American silent film * ''Beyond'' (2000 film), a Danish film directed by Åke Sandgren, OT: ''Dykkerne'' * ''Beyond'' (2010 film), a Swedish film directed b ...

'' on March 1, 2016, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

and died. 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". He had a wife, a daughter and two sons.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutzel, Gary 1955 births 2016 deaths Visual effects supervisors Emmy Award winners University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni People from Ann Arbor, Michigan