# 2025 SDMB Celebrity Death Pool **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** death-pool\ **Created:** [December 1, 2024, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010 "2024-12-01T05:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 104
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2061 "2025-12-15T23:16:45Z")
I’ll always remember him as the _deus ex machina_ techie named after the inventor of television from _UHF_. RIP, Philo (or whatever they call you on your home planet). ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2062 "2025-12-16T13:44:43Z")
# Joe Ely, Texas-Born Troubadour of the Open Road, Dies at 78 NY Times and others. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2063 "2025-12-16T16:35:40Z")
Didn’t he also play the drug runner that Timothy Olyphant (justifiably) shoots in Miami in the opening scene of “Justified”? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2064 "2025-12-16T18:12:06Z")
Sheesh, it looks like back in July I got on the board with 9 points, and now there is only one remaining Dionne quintuplet. For 5 people with the same birthday they sure have a diversity of death dates. I just noticed it. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2065 "2025-12-16T18:24:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It has prevented a Cagney & Lacey reunion movie. There have already been three. Back in the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2066 "2025-12-16T18:34:27Z")
Sure you had picked the right one? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2067 "2025-12-16T18:35:29Z")
Hah! Had’em both! ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2068 "2025-12-17T03:13:10Z")
> **[Gil Gerard, Star of ‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,’ Dies at 82](https://ca.news.yahoo.com/gil-gerard-star-buck-rogers-030032491.html)** > > He battled a weight problem for decades and talked about it on the reality series 'Action Hero Makeover.' ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2069 "2025-12-17T05:35:06Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > [Gil Gerard, Star of ‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,’ Dies at 82 - Yahoo News Canada](https://ca.news.yahoo.com/gil-gerard-star-buck-rogers-030032491.html) As a kid I loved Buck Rogers. It did not age well. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2070 "2025-12-17T06:49:39Z")
I was hoping someone would do an updated remake as good as _Battlestar Galactica_, but nobody has stepped up. RIP Gil Gerard. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2071 "2025-12-17T13:55:59Z")
The problem with Buck Rogers is that the original stories were all about the “Yellow Menace”. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2072 "2025-12-17T14:47:21Z")
# Rachael Carpani, ‘NCIS: LA’ and Australian soap star, dies at 45. USA TODAY and others. Illness related. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2073 "2025-12-17T14:52:34Z")
Duck Dodgers,on the other hand, is evergreen. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2074 "2025-12-17T15:46:07Z")
Yeah, but considering how much room a modern writer would have to play around in, making it something that isn’t necessarily a horrific 70’s racist allegory shouldn’t be hard. That said, I remember watching Buck Rogers as a kid, and I think I only really liked Twiki. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2075 "2025-12-17T16:46:26Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > That said, I remember watching Buck Rogers as a kid, and I think I only really liked Twiki. Was that that silly robot always going “beep beep da-deep”? Or the sentient Lite-Brite that he had around his neck? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2076 "2025-12-17T16:54:10Z")
Twiki was the short humanoid robot that said bidibidi, the round thing was Dr. Theopolis, a member of the Earth computer council. > **[Dr. Theopolis](https://buckrogers.fandom.com/wiki/Dr._Theopolis)** > > Dr. Theopolis is a character in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. He was voiced by Howard F. Flynn in the 1979 film and by Eric Server in the series. Dr. Theopolis is an intelligent computer who was a member of Earth's Computer Council. He is an... Brian ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2077 "2025-12-17T17:02:06Z")
That’s right! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2078 "2025-12-17T17:05:19Z")
Madame P. and I have a favorite moment from the TV series. The gang are battling a space vampire, and watch a recording of it attacking an officer on another ship. What made it memorable is the “fact” that vampires are invisible to recording (similar to mirrors), which means the poor actor had to do the entire scene fighting nobody and losing. It was an A for effort, but D for effects moment. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2079 "2025-12-17T17:25:51Z")
Good trivia question, in the original book, what was Roger’s given name? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010/2080 "2025-12-17T17:30:40Z")
As I recall, the tv show intro said he was William “Buck” Rogers. Was his name different in the printed version? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010.md?page=103) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2025-sdmb-celebrity-death-pool/1011010.md?page=105)