(Astrology Explored) Seth MacFarlane misfires across the bow of astrology in January 24, 2019 episode “All the World’s a Birthday Cake” when Ed Mercer et. al make first contact with a pre-spaceflight society who SETI like, zapped an invitation for any and all to visit. What should have been a partee moment turned deadly serious when at a state dinner First Officer Kelly Grayson mentioned that next week was her birthday. You would have thought someone dropped one hundred cobras on the dinner table for the natives’ reaction. Kelly and Bortus (who share the same birthday) are summarily arrested and put in a detention camp, while feckless Ed tries to figure out what caused the native’s reaction.
Come to find out that Kelly and Bortus were born under the “Sign of the Geliac,” an astrological sign that is supposed to be dangerously violent. The society goes so far as to perform medically unnecessary c-section on mothers dangerously close to giving birth to a Geliac child, even if the procedure is dangerous to both mother and child.
So finding out that Kelly and Bortus’ arrest is based on “astrology” Ed begins his tautological rants against astrology. And that’s when I was out. The Orville isn’t the brightest star in the entertainment firmament, and I was put off at the inaccurate depiction of astrology.
I promptly posted a tweet on my @starrynightastr account:
I wasn’t the only astrologer who objected. Ed Wollman had this to say on The Orville’s Twitter page:
The strawman arguments against astrology have been knocked back time and again, but they continue to percolate through the opinions of the uninformed, or worse, informed but closed minded. I don’t know which one Seth MacFarlane is, but clearly his shot across the bow misfired.