The incredibly successful and prolific writer Michael Crichton is back in the news seventeen years after his death as his estate sues over the idea-copyright of new medical drama series The Pitt. His books sold over 200 million with over a dozen adapted into films. His genre was within the science fiction, techno-thriller, and medical fiction. Best known are The Great Train Robbery, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, The Andromeda Strain; and he was the creator of the television series ER (1994–2009).
He was born October 23, 1942 11.55pm Chicago, Illinois, and grew to six feet 9 inches tall which made him self-conscious so he turned to psychics and then meditation to give him confidence. He was a workaholic and married five times, all of them brief.
He had a 4th house Scorpio Sun opposition a 10th house Taurus Moon square Pluto on his Ascendant. The Full Moon would make him constantly unsure what he wanted, pulled between his head and his heart – and he’s also be intense and controlling as well as overly controlled. He also had Mars Venus in Libra also in his 4th close to his Sun opposition his Moon, making for an excitable and argumentative mood in his domestic life. Jupiter in his 12th would make him content with his own company. Saturn in his 11th would limit his friendship circle to a few trusted companions.
2nd house North Node – secretive and constantly feeling like an outsider. In Virgo – needing to build his confidence.
An interesting man, driven to an extent as all writers are by his inner demons. He died of cancer in 2008.
Steven Spielberg on Michael Crichton’s death: “Michael’s talent outscaled even his own dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs walking the earth again. In the early days, Michael had just sold The Andromeda Strain to Robert Wise at Universal and I had recently signed on as a contract TV director there. My first assignment was to show Michael Crichton around the Universal lot. We became friends and professionally Jurassic Park, ER, and Twister followed. Michael was a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side for his novels. There is no one in the wings that will ever take his place.”
Stephen King: “As a pop novelist, he was divine. A Crichton book was a headlong experience driven by a man who was both a natural storyteller and fiendishly clever when it came to verisimilitude; he made you believe that cloning dinosaurs wasn’t just over the horizon but possible tomorrow. Maybe today.”
Add On: ER launched on September 19, 1994 with a total of 331 episodes spanning 15 seasons. It won 128 industry awards from 442 nominations and had grossed over $3 billion in television revenue by 2014. It is considered one of the best medical dramas of all time, pioneering the field of medical fiction and setting a model for other contemporary medical dramas to follow.
It launched fittingly enough with a Virgo Sun sitting as part of a Half Grand Sextile from Uranus Neptune in Capricorn opposition Mars in Cancer and Pluto in Scorpio A powerful chart with Jupiter and North Node also in Scorpio.
At the launch the tr Mars was conjunct Michael Crichton’s 12th house Jupiter; with tr Jupiter just over the conjunction to his Sun.
Actor Noah Wyle, June 4, 1971 8.13 am Los Angeles, started his career as John Carter in ER, earning nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards. He is currently in the Max medical drama The Pitt.
He has quite a challenging and volatile chart with an Air Grand Trine from a Gemini Sun trine an 8th house Mars and North Node in Aquarius trine Uranus in Libra in his 4th. His Libra Moon is also in his 4th with Jupiter Neptune in Sagittarius in his performing 5th house opposition Saturn Mercury (Venus) In Taurus in his 11th. And an intense Pluto is in his communication 3rd house trine Saturn.
He certainly has pent up energy to spare which – emphasized Aquarius North Node – he devotes to various good causes – the international non-profit organization Doctors of the World, the Human Rights Watch Council, the Cover the Uninsured campaign in 2004, the disability rights group ADAPT and was arrested in 2012 during a protest on Capitol Hill to fight against Medicaid cuts for the elderly and people with disabilities. He is also a supporter of animal rights and a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund. On top of all that he serves as the voluntary artistic producer of the Blank Theatre Company in Hollywood, which stages an annual young playwrights festival and has recently acquired Second Stage Theater (Los Angeles) in Hollywood.
He looks a touch perplexed at the moment with tr Neptune Saturn heading for his midheaven this year and next; and tr Uranus conjunct his Solar Arc Midheaven for jolting changes. Plus a half lucky, half nerve-stretched Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Jupiter now and then his Neptune within months. That could go either way since Jup Nep can be over hopeful. Plus tr Uranus conjunct his Mercury and Saturn into early 2026. Not a straightforward year.
Apparently a posthumous publication – Eruption – came about last summer, too.
His children seem to have a lot going – reading the People story below made me wonder abt his son’s 8th house. MC passed away prior to his birth, and his adult daughter tried, an ultimately failed, to block the son’s right to inherit.
https://people.com/michael-crichton-s-widow-sherri-s-teaching-their-son-about-the-dad-he-never-met-exclusive-8656009
It made me feel exhausted reading what Noah gets up to. On a different note, I actually remember going to the cinema to see The Andromeda Strain. And I was surprised that I enjoyed it.
Gauquelin gives people with Moon in 10th strong for witing skills. Moon in 10th
is one of the 4 Gauquelin sectors….the other 3 being Moon near Asc-12th;
Moon near 3rd-IC and Moon near Dsc-6th.
I just wanted to say how amazing Michael Chrichton’s books are. I listen to one almost every evening. Thank you for the look at his chart.
When I see something so particular as here Crichton’s Sun–Moon 0° degree opposition (and Scorpio–Taurus! Luckily, his Moon is Taurus, so exalted.), I always think how I don’t pay attention to the meaning of degrees and how I never seem to try to find some authoritative sources that would talk about these things. I know on one message board one German astrologer I think called 0° sensitive or something like that. The energy seems raw, maybe unfocused, maybe it still doesn’t know where to go. Some Serbian astrologers also paid attention to the meaning of degrees, and I’m not sure they used the same system (so can be many, it seems).
I adored ER. Yesterday I had a little chat with AI about what made that show special, and it was its fast pace (those gripping, dramatic tracking shots), the cast (woohoo!), the well-fleshed-out characters and their flaws, the strong visual style (the fast editing, handheld cameras, frequent close-ups…), comples themes, you could say realism in depicting the medical profession and workings of an emergency room – it was a show like no other. Yes, it maybe deteriorated a bit in later seasons, but I loved it, and no other medical show comes to mind as equal in my mind. Also the opening theme is iconic.
I also wondered when I asked about him where did the gurus and psychics come from, and maybe it is the Jupiter in the 12th (a lot of solace, deep connection to the subconscious, increased intuition, spirituality) and Neptune in the 3rd (vivid imagination, like to talk [3rd house] about spirits, spirituality, other worlds [Neptune], difficulty in expressing oneself, extreme sensitivity in children with this placement…).
In Indian mythology and astrology, jupiter is guru of gods so rahu the demon head with him near doesn’t become malefic as without him…called north node in Indian astrology
Neptune is God of underworld in Indian astrology so all delusions and pisces it rules with 2 opposite direction fishes aptly making them confusing in everything … delusional and yes, spirits world is underworld of souls not at peace so wandering and wishing to return to earth n heaven finally as peace
Completely off astrology (unless Marjorie, you’d like to look at Noah Wyle—from the Pitt -I just saw an interview in which he mentioned that his mom had been a nurse. His chart might be interesting)
The Pitt is just an incredible show!
That’s all I have to say. Oh-wait…also Jeff Bridges! Very cool person! Nice pieces this week.
Crichton’s films/books are often a tale of “nature gone rogue”. Beyond the films listed he also wrote and directed the original Westworld movie starring Yul Brynner as a robot in a theme park which overcomes its programme and hunts down the guests. Essentially the same story as Jurassic Park. That fixed t-square with its Sun in Scorpio in opposition to Moon would surely be seeing the world as a dangerous place.
Michael Crichton also created ‘Westworld’, a wild west theme experience resort, which had it’s cinema release in 1973 and was a precursor to Crichton’s most famous theme-park-gone-wrong story, Jurassic Park (1993). It starred a truly scary Yul Brynner as a android gunslinger who goes rogue & starts killing for real. Westworld was revived in 2016 as a four series tv show.