Dialing Home?

[Uchiha_Daisuke]

I had though about this before but the recent Cosmos arc got me thinking again. We all remember one of the main plots in Stargate (1994) was that Daniel assumed that someone would have left instructions on the other side on how to get back (an address). As geeks and students of Sagan we know it isn’t so simple. Every planet they travel to would have a completely different set of constellations and point of origin. I never remember it being brought up in an episode and the more I think about it the more skeptical I am that they could have really made gate travel work so well.

I always assumed that it could be explained as one of those things the MALP was assigned to do as they scouted the planet. It could take photos at night and send them back to be analyzed. The problem is that it would only see half the sky. Even if it did get all the sky, how complex would the computer have to be to calculate where the Earth was and match the constellations?

Another thing is now with SGU, how does their gate work? We saw them stop at a star to dial out but the design is so different I hope they spend some time explaining it.

[Magnus]

I know that in the 1994 movie the symbols were completely different on the Abydos gate (it was also in another galaxy), but you’ll find that every gate in the series is the same (mainly because they only have 2 prop gates). It can be easily explained why they are all the same and based on the Earth constellations (but possibly a little spoilery) [spoiler] The Ancients originated on Earth.[/spoiler]
Therefore each planet has the same set of 6 symbols no matter where one dials from. Which makes sense considering the Abydos cartouche.

There are a few inconstancies between the movie and series and even with the series. It’s best not to think about it too much about it. Although the saying that the one thing about dialling the gate that has always bothered me is the point of origin. It can be a little inconsistent. I would expect each gate to have 1 unique symbol to act as the PoO otherwise there could only be 39 (or however many symbols there are) destinations in practice. The episode ‘Solitudes’ (Season 1, Jack and Sam get trapped in Antarctica) suggests this. However the Antarctic gate becomes the primary gate and the still use normal Earth symbol /\ . Then in the pilot of SGU they were able to use the Earth symbol from a different planet. I’m not sure how to reconcile the contradictory information

I hate to be so pedantic, but typing that last paragraph made me think of something. Why is the Earth symbol /\ used in the 9 symbol address in SGU. That symbol was the point of origin on the second gate (the one the Goa’uld brought, found in Egypt). The original Earth gate, set in place by the Ancients, was buried in Antarctica which had a different PoO

I know, it’s just a show I should really just relax.

As for the SGU gate, I assume it works in much the same way, just a flashier light show. Like an upgraded version of the Pegasus gates. Although the lack of DHDs seems like a bit of a problem. Having to use the remote to dial seems a little flawed.

[Steve]

I believe the constellation thing was mentioned either in the pilot or the last episode. Also, it has been mentioned before in SG-1.

[Starsaber]

However the Antarctic gate becomes the primary gate and the still use normal Earth symbol /\ . Then in the pilot of SGU they were able to use the Earth symbol from a different planet. I’m not sure how to reconcile the contradictory information

I think the reason they still had the /\ as the Point of Origin for Earth between

[SPOILER]the original gate being lost from Thor’s ship crashing and Anubis blowing up the Antarctic gate in Season 6[/SPOILER]

is the fact that there wasn’t much point in changing it in the dialing computer, since that was its only use.

As for the use of /\ in Universe, I think it was a small flub.

[LordCorbin]

I had though about this before but the recent Cosmos arc got me thinking again. We all remember one of the main plots in Stargate (1994) was that Daniel assumed that someone would have left instructions on the other side on how to get back (an address). As geeks and students of Sagan we know it isn’t so simple. Every planet they travel to would have a completely different set of constellations and point of origin. I never remember it being brought up in an episode and the more I think about it the more skeptical I am that they could have really made gate travel work so well.

Wrote something else, then realized that the show changed the way the gate works. SG1’s gate system could only travel within the Milky Way galaxy and Abydos was changed to be the closest planet in that galaxy to Earth. Dialing from Earth to Abydos in the movie was more akin to dialing from Earth to Atlantis on the show.

I know that in the 1994 movie the symbols were completely different on the Abydos gate (it was also in another galaxy), but you’ll find that every gate in the series is the same (mainly because they only have 2 prop gates). It can be easily explained why they are all the same and based on the Earth constellations (but possibly a little spoilery) [spoiler] The Ancients originated on Earth.[/spoiler]
Therefore each planet has the same set of 6 symbols no matter where one dials from. Which makes sense considering the Abydos cartouche.

There are a few inconstancies between the movie and series and even with the series. It’s best not to think about it too much about it. Although the saying that the one thing about dialling the gate that has always bothered me is the point of origin. It can be a little inconsistent. I would expect each gate to have 1 unique symbol to act as the PoO otherwise there could only be 39 (or however many symbols there are) destinations in practice. The episode ‘Solitudes’ (Season 1, Jack and Sam get trapped in Antarctica) suggests this. However the Antarctic gate becomes the primary gate and the still use normal Earth symbol /\ . Then in the pilot of SGU they were able to use the Earth symbol from a different planet. I’m not sure how to reconcile the contradictory information

I hate to be so pedantic, but typing that last paragraph made me think of something. Why is the Earth symbol /\ used in the 9 symbol address in SGU. That symbol was the point of origin on the second gate (the one the Goa’uld brought, found in Egypt). The original Earth gate, set in place by the Ancients, was buried in Antarctica which had a different PoO

I know, it’s just a show I should really just relax.

As for the SGU gate, I assume it works in much the same way, just a flashier light show. Like an upgraded version of the Pegasus gates. Although the lack of DHDs seems like a bit of a problem. Having to use the remote to dial seems a little flawed.

The point of origin symbol correlates to the specific planet, not the stargate itself, which is why the first gate(the one in antarctica) and Ra’s gate(the one found in egypt) can both be used despite the different symbols.
As far as the Destiny goes, considering that the 9th chevron is a special addition required, specifically, to dial the Destiny, it should probably have used the symbol from the original gate. I imagine that they used the symbol from Ra’s gate because that has become the expected/accepted identification of the tauri.

Anyway, for some reason this topic has made me feel incredibly stupid, I wont be surprised if you tell me nothing I said makes a lick of sense.