A few questions about the Stargate and the DHD

[NickEast]

I'm currently in the works of making a fan-fiction comic and I have a few questions related to the 'gate and the DHD.

- How old are the Stargates in the Milky-Way, averagely? The Beta gate is approx. several millions of years old and is presumably the oldest. (Solitudes) I wonder about specifically the Alpha gate brought to Earth by Ra.

- I've read one of the novels, which are considered canon, that the DHD's are suspected of featuring a "universal translator" that when you travel through a 'gate from one world to another, the DHD somehow imprints the language of that world, allowing you to talk to the local aliens in their native language while understanding them in your own. (Sacrifice Moon) Does this sound in any way plausible? The franchise never explained why all aliens suddenly speak English fluently, while in the film and the first few seasons, some races speak either Ancient Egyptian or Babylonian or another language. Behind the scenes, this is natural for science fiction to save time on making up new languages and having the actors learn them.

- And finally, what are the opinions on how the Iris could/should work? I think it's the biggest technical plothole in the franchise, but like with many other aspects, I try to come up with a plausible solution to make it work.

[knowles2]

[QUOTE=nivao;14195043]I'm currently in the works of making a fan-fiction comic and I have a few questions related to the 'gate and the DHD.

- How old are the Stargates in the Milky-Way, averagely? The Beta gate is approx. several millions of years old and is presumably the oldest. (Solitudes) I wonder about specifically the Alpha gate brought to Earth by Ra.

There no solid dates but Destiny was launch 50 million years ago, Atlantis left for earth several million years ago, so all the stargates are between several million years old to 50 million year old, we don't know when they started building the Alpha/beta model of the gates.
All the gates in the Pegasus galaxy are between several million years old and 10,000 years old.

- I've read one of the novels, which are considered canon, that the DHD's are suspected of featuring a "universal translator" that when you travel through a 'gate from one world to another, the DHD somehow imprints the language of that world, allowing you to talk to the local aliens in their native language while understanding them in your own. (Sacrifice Moon) Does this sound in any way plausible? The franchise never explained why all aliens suddenly speak English fluently, while in the film and the first few seasons, some races speak either Ancient Egyptian or Babylonian or another language. Behind the scenes, this is natural for science fiction to save time on making up new languages and having the actors learn them.

I think having a translation device built into the stargate or DHD is perfectly acceptable. I believe that the writer themselves have mention that they were going to add this but they never got around to it.

- And finally, what are the opinions on how the Iris could/should work? I think it's the biggest technical plothole in the franchise, but like with many other aspects, I try to come up with a plausible solution to make it work.

I think the writers idea for how the iris works is hey it looks ultra cool so let do it. lol.

[NickEast]

There no solid dates but Destiny was launch 50 million years ago, Atlantis left for earth several million years ago, so all the stargates are between several million years old to 50 million year old, we don't know when they started building the Alpha/beta model of the gates.
All the gates in the Pegasus galaxy are between several million years old and 10,000 years old.

Okay, much clearer. I forgot about the 50 million years.

I think having a translation device built into the stargate or DHD is perfectly acceptable. I believe that the writer themselves have mention that they were going to add this but they never got around to it.

Ah, I didn't know about the writers wanting to do that. That settles it then.

I think the writers idea for how the iris works is hey it looks ultra cool so let do it. lol.

Yes, exactly like I thought. It's a plothole I would gladly turn a blind eye for. I just wondered if anyone thought of something. Ah, well. It is what it is.

[blueray]

- I've read one of the novels, which are considered canon, that the DHD's are suspected of featuring a "universal translator" that when you travel through a 'gate from one world to another, the DHD somehow imprints the language of that world, allowing you to talk to the local aliens in their native language while understanding them in your own. (Sacrifice Moon) Does this sound in any way plausible? The franchise never explained why all aliens suddenly speak English fluently, while in the film and the first few seasons, some races speak either Ancient Egyptian or Babylonian or another language. Behind the scenes, this is natural for science fiction to save time on making up new languages and having the actors learn them.

That's interesting. But what happens when they get to far from the gate. My theory was that Teal'c had access to a translator (which he used to talk the people that were concured). This technology turned out not to be to complicated and the sgc (or area 51) was able to make duplicates. This allows them to talk to any race they come in contact with and has a range that allows those people to understand too.

The technology would be the ancient's originally so that is what they used in Atlantis.

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

The iris is explained in the show. It is placed 3microns from the event horizon which stops matter from reforming.

[NickEast]

The iris is explained in the show. It is placed 3microns from the event horizon which stops matter from reforming.

That I knew. I actually meant the mechanism of how it closed and opened again. Originally, I never gave it a thought. Later, I just thought about things like "magic" or if the stargate was "bigger on the inside". From a practicle standpoint it doesn't work because:

- A, there is no space for the blades and the mechanism to fit into the gate, and even if it did, they didn't (and still don't) know anything about the inner workings of a stargate to do anything with it.

- And B, the design of the iris with the blades forming a star in the center wouldn't work either, you can even see the 3D models of the blades intersecting each other when looking closely at the scenes when they open or close.

But, all in all, I just ignore it, because it looks cool. Cooler than a large steel plate, suspended on a hydraulic arm, is being shoved into the gate during every incoming wormhole. Or, of course, when I feel like it, I just think about how the stargate is "bigger on the inside".

(Yes, I'm watching too much Doctor Who).

[Pharaoh Hamenthotep]

The Iris unfolding could work in the same way as Ra's mask or Jaffa helmets that just seem to disappear.

After the first Stargate mission O'Neil (with one L) could have taken some of the tech from Ra's Jaffa/personal guards.. Area 51 studied it and it was adapted into the Iris, that way it can fold up into the gate without taking up as much space as you would expect it to.. Ra's mask was huge and it folded away into his collar so the Iris could do the same thing

[NickEast]

The Iris unfolding could work in the same way as Ra's mask or Jaffa helmets that just seem to disappear.

After the first Stargate mission O'Neil (with one L) could have taken some of the tech from Ra's Jaffa/personal guards.. Area 51 studied it and it was adapted into the Iris, that way it can fold up into the gate without taking up as much space as you would expect it to.. Ra's mask was huge and it folded away into his collar so the Iris could do the same thing

Ooh, nice one. Now this is good. I'd never thought of this. It may be a bit implausible that Area 51 would reverse engineer such a device so quickly, while developing other technology took longer to do, but it sounds more plausible than when kept as it is. Thanks

[NickEast]

I've found out another thing lately. Most of the 38 constellation symbols on the gate barely look like the real constellations, while others look very stylized. Not to mention "stellar drift" that changes the appearance significantly over one thousand years.

I've also created a nice theory about the constellations: the Ancients created them to artistically represent the coordinates in space to make it easier for them to use the stargates (like the URL of a website translates into an IP address and various other codes in order to actually connect to a web server). They don't have to be directly linked to the constellations at all. But I could like the theory that the constellations were created "around" the coordinates as found in Earth's celestial sphere, judging from the fact that the Ancients were/are very artistic and cryptic. Then the constellations became part of our modern civilization, just like everything else.

The reason why every stargate in a galaxy has the same symbols (except for the point of origin) is because the Ancients may have intended to only use them for themselves, they never intended anyone else to use them, and Earth was their homeworld/capital at the time. Why does every stargate need unique symbols? Telephones don't have different symbols, they all have the standard 10 digits. If that was the case though, when a person wanted to return to Earth for example, he needed to know addresses for each stargate, otherwise he may not know which symbol on one gate matches another.

And a coincidence(?) is that 37 of the constellations on the gates are part of the 48 oldest constellations as conceived/discovered by Ptolemy in the 2nd century (see here, at the bottom). The only constellation not in there is "sextans". Did he discover the stargate perhaps? Or something else related?

The "artistic" glyphs may also be the reason Catherine never thought of them as constellations, until Daniel discovered that one symbol looked very close to Orion by accident.

[maxrpg]

I don't think the DHDs having a universal translator is plausible really, I mean just look at how many races SG-1 encountered where Daniel had to do the translating.

Destiny and the Seed ships were launched from Earth millions of years ago using raw materials from the planet and "primitive" ancient technology, I suspect the gates on Destiny were version 1 of the Stargates. Many people theorised that Gate-V1 was on planets in the Milky Way and Pegasus but were later upgraded by the Ancients to V2 (Milky Way) and V3 gates (Pegasus).

Personally I think the Seed ships that were launched years ahead of the Destiny didn't start planting gates until they were really really far out in to the universe and found suitable materials along the way. The Ancients had ships to move around the galaxy so there was no point the Seed ships wasting valuable time and resources planting gates in the Milky Way as they moved out. Once Destiny was well on its journey they probably then began creating V2 gates and used their "primitive" ships to spread them around the Milky Way where they used them to (among other things) mine rare alloys and used the gates to carry them back to Earth where they began construction of Atlantis.

Then when the plague (I don't believe it was actually a plague that drove them away) hit they left Earth and ended up in Pegasus where they hoped to make a fresh start and thus constructed gate V3. Then the Wraith came along, sh*t hit the fan and the Ancients had away on their toes back to Earth, some of them eventually ventured back out in to the galaxy to do various things while the rest learned to ascend to the higher plane of existence.

I believe those Ancients who returned to Earth but then ventured back out in to the galaxy/universe, the ones who didn't want to ascend and instead wanted to try once again to make a fresh start and build a new colony could have created a gate V4 possibly in a dwarf galaxy somewhere but we'll never know now


I think the Iris is made of super thin sheets of Trinium and probably works in a similar way to a 'Fan', thin enough to fold away neatly in to the void inside the gate but able to "fan" out or un-fold to form the Iris shield.

[Jack_O'Neill]

I guess that DHD looks like as a keyboard, symbols looks like as a letters.

DHD looks like as a WWW,symbols it is combination of chevrons,which work as URL in the internet.

Combination of chevrons can be used for access to others worlds which can be outside stargate.

In the internet browser have search,chevrons it is search system for stargate.
I hope that my information will help you give answer how works DHD.

[Coco Pops]

And I know it's a very old tired question but how do you manually dial the gate when there is no dialing device?

[Traianus Augustus]

I've found out another thing lately. Most of the 38 constellation symbols on the gate barely look like the real constellations, while others look very stylized. Not to mention "stellar drift" that changes the appearance significantly over one thousand years.

I've also created a nice theory about the constellations: the Ancients created them to artistically represent the coordinates in space to make it easier for them to use the stargates (like the URL of a website translates into an IP address and various other codes in order to actually connect to a web server). They don't have to be directly linked to the constellations at all. But I could like the theory that the constellations were created "around" the coordinates as found in Earth's celestial sphere, judging from the fact that the Ancients were/are very artistic and cryptic. Then the constellations became part of our modern civilization, just like everything else.

The reason why every stargate in a galaxy has the same symbols (except for the point of origin) is because the Ancients may have intended to only use them for themselves, they never intended anyone else to use them, and Earth was their homeworld/capital at the time. Why does every stargate need unique symbols? Telephones don't have different symbols, they all have the standard 10 digits. If that was the case though, when a person wanted to return to Earth for example, he needed to know addresses for each stargate, otherwise he may not know which symbol on one gate matches another.

And a coincidence(?) is that 37 of the constellations on the gates are part of the 48 oldest constellations as conceived/discovered by Ptolemy in the 2nd century (see here, at the bottom). The only constellation not in there is "sextans". Did he discover the stargate perhaps? Or something else related?

The "artistic" glyphs may also be the reason Catherine never thought of them as constellations, until Daniel discovered that one symbol looked very close to Orion by accident.

I like this theory and it makes perfect sense when you think about it. As for each stargate having unique symbols, I suspect it was merely a plot device from the original film to raise the stakes for the characters: in order to dial back to Earth they'd have to decipher the symbols on the Abydos gate and then figure out the correct sequence to activate it. Fortunately they did away with this concept in the tv series as it would make using the gate system very cumbersome.

[NickEast]

And I know it's a very old tired question but how do you manually dial the gate when there is no dialing device?

First, this only works with Milky-Way gates, and possibly Destiny gates as well. Pegasus gates have no moving parts.

When there is no dialing device, you need to provide the gate with enough power so it unlocks the center ring with the glyphs (it's possible that it's some kind of safety mechanism that only works when there is no DHD connected). Then, with the proper amount of strength or motor (SGC dialing computer), the ring can be manually turned. You'd of course need to know the address you want to dial.

As for locking the chevrons, in "Torment of Tantalus" when Daniel watches the tape, the scientists lock the chevrons by giving the gate a power surge. Otherwise it's possible that you just need to hold the glyph beneath the top chevron for a short time so it locks (in "1969", when the gate was connected to two trucks, it's possible they gave the gate a power surge by revving the engine to lock the chevrons).

Remember that the SGC dialing computer is just automated manual dialing (pun intended). The computer sends instructions to a motor beneath the ramp that turns the center ring, then uses electrical impulses to instruct the gate to lock the chevrons (it's also possible that the computer instructs the gate to turn the ring, then to stop it, instead of a motor). A funny thing is that the real-life prop actually "worked". When the actors enter symbols into the computer, a motor beneath the gate prop turns the ring, then sensors detect which symbol is on top, then automatically stops the ring, moves the chevron and turns on lights. So this principle can also be applied "in-universe".

[NickEast]

I just realized something else when re-watching part of "Rising" concerning eight-symbol addresses and "Air Part 1" from Universe about nine chevrons, and that no-one figured it out yet (as far as I know, since it's not on the Wiki for example):

Mods like Carter's Add-on Pack for Garry's Mod and the SGC dialing simulator are all wrong, as in, we are all wrong. Chevrons always dial in a sequential clockwise order as demonstrated below. It's much easier to simply show it.

Standard 7 chevron dial sequence:

Spoiler:

8 chevron sequence:

Spoiler:

When the technician calls out "chevron 4 engaged," the bottom right chevron lights up as you see it through the grate.

9 chevron sequence:

Spoiler:

When Riley calls out chevrons six, seven and eight, the three on the left are lit up. You can clearly see this in the episode.