Getting back to the gate...

[Lightning Ducj]

I just wanted to see if anyone else had any other ideas on why they all found their way back and see if anyone else thought this was odd...thats all.

My thought was that it was within the realm of possibility if the writers chose to have it be an issue.

It would be 'reasonable' for me if someone got lost
It would be 'reasonable' for me if they had no problem finding there way back.
It would be 'reasonable' for me if someone got sunstroke and passed out.
it would be 'reasonable' for me if no-one got sunstroke
It would be 'reasonable' for me if someone other than Scott started hallucinating

A lot of things that would've be reasonable that could have been addressed but the writers that could have been told within the context of the tory but they choose not to and it could be because it never dawned on them or they didn't have time or it didn't work within the narrative they were building or... And I'm perfectly content taking the story for what they told it as rather than worrying to much about what didn't get addressed

[Avenger]

It wasn't "cleaning up tracks," it was slurping up the liquid that the team kept pouring out. Matt even offered it some. And Greer clearly used Scott's tracks to find him toward the end of the episode.

Honestly, sometimes I wonder if people even watch the show on this forum.

Just because it was slurping the water doesn't mean it didn't blow away the tracks. It still scrubbed the tracks in the process. Maybe not all of them along the way, but the tracks still disappeared. It could have been for 10 feet or it could have been 100 yards. Point being that it was possible that missing a section of the tracks in the right (or wrong) terrain could have made following the tracks back more difficult.

Seeing as they didn't encounter it while at the gate, of course there are still going to be tracks there. Furthermore, Scott was on his way back when Greer found him and we don't know how far from the gate Scott was when this happened.

[Shpinxinator]

First I wanna say I think it's funny that if anyone has a problem with something on this show some people want to start a fight about it...

Major Taylor...if someone has an opinion and you don't agree with it...that is OK you don't need to have so much sarcasm about it...


NOW lets look at the facts...

Releitive to the size of a planet the Stargate as a landmark is not so big and given that this world is not only alien but on the other side of the universe no amount of training for ANYONE could prepare them to be able to find the gate again...I'm sorry but thats just the way it is...HOWEVER I got the impression that the KINO had some kind of homing beacon on it to help find the gate again...that seems to be the most logical idea...now beyond that...going in a straight line and using a compass (assuming it works) to assign north south east and west it can be a simplified matter

[Dain]

Both Scott and Greer stayed on their own tracks for the entire time so it is reasonable to expect that they would be able to return without problems.

That said, when Eli's team was told to take a different route and only turn back towards the Stargate after a few hours of marching, I initially expected that this would be the set-up for a "we are lost"-subplot.
Still, since they had the Kino device, it wasn't that big of a stretch to assume that they could use it to home in to the Stargate.

What surprised me, however, was that nobody seemed to be concerned at all about their ability to navigate their way in a desert full of huge curving dunes.
Normally, marching in one direction through a desert is a very difficult undertaking and it requires advanced navigational skills not to drift away from your initial course. If there had been a sandstorm or something else that wiped their tracks they would have been hopelessly stranded.

[Blistna]

What surprised me, however, was that nobody seemed to be concerned at all about their ability to navigate their way in a desert full of huge curving dunes.
Normally, marching in one direction through a desert is a very difficult undertaking and it requires advanced navigational skills not to drift away from your initial course. If there had been a sandstorm or something else that wiped their tracks they would have been hopelessly stranded.

And I think that is how my dad looked at it, as well. But the soldiers should have had a compass, and assuming the planet had magnetic pole's like Earth, it would work...but then the writers should have shown them using those compasses.

So...yea...thanks guys though! You are throwing out ideas at me..I didn't think about the compass thing.

[Jeff-B]

You'd think all the military people would have a compass somewhere in their pockets. It would certainly help them to travel in a straight line, then a straight line in the opposite direction should get them back to the gate.