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    Are non-SGC gates meant to spin?

    Are non-SGC gates also supposed to spin, but just aren't shown doing so?

    This is something that i have never actually seen an answer to one way or the other. The Stargate wiki claims that the DHD is something that allows the gate to bypass the need to spin and dials right away, allowing it to activate immediately - but i have never seen any evidence for that being an actual, intended aspect of the show. The offworld gates not spinning seems like something that should cause problems with dialing the SGC if it were true - the wormholes are shown to be activated immediately upon using the DHD, but the SGC gate many times spins on incoming wormholes, so in that case there should not be a connection immediately.

    Throughout the show, at least from what i remember, we do see hints that the gates on other planets are meant to be spinning. We occasionally hear brief gate dialing sounds on many occasions, and one example i can think of involving a non-SGC stargate definitely spinning is in the Continuum movie, where the gate is heard spinning for a full dial when it's being activated by Baal in that crate. Another episode is season 1 episode 6 - The first Commandment - where the gate is very clearly heard spinning for quite a few seconds off-screen.

    I know the gates were never really consistent in the show, but i always assumed that we were meant to assume an offworld gate does spin, but for the sake of plot, pacing or budget reasons, and the fact that the other gate props weren't created to physically spin (at least from what i remember), that it simply isn't shown. It comes down to it being a TV show, and having to wait around for a few minutes to actually dial the gate would make for pretty boring TV, most of the time.

    So where does the "DHD bypasses the spinning" actually come from within the show?

    Are there any definite examples (other than the ones i mentioned) where offworld gates are definitely shown or heard spinning?

    #2
    Good question, I also noticed that.

    First of all, disregard the Wiki, the info on it is unreliable at best. I'm thinking there might be 2 explanation.

    1- Budget wise, maybe they simply didn't show it spinning on screen

    2- Perhaps the older gates, such as Earth (which is mentioned in the show as one of the oldest one, if not the oldest one) were spinning gates, and the newer gates off world were optimized and didn't have that feature anymore.
    Spoiler:
    I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to—I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more.

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      #3
      Basically, all gates in the Milky Way are capable of (manual) spinning, but, yes, they do not spin if activated via a DHD. The inner ring can be spun to perform a manual dial as a backup to a functional DHD. When using a DHD, a Stargate is told which 7 symbols to use when 7 buttons are pressed. When not using a DHD, the inner ring is spun to lock in each chevron much like how you would operate a rotary phone.

      As Earth does not have a DHD, they rigged up their own dialing program, which prompts the Stargate to perform a manual dial. Whether this is possible because the Stargate has its own motors built in or whether they were installed by the SGC is something that was never established. Historically, fans had generally assumed the latter because it didn't make sense for the Ancients to have made an automated manual dial possible when that's not how gates were intended to be used. In light of what we learned in SGU, however, it's possibly something that carried over from the SGU gates, perhaps because the Milky Way gates themselves predate the invention of the DHDs. Meaning, it's possible they all used to spin until that function was disabled when DHDs were invented. Thus, the SGC simply tapped into that long defunct function.

      In any case, behind the scenes, there are two gates: the one that they use in the SGC set which can spin and one that they bring on location which cannot. As a result, when a manual dial is performed from an offworld location, the inner ring is usually spun off-screen. Examples of this include season 1's "Torment of Tantalus" and season 3's "Prisoners." They talk about performing a manual dial and you can hear it happen, but the camera is focused on something other than the characters spinning the ring. This changes in a later season episode where we do get to see an offworld manual dial because the SGC gate is moved to the offworld set. If I remember correctly, this happens in season 10's "Bad Guys."

      I don't personally remember hearing the sounds of a gate being manually dialed when it wasn't supposed to be, but any instances where the sounds are played when a DHD is used are a goof. There are a bunch of editing related gate dialing inconsistencies throughout the series, so I wouldn't be surprised if the wrong sound effects were played from time to time. Keep in mind that throughout Sg-1 no offworld gate's inner ring has ever visually spun when a manual dial wasn't being performed, nor are they supposed to according to the program's dialogue.

      Comment


        #4
        Yes, every gate can spin, that's how they are designed. But it's considered for emergencies only, when it's not possible to use a DHD (like on Earth).

        Indeed, the prop used for on-location shoots does not spin. Usually it's off-screen, however, both in "1969" and "Prisoners", we see Teal'c attempting to move it, but Chris Judge just slides his hands over the prop. I thought it could spin, as I believed I saw it in "1969", but after a recent repeat I indeed noticed it didn't. When I wanted to make an incredibly screen accurate 3D model, I did a lot of research and eventually found the original schematics of the props on auction (couldn't buy them though, but the thumbnail images helped a lot). They had two cross-section schematics, one for the SGC prop, which showed the two tubes and the frame for the inner track, and the off-world prop which was thinner and didn't have the frame.

        Another nice trivia, off-world incoming wormholes have been very inconsistent with sound FX. Sometimes they used the same spinning sound FX even though the ring didn't spin.

        Also, just in case, the Pegasus gates don't physically spin, only the "holographic" symbols do. The Destiny-style gates spin in their entirety, always, though I believe the producers said only the front of the physical gate on-set could spin. All off-world gates were CGI.

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          #5
          Originally posted by Xaeden View Post
          Basically, all gates in the Milky Way are capable of (manual) spinning, but, yes, they do not spin if activated via a DHD. The inner ring can be spun to perform a manual dial as a backup to a functional DHD. When using a DHD, a Stargate is told which 7 symbols to use when 7 buttons are pressed. When not using a DHD, the inner ring is spun to lock in each chevron much like how you would operate a rotary phone.

          As Earth does not have a DHD, they rigged up their own dialing program, which prompts the Stargate to perform a manual dial. Whether this is possible because the Stargate has its own motors built in or whether they were installed by the SGC is something that was never established. Historically, fans had generally assumed the latter because it didn't make sense for the Ancients to have made an automated manual dial possible when that's not how gates were intended to be used. In light of what we learned in SGU, however, it's possibly something that carried over from the SGU gates, perhaps because the Milky Way gates themselves predate the invention of the DHDs. Meaning, it's possible they all used to spin until that function was disabled when DHDs were invented. Thus, the SGC simply tapped into that long defunct function.

          In any case, behind the scenes, there are two gates: the one that they use in the SGC set which can spin and one that they bring on location which cannot. As a result, when a manual dial is performed from an offworld location, the inner ring is usually spun off-screen. Examples of this include season 1's "Torment of Tantalus" and season 3's "Prisoners." They talk about performing a manual dial and you can hear it happen, but the camera is focused on something other than the characters spinning the ring. This changes in a later season episode where we do get to see an offworld manual dial because the SGC gate is moved to the offworld set. If I remember correctly, this happens in season 10's "Bad Guys."

          I don't personally remember hearing the sounds of a gate being manually dialed when it wasn't supposed to be, but any instances where the sounds are played when a DHD is used are a goof. There are a bunch of editing related gate dialing inconsistencies throughout the series, so I wouldn't be surprised if the wrong sound effects were played from time to time. Keep in mind that throughout Sg-1 no offworld gate's inner ring has ever visually spun when a manual dial wasn't being performed, nor are they supposed to according to the program's dialogue.
          I do not mean to come across as insulting or anything like that, but this just amplifies the problem for me. Where has all the information actually came from? You say "according to the program's dialogue" that it isn't meant to, but where is that said? I know that every gate can spin and they are shown doing so when a manual dial is performed, but that isn't really the same situation as if it's meant to spin or not upon an ordinary dial. It's not always shown spinning in the show, obviously - but that isn't the same as the lack of spinning being an intended canon element.

          Like you said, the prop wasn't made to be able to physically spin, and in combation with budget, pacing, plot or any other number of reasons that would mean it wouldn't be feasible to show it everytime, it just isn't included - but there are moments where it's definitely implied that the gate actually does spin in that case. Sometimes it's spinning sounds for just a few seconds, sometimes quite a bit longer, and in the case of Continuum like i mentioned, it's pretty much a full spin.

          The gate is shown pretty inconsistently at times, but I have watched SG1 quite a few times over the years (but not Atlantis, unfortunately) and i do not recall there being any mention of the "DHD bypasses the spinning" being a definite, canon thing that was an actual intended part of the show, rather than fan assumption.

          Comment


            #6
            A quick search on the forums revealed this


            Seems like it was an inconsistency since the beginning. Simple answer is: budget for filming off-world gates didn't permit it, whatever canon explanation was given if there's any was just to put a plaster on this inconsistency.

            I personally don't buy into the whole DHD thing, what would be the point of spinning at all if that was the case? Every gates come with a DHD, unless the DHD came after the gates which would surprise me greatly.
            Spoiler:
            I don’t want to be human. I want to see gamma rays, I want to hear X-rays, and I want to smell dark matter. Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can’t even express these things properly, because I have to—I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid, limiting spoken language, but I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws, and feel the solar wind of a supernova flowing over me. I’m a machine, and I can know much more.

            Comment


              #7
              Let's also not forget the simplest explanation: plot requirements. Depending on the needs of the scene in which the gate is dialed, sometimes it spins, sometimes it doesn't.

              I'm not sure there really is any in-universe explanation that can satisfy all the contradictory circumstances that are depicted on screen.
              "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by DigiFluid View Post
                Let's also not forget the simplest explanation: plot requirements. Depending on the needs of the scene in which the gate is dialed, sometimes it spins, sometimes it doesn't.

                I'm not sure there really is any in-universe explanation that can satisfy all the contradictory circumstances that are depicted on screen.
                This is what i mean, really. Having it so every scene where they're in combat involves having to wait around for a few minutes for the gate to dial, or any situation with having to hurry back would start to make for kinda bad TV.

                For the sake of it being a TV show, having it be shown dialing most of the time - or having anything beyond the typical few seconds of implied dialing sounds that we do get - would be infeasible.

                Regarding the Atlantis gate, while i haven't seen the entire series, i remember watching the pilot episode a few weeks ago and the gate did actually 'spin' there by digitally revolving round to each symbol and locking them.

                Comment


                  #9
                  It doesn't have to be stated explicitly. What they said consistently throughout the show is that we had to spin our gate because we didn't have a DHD. How else could we dial it? "Torment of Tantalus" showed the manual spinning, before we had the dialing computer. And in the other episodes where they have to dial another gate manually they said they had to spin it because they had no DHD, again the first time being in "Torment of Tantalus". There Carter said that if the gate receives sufficient power, the inner track will unlock to allow them to manually spin the ring to get a lock. This is repeated in "1969".

                  Maybe it's possible to spin the ring even with a DHD connected, maybe not. But with a DHD, why would anyone do that? How would anyone have known? Add to that the fact that even someone as strong as Teal'c struggled to move it, and that there are millions of permutations. It doesn't matter, because a DHD makes it so much easier to dial the gate, and you have all the benefits of one. It's much like starting a car with a starting motor (using a key or nowadays a button). If that doesn't work, a possible alternative is to push the car. You could push the car even if the starting motor works, but why would you go through all that effort and trouble?

                  The only thing that isn't clear is how the dialing computer spins the ring. In real-life there was an electrical motor beneath the gate that spun the inner track, which was basically a giant gear. But whether there are wheels that spin the ring manually, or the dialing computer sends instructions to the gate to make it spin, was never made clear.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Don't forget the space gates. Looking at "Rising" and "38 Minutes" the gates were already open at a distance and so the mechanics of their operation could not be seen. How convenient. Where would their DHD wiring be? In the stabilizers keeping them afloat?

                    http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Stargate_power_node

                    The GateWorld write up notes the nodes can make the gates spin clockwise. Not sure if that has anything to do with dialing though or just looking cool.
                    https://www.gateworld.net/wiki/Stargate_power_node
                    Last edited by WraithTech; 02 June 2018, 05:13 AM.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by WraithTech View Post
                      Don't forget the space gates. Looking at "Rising" and "38 Minutes" the gates were already open at a distance and so the mechanics of their operation could not be seen. How convenient. Where would their DHD wiring be? In the stabilizers keeping them afloat?

                      http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Stargate_power_node

                      The GateWorld write up notes the nodes can make the gates spin clockwise. Not sure if that has anything to do with dialing though or just looking cool.
                      https://www.gateworld.net/wiki/Stargate_power_node
                      Space gates are dialed through the DHDs on jumpers and darts (though the latter are probably slightly more rudimentary that the jumpers'). While we never see how darts dial the gate, jumper DHDs work just like planetary ones. They just use wireless connections (in fact, it is implied all DHDs and gates are wireless, considering one could move both independently without having to disconnect a wire or something similar; see "Touchstone").

                      I don't remember anything about clockwise stuff. Then again, Atlantis was quite inconsistent with dialing, even more so than SG-1. In "First Strike" they attempt to dial out after 38 minutes, but the Atlantis gate uses the clockwise incoming wormhole sequence as opposed to each glyph spinning around.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by nivao View Post
                        It doesn't have to be stated explicitly. What they said consistently throughout the show is that we had to spin our gate because we didn't have a DHD. How else could we dial it? "Torment of Tantalus" showed the manual spinning, before we had the dialing computer. And in the other episodes where they have to dial another gate manually they said they had to spin it because they had no DHD, again the first time being in "Torment of Tantalus". There Carter said that if the gate receives sufficient power, the inner track will unlock to allow them to manually spin the ring to get a lock. This is repeated in "1969".

                        Maybe it's possible to spin the ring even with a DHD connected, maybe not. But with a DHD, why would anyone do that? How would anyone have known? Add to that the fact that even someone as strong as Teal'c struggled to move it, and that there are millions of permutations. It doesn't matter, because a DHD makes it so much easier to dial the gate, and you have all the benefits of one. It's much like starting a car with a starting motor (using a key or nowadays a button). If that doesn't work, a possible alternative is to push the car. You could push the car even if the starting motor works, but why would you go through all that effort and trouble?

                        The only thing that isn't clear is how the dialing computer spins the ring. In real-life there was an electrical motor beneath the gate that spun the inner track, which was basically a giant gear. But whether there are wheels that spin the ring manually, or the dialing computer sends instructions to the gate to make it spin, was never made clear.
                        It sort of does have to be explicit stated to be canon rather than as the result of it being a TV show and fan assumption, though. Just inferring something that could have any number of explanations ranging from real-life to in-universe and fans making something up to try to explain it isn't how canon works.

                        I think you you might be a bit too focused on the "manual" aspect of those manual dialing situations, really. It simply means that they physically made the gate spin themselves rather than it being done automatically, it doesn't really relate to if the gate is or isn't implied to spin on a DHD dial as well. That manual dialing is possible doesn't support it one way or the other.

                        The Atlantis gate has been show 'spinning' despite having a DHD-like dialing system:
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip64g3oNcWk

                        The Icarus Gate spun despite being still linked to a DHD:
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO4-u4dfWZA&t=2s

                        The Destiny/universe gates spin entirely and locks into symbols:
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxdi3XIgfIo
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyEJAomoH34 (first 30 seconds)
                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLTyjd7Izkk

                        The DHD is just an interface to input where a connection should be made to, it's the spinning and locking in those symbols that actually establishes the connection.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Sorry, I don't have a lot of time at the moment to pull up quotes. Off-hand, there's Serpent's Song from season 2, which is an indirect reference to the comparative speeds of Sokar being able to dial in using a DHD and Earth being able to dial out with their dialing program. Carter had to make some sort of unexplained techno-magic modifications to allow them to dial faster.

                          When I have more time I'll look up a more direct reference for you, if someone has not already done so.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            It doesn't have to be stated explicitly to be canon. We only see the Milky-Way gate spin if they're dialing it manually, and it has been stated that in order to dial it manually you need to spin the inner track. If there's a DHD, you don't need to spin it, and we never see the gate spin with a DHD. The dialing computer merely automates the manual dialing by accessing the gate's many protocols, something that has been stated by both Carter and McKay (in "48 Hours").

                            Pegasus gates don't spin. The inner track is completely fixed. The "holographic" symbols spin over the inner track simply to highlight the dialing sequence. Nothing else has been stated about that, other than that it's impossible to manually dial them.

                            Destiny-style gates spin, but not because they are being dialed manually. There is no DHD and those gates predate the Milky-Way gates. Only the Milky-Way gates need to spin if you dial them manually, that is what is stated. Pegasus gates cannot be dialed manually, and it's never stated whether Destiny-style gates can.

                            That is what's canon. Other than that, many things are implied simply by what is shown on-screen. Maybe it's not canon, but it is logical.

                            On the whole, the spinning glyphs on Pegasus gates and the spinning Destiny-style gates are just a stylistic choice made by the production designers, based on the spinning of Earth's gate. The spinning of Earth's gate was left over from the 1994 movie where the concept of a DHD didn't exist yet. That was changed when SG-1 introduced the DHD.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by nivao View Post
                              It doesn't have to be stated explicitly to be canon. We only see the Milky-Way gate spin if they're dialing it manually, and it has been stated that in order to dial it manually you need to spin the inner track. If there's a DHD, you don't need to spin it, and we never see the gate spin with a DHD. The dialing computer merely automates the manual dialing by accessing the gate's many protocols, something that has been stated by both Carter and McKay (in "48 Hours").

                              Pegasus gates don't spin. The inner track is completely fixed. The "holographic" symbols spin over the inner track simply to highlight the dialing sequence. Nothing else has been stated about that, other than that it's impossible to manually dial them.

                              Destiny-style gates spin, but not because they are being dialed manually. There is no DHD and those gates predate the Milky-Way gates. Only the Milky-Way gates need to spin if you dial them manually, that is what is stated. Pegasus gates cannot be dialed manually, and it's never stated whether Destiny-style gates can.

                              That is what's canon. Other than that, many things are implied simply by what is shown on-screen. Maybe it's not canon, but it is logical.

                              On the whole, the spinning glyphs on Pegasus gates and the spinning Destiny-style gates are just a stylistic choice made by the production designers, based on the spinning of Earth's gate. The spinning of Earth's gate was left over from the 1994 movie where the concept of a DHD didn't exist yet. That was changed when SG-1 introduced the DHD.
                              I think you might be confusing what spinning does and what a DHD is for. Spinning is not the same as manually dialing, manual dialing just involves making it spin. Manual dialing is just rotating the inner ring by hand rather than the gate doing so itself via a dialing sequence - it's just non-automated dialing, spinning doesn't mean it's being manually dialed. A DHD is simply a system that inputs the constellation sequence into the gate - the Atlantis and Destiny gates don't have a "DHD" as in that big curved device the sites infront of gates, but they do have a dialing device to input the same sort of way. They do the same thing as a DHD does.

                              The "If there's a DHD it doesn't need to spin" is never stated or directly inferred to be canon. The milky way gates aren't shown spinning for budget, pacing, plot and technical/prop reasons - but they are heard spinning on several occasions and it's implied that they do spin on dialing quite a few times.

                              With the Pegasus gate, the inner track doesn't spin, no - but that digital dialing is the same functionally as what spinning does on the Milky Way gates. It's the Pegasus gate's version of spinning - revolving to each constellation symbol and locking them one by one.

                              Pegasus gates cannot be dialed manually because it's gone from physical dialing to digital. The Destiny gate isn't stated either way, but i expect manual dialing would involve spinning the entire gate.

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