Gatefail: i haz it

[campylobacter]

I feel so stupid. I've read the wikis, but I still have questions about how Stargates work. Granted, I've only seen Seasons 1 & 9, plus some of Season 10, and a few random eps in between plus all the movies. So maybe I'm missing something?

Re: Season 1, the episode "Solitudes" where Sam & Jack are separated from Daniel & Teal'c as they pass through the 'Gate back to the SGC...

There's a Stargate in Antarctica, and it has symbols on one side, and is, I assume, blank on its other side. (I saw the back side of a 'Gate in the episode "Tin Man", and it looked symbol-less to me.)
Click to enlarge

Because the kawoosh forms on the side where the symbols are, and travelers can only enter and exit a 'Gate on the side that has the symbols, right?

But... there are circular kawoosh punch-outs in the ice cave BEHIND the Antarctic 'Gate; that is, it looks like a kawoosh punched out the ice on the side of the 'Gate that has no symbols.
Click to enlarge

WTF?

Did the folk (Atlanteans?) who placed the 'Gate in Antarctica have it facing the other way at one point?

Comments

[caramel-monkey.livejournal.com]

Just letting you know you aren't the only person with gatefail problems... seriously, I just know that they walk through it. And that it lights up with teh pretty colours.

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

I likes teh prettiness of Atlantis 'Gate. Iz extra pretty with teh blue lights.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I have ALWAYS wondered that. I think it's just a random fail.

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

Maybe so. I'd write more gen fic if I understood all this stuff.

If it's random fail, though, then I can pull the pseudo-science out of my, er... out of thin air, and fake it as well as Mallozzi, Wright & Cooper did.

[cleothemuse.livejournal.com]

There's a tiny "whirlpool" out the back of the 'Gate, but nothing as big as the kawoosh.

My theory (made up on-the-spot here) is that there was some shift in the glacier over the last however-many-thousand years, causing the 'Gate to slide down the tunnel. With the Giza 'Gate buried, it was likely the Goa'uld tried that 'Gate a number of times over the centuries, deepening the tunnel every time the 'Gate shifted.

(Of course, that doesn't explain why the DHD also shifted with it, but we can claim... um... seismic stuff. Yeah.)

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

Glacial drift and seismic activity seem to work as a pretty good theory, but one could also posit that every time the Goa'uld tried to dial over the centuries, the Antarctica 'Gate heated up and melted the ice and slid a bit.

However, if the Giza 'Gate was disabled, why weren't the Goa'uld re-routed to the Antarctica 'Gate? Or maybe they were -- Sam found a frozen Jaffa in the ice around the DHD.

Also, did they ever bring the Antarctica DHD with them to Cheyenne Mountain?

As for the whirlpool effect at the back of a Stargate...

In "Pegasus Project", there's no kawoosh on the backside of the Supergate when it destroys the Ori ship. Click to enlarge (http://pics.livejournal.com/campylobacter/pic/0002756c/g22)

In "Continuum", the backside kawoosh shows up on satellite and attracts Jack O'Neill.
Click to enlarge (http://pics.livejournal.com/campylobacter/pic/00028fzw/g22)

Sorry; I'm probably driving you batshit with my stupid questions. I'd like to write more gen fic, or even more "science"-supported fanfic, but issues like this prevent me.

[campylobacter.livejournal.com]

PS: Not satellite, but underwater imaging from the vantage of Jack's submarine.

[mslogica.livejournal.com]

I love the comments about this.

It never occurred to me before, I just like the whoosh.