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

[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.