My big Stargate annoyance

[muck_a_luck]

This has been bugging me for a while now, so I thought I would make an entry, so it could bug you, too.

My problem is with the number of possible gates in the Stargate system.

According to Gateworld, the Stargate has 39 glyphs.

The scriptwriters maintain throughout the series that this results in billions of possible gate addresses.

A gate address consists of 7 glyphs. 6 to locate the destination in three dimensional space, and a unique point of origin to calculate the distance to the point in space.

So while hypothetically there could be all those addresses to dial, supposedly the entire gate system can communicate within itself. That means that every gate can dial every other gate. Which means that each gate needs a unique point of origin. Which means the number of gates that can actually talk to each other is only 39.

Right?

Teal'c and I are constantly annoyed by this.

UPDATE: Husband pointed out that what if there were 38 coordinate glyphs, the same on every gate, and a 39th glyph unique to each gate. He said, "I don't believe you go to all those sites and you couldn't find the answer to that."

So, of course Gateworld has a DHD link. The DHD only has 38 glpyhs, implying that, in fact, each gate has a unique point of origin glyph.

Nevermind! :)

Comments

[seleneheart]

Thanks for puzzling me for a few minutes . . .

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! :)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Err, yes, 38 coordinate glyphs, umpty-ump unique POO glyphs. Of course what bugs me about that is that in the movie Daniel had been studying the Stargate glyphs. He should be able to recognize on Abydos, "Oh yeah, I know that one and that one... (x 38)" And wherever the Pyramid-sun Earth POO symbol was on the ring, there should be an unfamiliar symbol which would be the Abydos POO. Instead he cries, "Oh woe! The cartouche doesn't show the POO!" But then a lot of things have been "fixed" between the movie and the show, since the show has to worry much more about internal logic.

'Nother thing that bugs me -- I often read in fic people dialing seven symbols and then punching the center button. According to your Gateworld link, and what I had assumed as well, you dial six glyphs, then punch the red button which automatically enters the POO. Now I will have to watch a dial-up in slo-mo, because I am bugged...

Stargate reality squick... *shakes head at us*

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

Heh. I was drawn back to this post by lucifrix commenting on it and couldn't help snickering at POO. *snickers more*

And MY point still stands regarding the number of addresses to dial in the movie. They have the first six glyphs and apparently understand that. So they could just start dialing every combination of six glyphs plus each of the 39 glyphs til they find the POO. Doofuses. I feel like I said that somewhere else, but obviously not in this post.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

I think they didn't even realize there were supposed to be seven -- I don't think they got that. There were six symbols inside the cartouche, you punch in the six symbols and... what? Why isn't it working? They probably thought you had to do some other voodoo to it -- dial under the light of a full moon or something, so they needed the translator to figure it out. They didn't know they were constellations, so they didn't know they were spatial reference points, so they wouldn't know you needed a POO. (Which of course I pronounce "poo" and which I'm sure in military acrynomese is "pee oh oh" -- hee!)

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

Ah. But AS SOON as Daniel figured out the seventh symbol, they were ready to send a probe right away, and they even had a tracking arrangement showing how it was travelling through space. Jack cut off Daniel's access to classified information. I think Catherine was about to tell Daniel exactly what they were looking for - the POO - when Jack cut her off. Daniel's realization that it was a seven digit coordinate wasn't of interest to these Air Force military guys, who know all about coordinates in space because they target missiles and find downed ships and everything. They didn't need some archeologist to explain that to them. Did you note that one of the scientists protests that "it's not on the cartouche!" not even commenting on Daniel's thought process. He KNEW they were looking for the POO. That's all they wanted Daniel for. And yet, they decided that civilians couldn't know anything, just as Daniel was walking in the door.

That's my wank. I'm sticking to it! :)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, could be. But as you say, they didn't just try all the symbols, and why did they let Daniel go through the whole "6 points" diagram/explanation in the briefing if they were already on top of that? Basically, the problem is Stargate: The Movie just wasn't thoroughly thought out and is riddled with holes.

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

Well, Daniel requested the meeting, right? He was doing his whole "excited Daniel" thing. They just let him do his song and dance. Plus, Daniel's POV is the audience's POV at that point. Plus, they need to explain to the audience how the coordinate system would work.

Yes, you are right. Full of holes. But its canon and we're stuck with it. Isn't that the *definition* of wank? Explaining things that don't make sense within the canon? :D

[lucifrix.livejournal.com]

I made a post (http://lucifrix.livejournal.com/417262.html) about my quarrels with the gate system and apparently the whole setup has long been a sore point for fans. I can't do suspension of disbelief, because it doesn't fit into the fictional universe, which still seems to adhere to the basics of geometry and astronomy. I try not to think about it.

BTW, I'm doing a panel at a con in April about the ways SG-1 was bad over the years, and I'm definitely including the science errors! It's all done with love, but it'll still be hilarious.

[muck-a-luck.livejournal.com]

What are you up to?! This post is ancient! :)

[lucifrix.livejournal.com]

I was going through looking for a fic for someone on the Stargate story search community and followed the Stargate tag and there I ended up. I didn't even notice the post was old because the scientific smackworthiness of the gate system is always relevant!

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

(Pssst. Which con in April?)

Just to confuse you further...

[(Anonymous)]

The whole billions of possible addresses still doesn't work. The order you choose the six points in space to select the destination shouldn't matter. Either you connect the right pairs to form three lines that intersect, or you don't get a single point. If you choose 6 out 38 and don't care about the order you get 2,760,681. A reasonably large number, but not billions. I think the writers need to go back to high school and redo the section that introduces probability.

Lynae