Why isn’t the floor demolished when the stargate kawooshes?
Sometimes, I can’t get over it. This is one of those times.
I’ve just seen the images for the new gate that’ll be in Stargate Universe and immediately was struck by the continuation of a “bug” in the design that’s bothered me for years.
Why isn’t the floor demolished when the stargate kawooshes?
In fact, how can the gate form a wormhole at all if the wormhole is supposed to appear in the circle of the gate?
In Stargate Atlantis, I first noticed the introduction of a gate that was sunk into the floor of the gate room. Pictures of the gate in Stargate Universe show that that particular design element is still in place.
See the pictures below?
Take a look at the floor. The second image shows what I’m talking about better than the first, but they both show the floor piece that’s in the way of a clean wormhole formation.
Wouldn’t that little piece of floor disappear the very first time the gate formed a wormhole? In fact, wouldn’t most of the walkway be destroyed since it’s apparent the walkway is above the bottom edge of the forming wormhole? Seriously… This has bugged me for years. They need to do away with the sunken gate, because it makes no sense!
What do you think?
**The originals are on Joseph Mallozzi’s blog where you can see them at their full size. This link is to the main page, where you’ll need to click through the images to get beautiful, full size images.
October 6th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I understand what you mean i noticed it too,
if the gates tilted back the it wouldnt destroy the floor, when the gate creates a wormhole the extension of the event horrizon doesnt come for the outer edge its form in the centre,
but nether the less i think your reading in to the imgeing not the story of the show,
try to relax alittle :D
October 15th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I’m note sure if you’re talking about the event horizon (“puddle”) or the unstable wormhole (“sideways flush”) destroying the floor, so I’ll solve both.
EVENT HORIZON
The floor is already in the ring when the puddle forms, so it doesn’t get cut off at all (hard to explain. Like blowing up a baloon around your hand, as opposed to putting your hand in a blown up baloon. Something like that, but simpler).
UNSTABLE VORTEX EJECTION
The U.V. is ejected from the CENTRE of the event horizon, not the entire puddle, so it never actually touches the floor (thanks to careful Ancient measuring when “planting” it, probably).
October 15th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
I can sort of see what you’re saying here, but in the episode The Light in Stargate SG-1, a team member that Daniel Jackson was working with ran into the vortex and was destroyed. His entire being disappeared the best I could tell. I mean, his feet didn’t appear to be left behind, although they would have been below the level of the vortex even more so than the floor as it appears in Stargate Atlantis and in Stargate Universe (because in SG-1 the gate is at the top of a sloped ramp and his feet would have been lower than the vortex until he was right in the center of the ring of the gate). So, I’m not sure I believe that your explanation explains away the issue for me. Still, it’s better than what I’ve got as an explanation, which is nothing! Because I just can’t seem to explain this away in my own mind, even though I’m able to set it aside when I watch most episodes. In the end though, it never really goes away. :)
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Stargate SG1 had them captured in a prison – where some prisoners believed that they could escape buy running into the event horizon formation burst. You will notice that the persons boots remained behind, showing the the outgoing force was not uniform but centralized.
My theory is that the floor surfaces for these gates are made from the same material as the gate itself and can conduct the engy needed to form the event – so the resulting wormhole is not Entirely round – but forms at the surface of the floor.
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Cool! I think I can buy that explanation. I forgot about seeing that in Prisoners. That was a good episode too! :)