Isn't it amazing that most the worlds they go to all seem to have the same atmospheric pressure as the SGC under Cheyenne Mountain? I don't remember anyone complaining about changes in pressure even though the Stargates could be at any elevation.

A possible anti-nit is that Fred warns them if the pressure is too high or low. Message In A Bottle featured a world with no atmosphere and they used space suits, but the rest of the time they gate out & back with little concern about the bends. Does SGC have a decompression chamber?

Once the SGC discovers these worlds & civilizations, then what?
Is there an exchange of diplomats? Unlikely since the Stargate is Top Secret. (Or is it Double Secret? ;-)

Many of these civilizations have died out on Earth, so studying them would be an anthropologists dream, but no.

Most of the time it seems like, "Well, do you have any high technology or weapons? No. Bye. We'll be back if we need something from you." Not the best impression to be leaving with these people.

Is the possibility of colonising an alien world considered? Only when the Goa'uld are flying into the solar system bent on destroying Earth. Frankly, once the threat was over, they probably recalled those people back to Earth, anyway.

I seem to remember one episode in which the gang had to pop their ears upon arrival... it might have been Children of the Gods...

Since the SG in SG-1 is short for Stargate does that mean that the series title means Stargate Stargate-1?

Hey, if it's good enough for "Manos" ... ;-)

Why doesn't the MALP check that the DHD is working? They've had at least two examples of a malfunctioning DHD making it difficult for them to get home. Surely it would make sense for the MALP to go through, send back an image of the DHD so that it could be sent instructions on which buttons to press (especially the all-important Point of Origin symbol), the wormhole allowed to close and then the MALP would attempt to dial home. It'd save teams being stranded on planets, especially if for some reason the SGC can't dial back in or send through some handy-dandy manual dialling device.

We're sorry, but we cannot complete your wormhole as dialled. Please hang up and try again.

It seems that about 99% of races that SG teams encounter are humans who were taken from Earth 50,000 years ago by the Goa’uld and dumped on other planets. Considering that their language has developed so very similarly to that of Earth, how come their names aren’t as similar? It’d be nice just once to meet an offworld group of people who introduced themselves as David, Norman and Christine ;-)

Bubba, Dubya, Moon Unit... ;-)

You know, Keith is a name I rarely hear on TV.

Obviously you never watched "The Partridge Family".

Yes, but not for a very long time.

Besides that was 1 character named Keith in a series around 30 years ago. How many Keith's have their been since? 1, maybe 2?

On the other hand Morgan seems to usually turn up as the name of either villains, or not very nice people, in fiction.

Okay at least twice. The Futurama episode Raging Bender & some recreation/reality type show (Unsolved Mysteries?) where they were looking for someone named Keith.

Kmorgan: I agree with you about not researching other planets. There is this wormhole leading to other worlds which hundreds of scientists (not only antropologists, also geologists, biologists etc.) could spend their whole life researching, but only 4 people get to see it. When daniel is done with a planet, that's all. It's a pity that US-military is sitting on a chance for all humankind.

Of course, that also fits in with the arrogant behaviour of esp. Jack and Hammond, who talk for all of Earth! Excuse me, but I don't want aliens/extraterrestrians to get their first impression from earth from an arrogant, blundering, US-soldier. I also do not want jack to cause war against the earth (which his bad dimplomacy makes likely).

How convientent, that people who started out with a different culture developed all modern english with a different for stargate only. Usually, it would takes years to learn the language of each new planet, but they all speak english (It can't be the goauld who taught them, because they use egyptian).

I don't know if this has been brought up anywhere else, but I noticed this when I was watching the season one finale and the season 2 premiere back to back last night. Why do the Jaffa wear that big bulky armor if it can't protect them from ANYTHING? I know, I know, because it looks cool. But the truth is, compared to the armor in the movie, especially the armor that Ra wore, it doesn't really look THAT cool.

The Stargates were constructed by the Asgard, right?
So... do we think an Asgard could reach to push the buttons on the DHD?

No, Sophie - the Stargates are believed to have been built by the Ancients.

Though it's still a valid point about the Asgard not being able to reach! Perhaps that's why whenever we've seen an Asgard fire a Stargate up, they do it without touching a DHD.

I stand corrected.
I seem to remember (from the episode where Jack gates to the Asgard Galaxy) that the Asgard are one of five or so allied older races (including the Nox). Are those 5 races The Ancients, or have I totally got it mixed up?

The Ancients are a race in their own right. There were four races which had met in the place where Ernest Littlefield was trapped in The Torment of Tantalus: the Ancients, Asgard, Furlings, and Nox. The Asgard said that, by going out to explore the galaxy through the Stargate, humans were on their way to becoming the fifth race in the episode entitled - surprisingly! - The Fifth Race.

Got it. Thanks, Callie.

I like how the DHDs are never the same distance from the gate. Most of them are right in front, just out of reach of the wormhole. But the one I saw last night (and I think some others), it was close to a football field away. No wonder they can't always tell if it's there.

Can you imagine the military trusting a project of this magnitude to a mere brigadier (1 star) general? The guy who orders the paper clips for the Pentagon outranks him.

I thought Hammond was a Major (2 star) General?

Ok, I'm looking at a picture of Hammond now.

Hammond is a Major (2 star) General. He also has badges of "Master Pilot" and "Master Space/Missile Command" and a great many medals.

I also think I see a "Vietnam Service Medal" and a "South West Asia Service Medal" which means he fought in Vietnam and the Gulf War. Also, a "Kuwait Liberation Medal", "Legion of Merit" and "Distinguished Flying Cross."

All in all, I'd say he's pretty qualified.

Incidently, Jack also seems to wear "Vietnam Service Medal", "South West Asia Service Medal", and "Kuwait Liberation Medal." Janet also wears the "South West Asia Service Medal", and "Kuwait Liberation Medal."

Also, they each have many more medals, but I either don't know them by sight, or can't see them well enough to identify using the online guide at http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/awardsAsp/decs.asp?Mode=Graphics .

Here's one that hasn't been asked: Just how *do* you pronounce 'Go'auld' anyways? I've heard Go-*a*-oold, Goold, and Gowld. Why doesn't Teal'c just tell them how to pronounce it correctly?

Marc

Marc, these people have a serious problem with pronunciation. They never pronounce the name the same way twice in a row. And they drove me nuts when Daniel's wife was still around, because he couldn't pronounce it properly! It's Sha'uri, not Sha'ri. Wouldn't you think a guy could pronounce his own wife's name?

I thought my favourite nit had been mentioned before, but I don't see it. (Maybe it's mentioned elsewhere.) It's Daniel and the disappearing glasses. They take him to a prison, take off his glasses so he won't look weak, and then tell him to Look sharp! Every time he turns around, it seems, those glasses are off. Even tho at least one of the shows, Legacy, shows that he has really bad eyesight without the glasses. Mine's about the same and I can tell you, I don't go anywhere without my glasses. I never lose my glasses, they're always on my face. And yet, there's Daniel Jackson, always taking his off. And let me tell you, when you're used to wearing them and you take them off, the effect is even more disconcerting.
Okay, I guess that's enough of a rant. For now.

Something on the Hammond board sparked my curiosity.

NORAD has been referred several times to reside in Cheyenne Mountain (just like in reality), several levels above SGC HQ. WHY?!? With all the hostile Jaffa, Goa'uld, invisible bugs, horrible plagues, dangerous artifacts, etc etc etc that comes through the Gate, why is such a sensitive installation still operating inside the mountain?

Plus, if SGC's self-destruct ever goes off, what does that do to NORAD?

Snick,

NORAD has been referred several times to reside in Cheyenne Mountain (just like in reality), several levels above SGC HQ. WHY?!? With all the hostile Jaffa, Goa'uld, invisible bugs, horrible plagues, dangerous artifacts, etc etc etc that comes through the Gate, why is such a sensitive installation still operating inside the mountain?

Probably too expensive to build a new NORAD, esp. as Stargate is top secret, so how could the military justify building a new place to the congress? NORAD has been in place much longer, and I guess there aren't that many sites around with this level of secrecy, that many layers of concrete and underground etc.

Plus, if SGC's self-destruct ever goes off, what does that do to NORAD?

KABOOOMMM!!!

Does NORAD have missile silos, because isn't that what the gate room used to be?

NORAD does not have silos.

So what was in that facility when the crew went back to the location of the current Gateroom but in 1969 and found themselves inside a Titan silo? Was that a predecessor to NORAD?

I agree that the guys upstairs must get freaked out when weird things happen below them and they must sigh deeply when the self-destruct goes off or Hammond locks up the mountain for the umpteenth time that month!

As far as I can tell, Cheyenne Mountain was never used for a missile silo, at least in our reality.

I agree that the guys upstairs must get freaked out when weird things happen below them and they must sigh deeply when the self-destruct goes off or Hammond locks up the mountain for the umpteenth time that month!

That's what I mean: NORAD is responsible for maintaining the safety of the airspace above most of North America. Let's stick an alien space portal below it and bake a welcome cake!

Okay, okay, I've gotta say it: I miss FRED (the original robot). At work, we had a safety database that kept track of accidents, and it was named FRED: Frequently Retrieved Event Data. Everytime I heard FRED on StarGate, I laughed.
But I don't call it FRED anymore. I found out that isn't really its name. They needed a name for the database, and the programmer said, Hey, let's call it Fred. The acronym actually came later. A man after my own heart.

I also have to say, I really like the way StarGate handles cabbage heads. (If you don't know, a cabbage head is the person that asks all the questions that the viewer is probably asking, like: How's that work?) There've been a couple of times lately when I've realized that one of the characters has been a cabbage head, but it isn't really obvious. Actually, Jack makes the best cabbage head, but the others do it sometimes. And they're very careful not to have a smart person ask a dumb question. (Not that I think Jack is dumb. But it would be dumb to have Sam be a cabbage head about science - so they don't.)

We often see scenes where SG-1 are in Carter’s lab, or in Daniel’s/Jonas’ office, or in the commissary or wherever, and suddenly alarms go off and a voice (usually Walter’s) announces over the tannoy, “Unscheduled offworld activation!” SG-1 scamper off to the Control Room while soldiers come running to the Gateroom. Then Walter calmly announces, “Receiving Tok’Ra IDC, sir,” to the General standing right behind him. George will then tell the soldiers in the Gateroom to stand down but no announcement ever goes out over the tannoy to reassure the rest of the base and so presumably everybody else (particularly the non-military scientists and the like) is left to cower under the table praying that it’s not an invasion, but never knowing for sure until someone who happened to be in the Control Room at the time happens to stroll past! The fact that the alarms stop doesn’t necessarily mean the facility is safe, only that somebody in the Control Room – who might have the business end of a staff weapon pointing at him at the time – has turned them off!

For that matter, why do the soldiers in the Gateroom get told to stand down every time a GDO signal is received? Whenever the Tok’Ra arrive, or SG-1 arrive home, everybody relaxes. Surely whoever comes through that Gate should be thoroughly searched before they’re allowed to go any further to make sure they’ve not been got at and are carrying a big honkin’ explosive device (or worse, a small well-hidden honkin’ explosive device), then marched at gunpoint to the infirmary to go through MRIs, CAT scans and whatever to make sure they’re not a snakehead. And in view of the fact that the Tok’Ra are snakeheads, they should be kept under guard at all times, not allowed to stroll casually around the base like Jacob is.

Could be that it's an alert for certain personnel to go to the Gateroom/control room. Though I suspect a different alert would be better.

In case it's of any remote interest to anybody who didn't already know:

MALP stands for Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe; and FRED stands for Field Remote Expeditionary Device.

As I just found these myself, I thought I'd better bung 'em in here to keep them safe if needed in the future!

OK, I figure that this Kree discussion is going well enough to give it a topic of its own, so I’m setting up a new topic in The Gateroom.

So what else can I say but ... Nitpickers, KREE!

On another subject altogether: I’ve mentioned this in at least one episode before but I noticed it again while rewatching Lifeboat when Sam, Teal’c and SG-12 went through the Gate to the Stromos. Quite often when an SG team (usually SG-1) go offworld there are other soldiers, heavily armed, in the Gateroom. Just what the heck are they there for? Nobody can come through an outgoing Stargate, so what’s the point of the extra security? It makes no sense within the story; but it also makes no sense in terms of the TV show because surely they must have to pay those extras. It seems a terrible waste of money when they’re just not necessary.

The Stargate writers seem to get confused over who is “Flight” in episodes where there are conversations between a ship and ground control. In Covenant, ground control call the F-302 “Flight” whereas in Tangent Jack, in the X-301, called ground control “Flight”. Also in the ”Atlantis” episode Rising part 2 Sheppard, in the Puddlejumper, called the control room “Flight”.

Ground control is "Flight". Short for "Flight Control".

Isn't this confusing? I'd have expected the flying thing (plane) to be called the "Flight", and the control maybe... "Control"? Or is that to logical and simple for the military? (No, its all a trick to confuse the enemy! The Goaould listening to the conversation won't have a clue who's who and who's where and .... )

No. The ship in flight has its own call sign.

Flight is "Flight Control". Suppose there are multiple ships in flight. Which one would be "Flight" in your scenario?

For a bit more info (and it's non-military, just to make you happy, constanze), see Gene Kranz's book, "Failure Is Not An Option". Gene was Flight Controller at NASA for many years, including on Apollo 13.

ScottN,

Good point about multiple ships. (And I was kidding - that's why I used the smiley.)

Not a nit, just a comment: watching the movie for the umpteenth time last night, I realised that I really miss the old military-style music that used to play especially when there was a lot of SGC military activity. To the best of my recollection, the last time we heard it was in Season 5’s Failsafe, and then only for a few seconds and buried deep inside some other music.

Here's one: people have complained that in Star Trek there are too many races beginning with T...well, Stargate has taken it one stage further and has too many (prominent!) races beginning with To-. Primarily the Tok'ra and the Tollan, but also the Tobin from "Serpent's Venom" and probably one or two others. I can think of a dozen scenes in which Hammon is ruling out why Earth's allies can't get them out of whatever trouble they're in this week and someone (often Teal'C for some reason) says something like 'The Tollan are reorganising their sock drawers, and the Tok'ra are having their annual impressive head-nodding competition'. (Emphasis theirs).

Ack! 'Hammond'.

How many trek races are there starting with T?

The Borg
The Klingons
The Romulans...

*blinks*

Isn't this a Stargate board any more?!

I've not been gettin' my memos ...

And where is Thande these days? Haven't seen him for ages.

I thought Padawan had a list of Trek races starting with T, but the only thing I could find was a list of names (some races, some people) in the Klingons board under Races in the Classic Trek Sink.

Some team is under fire, they race through the Stargate, we see weapons fire...

How come none of these attacking forces ever use some kind of grenade launcher? Wouldn't it make sense? Toss an explosive or gas bomb, or even firing some kind of missile through the gate? Nope, energy weapons, bullets, arrows, but nothing that could ever kill or knock out whatever force may be waiting on the other side of the gate.

Got an Atlantis nit here:

The first shot of Atlantis we see in "Rising" states that it occurs "10 million years ago", and we see a puddle jumper flying across Antarctica towards the city, which itself flies away to Pegasus. So, in 10 million years, the Ancients never upgraded their technology?!

Okay, in 1994, the Earth Stargate is used for the first time in modern history by humans (as depicted in the original film).

Yet, just a few years later, humans are flying around the galaxy in spaceships, building bases on other worlds, and aliens are visiting Earth on a regular basis.

Wow, that was FAST! Also, all this is going on, and the general public knows nothing about it.

Riiiiiiiiight!

I'm sorry, but this stretched my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. It was one thing when it was one team, going through one gate, in a top secret base. However, all this, the ships, space travel, aliens, this is Starfleet Smegging Command! There is NO way they could keep an operation like this a secret.

Didn't Atlantis end with said city being plunked down next to San Francisco? Okay, Atlantis was invisible, but still, it would leave a huge impression on the water around it. Also, this invisible city is sitting right next to a major U.S. port. Isn't there a danger of a ship, heading to or from S.F. crashing into it?

Also, aren't we lucky that one of the races that the SG teams pissed off didn't decide to come gunning for Earth. How can you cover up the huge honking space ship that's blowing the tar out of D.C.?

Don't get me wrong, Stargate is an interesting franchise, but these nits are hard to get around.

That's the problem with setting a science fiction show in your own time period. Sooner or later, the general public is bound to become aware of the events you are dealing with. There are two ways you can go when that becomes unavoidable. Either let the general public learn about the secret and go from there, or come up with more and more lame excuses for keeping them in the dark. Stargate went the second way, and that's a shame. If they absolutely wanted to keep the illusion that Stargate was really happening, we simply were not aware of it, then they could have sent the storyline into a parallel universe. They had already established the existence of those universes, it would have been the perfect way to reveal the existence of alien civilizations to the general public without revealing the existence of alien civilizations to OUR general public.

Just out of idle curiosity. Does General Nits rank above, below, or between General Hammond and General O'Neill?

I believe General Nits outranks both. He has an extra scpipt on his collar. ;-)

NANJAO. On "Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve" last night, it looked like the bands were performing in front of stargates!