Question: SG-U Stargate, on Stargates and DHDs in general...
Last night, July 7th, Syfy Network premiered its new branding with a third teaser trailer for the upcoming series, Stargate: Universe (SG-U). Watching the trailer, embedded below, I had to ask myself a couple questions.
Is it me, or is the SG-U Stargate spinning? With the premiere of the third gate in the new series, we once again see the Stargate operating differently. The gates in the Milky Way have an inner ring of symbols that spin around a stationary outside ring with orange chevrons. The Pegasus gates have digital symbols which rotate around like a rotary phone, but seemingly no spinning at all of the gate. The progression makes sense as the Ancients, the gate builders, "upgraded" the gate so to speak. But to see the whole gate spinning, including the chevrons, seems very odd. How do they lock the symbols into place? With the first gate, the symbol needed to lock a chevron spins to the topmost chevron to secure the dial. Even the Pegasus Gates, the symbols moved to match stationary chevrons. But, hopefully we'll see how the new gate works. In the meantime, I'm rather curious to what the gate locks or the point of reference for dialing the gate.
It may take a few views, but in the dark as the gate is spinning, we also see symmetrical symbols like the one we see below behind the blonde woman instead of constellations.
I'm very much looking forward to see how the SG-U stargate works and what the DHD looks like (as we haven't seen a definitive look at one, although perhaps this photo might illuminate us on a rudimentary DHD?).
Now, this could very well not be the DHD, but until we see the first episode, we really have no idea. However, this scene seems to be in the same room as the blonde lady above (which looks like there's a stargate behind her) and they seem to be in close proximity (which would be about right for a location for a DHD.)
It seems to be much more sophisticated in terms of its interface despite being older than the Milky Way or the Pegasus gates. Could it be because they don't expect indigenous civilizations to eventually use this particular gate? Since they are (supposedly) aboard a ship, the gate users could be trained to use it, therefore allowing for a more complicated interface? Or they just expect only Ancients or those with Ancient knowledge to be able to use it? When I come to think of it (and at this point I'm rambling, but oh well) the DHDs we see in Atlantis and on the Puddle Jumpers is actually quite different from the DHDs we see on the planets, which except for a change in color from orange to blue are remarkably like the DHDs in the Milky Way. Could it have been that the Ancients "dumbed down" the DHD interface for gates on planets, only using the more complicated interfaces for their exclusive use? It makes sense if they were populating the many planets and expecting each civilization to develop on their own timeline like the Asgards.
Now I'm very curious. Perhaps a meta will come of this in October? Hrm...
Update: Gateworld had this article on the new SG-U trailer, which indicated that this should be the first of the designs for the Stargate (which means that its older than the Milky Way design). However, other than noting that it should be some stunning visual effects, it fails to comment further on why the entire gate spins. *sigh*
Click to viewIs it me, or is the SG-U Stargate spinning? With the premiere of the third gate in the new series, we once again see the Stargate operating differently. The gates in the Milky Way have an inner ring of symbols that spin around a stationary outside ring with orange chevrons. The Pegasus gates have digital symbols which rotate around like a rotary phone, but seemingly no spinning at all of the gate. The progression makes sense as the Ancients, the gate builders, "upgraded" the gate so to speak. But to see the whole gate spinning, including the chevrons, seems very odd. How do they lock the symbols into place? With the first gate, the symbol needed to lock a chevron spins to the topmost chevron to secure the dial. Even the Pegasus Gates, the symbols moved to match stationary chevrons. But, hopefully we'll see how the new gate works. In the meantime, I'm rather curious to what the gate locks or the point of reference for dialing the gate.
It may take a few views, but in the dark as the gate is spinning, we also see symmetrical symbols like the one we see below behind the blonde woman instead of constellations.
I'm very much looking forward to see how the SG-U stargate works and what the DHD looks like (as we haven't seen a definitive look at one, although perhaps this photo might illuminate us on a rudimentary DHD?).
Now, this could very well not be the DHD, but until we see the first episode, we really have no idea. However, this scene seems to be in the same room as the blonde lady above (which looks like there's a stargate behind her) and they seem to be in close proximity (which would be about right for a location for a DHD.)
It seems to be much more sophisticated in terms of its interface despite being older than the Milky Way or the Pegasus gates. Could it be because they don't expect indigenous civilizations to eventually use this particular gate? Since they are (supposedly) aboard a ship, the gate users could be trained to use it, therefore allowing for a more complicated interface? Or they just expect only Ancients or those with Ancient knowledge to be able to use it? When I come to think of it (and at this point I'm rambling, but oh well) the DHDs we see in Atlantis and on the Puddle Jumpers is actually quite different from the DHDs we see on the planets, which except for a change in color from orange to blue are remarkably like the DHDs in the Milky Way. Could it have been that the Ancients "dumbed down" the DHD interface for gates on planets, only using the more complicated interfaces for their exclusive use? It makes sense if they were populating the many planets and expecting each civilization to develop on their own timeline like the Asgards.
Now I'm very curious. Perhaps a meta will come of this in October? Hrm...
Update: Gateworld had this article on the new SG-U trailer, which indicated that this should be the first of the designs for the Stargate (which means that its older than the Milky Way design). However, other than noting that it should be some stunning visual effects, it fails to comment further on why the entire gate spins. *sigh*