Originally posted by shu_hunter
i don't remember which episode it was, but sg-1 was in cages and were accused of being from an enemy continent or something like that.. anyway, these offworld archeologists unburied their stargate and it started to activate.. a MALP went through.. anyway, it shows sam having a discussion with jack
something like
{{JACK what's up?
SAM we've established a wormhole with a planet that we've tried b4, i guess they've unburied it}}
"New Ground" s3-ep c18 - Sam's "cold-dialling programme"
Originally posted by shu_hunter
my theory is a wormhole can't be established if there's something blocking where the event horizon would go UNLESS it's a metal like an iris. i think the episode where jack gets stranded on a planet when a meteor hits the stargate supports my idea. the sgc didnt know how they'd established a connection with a stargate that was supposedly buried, but then sam suggested that the meteor had melted the naquedah to cover the event horizon, like an iris.
Well, the original Earth gate (and later the Abydos gate) are both successfully buried to prevent incoming vortex.
a) My theory: the wormhole can only engage if there is nothing AT the event horizon. If there is anything actually at the horizon (e.g. buried on Earth or Abydos, Bedrosia or the setting for Hundred Days), it can't engage at all. If there is a slight gap, even a few micrometers, the gate can engage, but without the vortex (e.g. the 50% of engagings in the SGC where we see the iris is still closed for the whole sequence!). If there is a "much" bigger gap, though I don't know how "much" is, it will engage with the vortex, which will eat through anything in its path. Nor, for example, how much of the event horizon would need to be un-buried etc. DOH!! Just had a thought. In "Hundred Days" the gate was engaging even though totally buried - so the gate can ALWAYS engage if physically intact. The problem then is anything too close to the event horizon simply causes anything sent through to not re-integrate, as per the reason for the iris. Hence, the trick the in Hundred Days worked, because the gate was open, but something blocked the re-integration, except high energy. This would presumably have also been valid had Ra wanted to do the same to Earth after the revolt, or Apophis to Abydos. So, it basically seems that the gate CAN engage quite happily without the vortex, if the event horizon is blocked too close. Odd, a vortexc can cut through anything, unless it can't "start" in which case it isn't even needed.
b) As seen in Enigma and 1969 (etc.!), the vortex is only the result of imperfect, or primitive technology controlling the gate. It is not produced when more advanced races and technologies open the gate (which also doesn't seem to need "dialling" time either).
