The Stargate

[Col. Jack]

Ok, first of all this is my first post so 'hey' to stargate fans and
sci-fi fans in general. Now for my question.
Someone may have asked this already but I'm going to anyway.
I know it's a TV show but, How come the stargate always
shuts down at just the right time? It's always bugged me and especially noticed it on last nights repeat on Sky, 7.02 (can't think of the title) when the jaffa goes through the stargate and it shuts down just after he steps through.

 

[PTeppic]

Yes, I think it has been.

Includes spoilers for seasons 1-6

Spoiler

a) The gate seems to have some sort of proximity sensor which determines when people (or objects) are "about" to travel. It also has a buffer which loads up things for travelling until they are all the way into the event horizon ("48 hours"?)

b) The SGC's gate can be manually closed down, AFAICT, since they are not using a DHD and can actually control more of the interface than normal (e.g. any time Gen Hammond says "shut it down")

c) The gate stays open as long as something is entering the event horizon at the "sending" end (e.g. "Shades of Grey").

d) The gate stays open up to the maximum of c. 38 minutes ("Serpents Song") or longer if externally powered ("Watergate", "Redemption1&2")

e) It's a TV show and the gate (as a major character) also likes to steal scenes by shutting down at dramatic times...

 

[Col. Jack]

Thanks for that. All very good points. (Especially point 'e')