Stargate (device)
- This article is about the device in the fictional Stargate universe. For a list of all known Stargates and the planets they are on, see: List of Stargate planets. For other uses of the term "Stargate", see Stargate (disambiguation).
In the Stargate science fiction universe, Stargates are ring-shaped devices with nine 'chevrons' equally spaced around their circumference, and 39 symbols displayed on an inner ring. They were created by an extinct alien race known as the Ancients (or the Alterans), who scattered them on Earth-like planets throughout the Milky Way and other galaxies. They are occasionally collectively referred to as the "Stargate Network".
The Alterans appear to have called them Astria Porta (plural), but the various races that have discovered them each have their own name. To name a few, the Jaffa and Goa'uld call them the Chaapa'ai; the English word "Stargate" is supposedly a direct calque of this word. Oddly enough, it seems that Chaapa'ai is itself a calque of Astria Porta. Asgard-protected human peoples like the K'tau refer to them as the Annulus, and in the Pegasus galaxy, villagers know them as Rings of the Ancestors and variations thereof. It is also common to hear them being referred to as simply "gates". To primitive peoples on planets that contain a Stargate, the devices often carry associations of the divine and sacred, or of fear, as evidenced by such names as "Door of the Gods" (several early SG-1 episodes) and "Ocean of Darkness" ("Demons").
If given enough power, and "dialed" correctly, Stargates can be used to open wormholes from one gate to another, allowing nearly instantaneous travel between them. Matter can only pass in one direction between Stargates through a wormhole- from the gate that "initiated" the connection to the gate that was "dialed". Matter in transit is broken down into its individual atoms and then reconstructed on the other side, but walking through a Stargate is superficially no different to stepping through a doorway. Communication from one end to the other of a wormhole can be conducted by using radio signal transmissions, which are able to travel in both directions through the wormhole.
Stargates are typically 22 feet (6.7m) in diameter and made of the fictional heavy mineral called Naqahdah. The gates are usually found standing vertically, though they still function normally in other orientations.
Operation of Stargates
Dialing
Each and every Stargate has its own unique "address", which is a combination of six of the symbols that appear on the dialing Stargate. (If the Stargate is in another galaxy the address is composed of seven). Thus, each Stargate operates as a kind of combination lock. Generally, there are 3 ways that a Stargate can be dialed.
- With A Dial Home Device: The easiest way is using a Dial-Home Device (an Ancient control console usually found accompanying Stargates). With a DHD all the user has to do is punch in the address. The power will automaticaly be provided. Puddle Jumpers seem have an on-board DHD panel, though this may simply function as a remote control to the gate's actual DHD, as using glyphs on the actual DHD light up as well as those on the jumper's.
- Alternate Dialer There are several alternate gate dialers in use. Alternate dialers have to not only dial, but also provide a stream of power to the gate. Examples of alternate Dialers:
- The SGC's dialing computer.
- Atlantis Gate dialer.
- Manual Dialing: If no dialing system is present, the user must manually turn the ring on the gate to dial the desired address. If there is no dialing device providing power, an additional power source must be hooked up to the gate.
Chevrons
A chevron is a component on a stargate used to engage a glyph when dialling it. They are V-shaped and when activated have a soft glow to them. There are nine chevrons on each stargate of which at most eight have been used. The most common length of an address is seven active chevrons, but with an extra power boost a user can utilize an eighth chevron. This eighth chevron acts like an area code, allowing the stargate to dial to another galaxy. Examples of this were seen in the Stargate SG-1 episode The Fifth Race and in the Stargate Atlantis episode Rising (Part 1 & 2). The function of the ninth chevron, if any, is unknown. The glyph to be engaged by a chevron is normally controlled by a DHD, but other dialling devices can be used and in a pinch a stargate can be dialled by manually rotating the glyph ring. The only known differences between Pegasus and Milky Way chevrons are cosmetic.
Wormhole creation
Once an address is dialed, the gate will create a stable wormhole between itself and the gate dialed. The operation of a Stargate requires great amounts of energy, which is usually supplied by the DHD. The power for the wormhole will be drawn solely from the point of origin. Unless an extrodinary amount of energy is being generated at either end, a wormhole can only be maintained for 38 minutes at a time (with some exceptions).
The actual wormhole of a Stargate appears inside the inner ring when an address is correctly dialed. This has the appearance of a circular pool being filled with a puddle of water, called the event horizon. The wavering undulations characteristic of water-like appearance are actually "fluctuations in the event horizon" according to Samantha Carter. This puddle may then be entered, and the traveller will emerge from a similar pool at the destination Stargate. This only works in one direction however. It is unknown what happens to matter which goes the wrong way through a wormhole; most assume that it is destroyed.
Addresses
The symbols used to comprise addresses are actually images of constellations. By identifying six constellations in space, a single point can be extrapolated that corresponds to the destination desired. This is usually enough to identify any the origin of any Stargate within a galaxy. The seventh symbol that completes the dialing code and is the "point of origin", which is the symbol that is unique to a particular Stargate, except for the Giza gate's origin symbol which appears on multiple gates(see SG-1, Season 3 "New Ground"). The symbols dialed are often referred to as "coordinates". Eight-symbol addresses connect to Stargates in a different galaxy. The eighth symbol acts as a type of "area code". Such connections, in comparison to seven symbol codes, require substantially more energy to complete a functional wormhole — much more than a DHD can provide. So far, a ZPM is the only power source known by Stargate Command to have enough energy to initiate an intergalactic wormhole for enough time to transport a human being; however, an Atlantis-Earth wormhole powered by five naqahdah generators was established for just over one second to allow a high-density data transmission to be sent ("Letters from Pegasus"). Nine-symbol addresses have never been dialed, and their purpose is as yet unknown. The eighth and ninth chevrons are so rarely used that Stargates are often found with those two chevrons embedded within the stone platform that holds the gate upright (see the image at the top of this article). This has often led to the conception that a Stargate only has seven chevrons.
The dialing process involves associating a unique symbol of the inner ring to each of at least the first seven of the chevrons on the outer circumference. This sets the address that you are dialing. A series of six or more symbols identifying the destination are dialed first, followed by the gate's "origin" symbol, which acts as the final trigger for the completion of the address sequence. As each symbol is dialed, the chevron is said to "engage" and usually responds by lighting up or moving. When the final symbol of an address is dialed, that chevron is said to "lock" and the wormhole opens (this terminology is arbitrary and often interchangeable). If the address is incorrect or does not correspond to an existing or otherwise functional Stargate, the last chevron will not lock, and all of the chevrons will disengage. This is one of many failsafe systems built into the Stargates by the Ancients.
Complexities of Stargate function
Some planets are known to possess "secondary" or "backup" Stargates. The second Stargate is normally inactive, with the primary Stargate receiving all incoming wormholes. If a Stargate experiences a power surge while an outgoing wormhole is open, the other end of the wormhole automatically "jumps" to the next closest gate to the destination. In the case of a planet with two gates, the other inactive gate is used as the backup. On at least one occasion, a Stargate was hit by an energy weapon as Stargate SG-1 team members were using it to return to Earth. This caused them to be transmitted to a second, previously unknown gate on Earth that was located beneath the ice of Antarctica ("Solitudes"). However, the ability to defer an incoming wormhole to a nearby gate appears to be something more than a failsafe, as it is seen as a defensive measure in the episode "Prototype".
The DHD is apparently responsible for determining whether a Stargate is primary or secondary. The Russians, in their position of controlling the secondary gate, were able to use their DHD to override the American Stargate's (the SGC's) reception of incoming wormholes to retrieve their own returning Stargate exploration teams. In the absence of a DHD (as in the two-year period on Earth between the disconnection of the Russian gate and its rental to the United States), the primary gate is apparently determined by which gate has a power source attached to it.
When an object passes through the event horizon, it is not immediately transferred to the destination Stargate, but rather the portion that has passed through is dematerialised and held in some kind of hyperspatial buffer. An object that hasn't completely passed through the event horizon may be pulled out again, and its atoms will rematerialise from the buffer as it is extracted. The gate does not begin transmitting an object until it has entirely passed through the event horizon. This ensures that only complete objects are transferred. If a Stargate is shut down while an object is halfway through, the portion that is already through the event horizon cease to exist.
A wormhole is prevented from forming if an obstruction is present inside the Stargate's ring. Consequently, it is fairly common for Stargates to be semi-permanently sealed by burying them; this action invalidates that Stargate address. Another means of controlling travel through a Stargate is by placing a barrier a minuscule distance (less than two micrometres) from the event horizon, which allows wormholes to be formed but prevents the reconstitution of matter upon arrival through the gate. The Iris on the Earth Stargate and the Iris Shield on the Atlantis Stargate perform this function and are an effective defense while still allowing radio communication through the open wormhole.
Power is always required to establish an outgoing wormhole, usually from the DHD, but any Stargate can receive a wormhole whether it has a power supply or not; apparently the dialing gate is the one that supplies power to both. One of the primary functions of the MALP probe that the SGC sends to unexplored gate addresses is to confirm that a DHD is present for SG teams to use when returning to the Earth Stargate. In a few cases, Stargates have been dialed "manually" when more sophisticated means were not available. This was accomplished by providing sufficient raw power to the gate and then rotating the symbol ring by hand to lock each chevron (e.g. "The Torment of Tantalus" and "Prisoners").
When a Stargate's wormhole is initially established, an "unstable vortex" bursts outward in a destructive wave that resembles a surge of water or quicksilver, dubbed the "kawoosh" by SGC personnel. In the original movie, the opening of the Stargate was accompanied by earth tremors, but this issue is resolved in the SG-1 series with the development of more sophisticated control systems. Several aliens, namely the Asgard and the Nox have demonstrated the ability to open a wormhole without the "kawoosh", and Iris-type barriers hold it back.
Radio waves, electromagentic energy and gravity can travel in both directions through an open wormhole, but matter can only travel from the originating Stargate to the receiving Stargate. Any matter contacted by the "kawoosh" effect or otherwise projected through the event horizon at the receiving gate is destroyed. The transmitting Stargate does not allow the air molecules of the local atmosphere to pass through. If it did, this could be disastrous should a receiving gate be located in a vacuum.
Normally, a wormhole can only be maintained for about thirty-eight minutes at a time; this is apparantly a basic rule of wormhole physics. This time-limit has been exceded on four occasions: first, when the Earth gate was connected to a gate in proximity to a black hole(A Matter of Time); second, after an energy-producing water maintained the power for a gate while a Russian vehicle had its transmitter stuck ("Watergate"); third, after the detonation of Earth's first naqahdah bomb on a naqahdah-rich planet, the resulting blast maintained a wormhole for slightly more than 38 minutes; fourth, Anubis used a weapon made by the Ancients or with their technology to slowly feed energy to a Stargate, eventually causing it to explode ("Redemption"). Also, the Ori posess the ability to keep a Stargate open indefinitely between galaxies ("Beachhead").
The Stargate that establishes an outgoing wormhole determines how long the wormhole is held open, and can generally close the wormhole at will. There are inconsistencies in how this is portrayed in the series. Sometime the gate appears to stay open without anything passing through it - other times it snaps closed as soon as the last person has emerged. One exception occurred when an outgoing wormhole was established to a Stargate that was in the process of falling into a black hole ("A Matter of Time"); due to the gravitational time dilation that the remote Stargate was experiencing, the wormhole could not be shut down. The connection was eventually severed by forcing the wormhole to jump to a different Stargate by hitting the source Stargate with a power surge generated by a shaped charge explosive.
A Stargate transmits matter in discrete units. Basically, before an object is transmitted through the matter stream from the originating Stargate to its destination, the object must completely cross the event horizon of the wormhole. Matter travelling through a Stargate wormhole retains any kenetic energy it had while entering the event horizon. Also, any matter that has entered the event horizon, but has not been transmitted through the wormhole, will remain in a state of suspension. This tactic has been used to store people in medical need in the Stargate Atlantis episode, 38 Minutes. Be warned, because any matter that has crossed the event horizon without reintegrating on either side of the wormhole before the gate reaches its 38 minute time limit will cease to exist. Likewise, any matter that crosses the event horizon of an incoming wormhole will not be transmitted, but rather will cease to exist once the stargate is shut down.
Other uses of a Stargate
Sometimes in the series the Stargates are used for means other than travel from one planet to another. Often, these extra functions are discovered by fluke chance, and weren't even intended in the design.
- In the episode "1969" the SG-1 team accidentally travels to year 1969 because a solar flare interrupted the wormhole. This concept is used again in the episode "2010" when Carter sends a message back in time. This time she uses a supercomputer to calculate the exact time of the next flare.
- In the episode "Window of Opportunity" a scientist uses 14 Stargates simultaneously to isolate a region of space from the rest of the space-time continuum, locking them into a time loop.
- A Stargate was used to introduce atoms of a super heavy element into the centre of an unstable star in the episode "Red Sky".
- If a Stargate's wormhole passes directly through a black hole it can lead to an alternate reality, as seen in "Ripple Effect".
- One Stargate can be forced to dial multiple other gates so as to allow a blast-wave (e.g. of the Dakara Superweapon) to extend almost indefinitely, as seen in "Reckoning".
Plot surrounding the Stargates
In the original movie only one valid set of destination coordinates was known, those to the planet Abydos, and it was thought that only those two Stargates existed. At the beginning of the Stargate SG-1 series, however, a large set of additional valid coordinates were discovered engraved in ruins on Abydos. Because the coordinates pick out stars, and because time leads to stellar drift, other addresses were impossible to dial until Samantha Carter reworked the dialing system on Earth to account for this movement.
The alien race encountered in the original movie is later developed in SG-1 as the Goa'uld, the dominant evil power in the Milky Way. The leaders of this race, the System Lords, pose as Gods and use the Stargates to cart slaves between worlds; this accounts for why many peoples encountered on other planets either fear the Stargate or associate it with the Gods. For a long time it was thought that the Goa'uld were the builders of the Stargate network, but it was later discovered that they had merely made use of the relics left behind by the Ancients.
In addition to the Ancients, the Tollan have demonstrated the ability to build Stargates with the assistance of the Nox after SG-1 introduced the two races. Also, in the season 5 episode "Ascension", one Ancient was able to build a small one-shot Stargate using materials and tools readily available on Earth to average citizens, but it could only dial one address.
For most of Stargate SG-1, Earth is under constant threat from the Goa'uld, and is no match for their superior technology. A top-secret command called the SGC (Stargate Command) is created, and teams are gathered that will use the Stargate to travel to other planets for the sake of building alliances and procuring technology. The primary team is called SG-1, and the series follows their adventures.
It was later discovered that more distant Stargate "networks" could be accessed by dialing eight chevrons. The Asgard world Othala in the galaxy of Ida and also Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy were reached in this manner. However such addresses require much more energy than is usually available. Standardly, a ZPM (the power-sources that the Ancients used to use) is required to initiate such a wormhole.
The Milky Way's Stargates
A Milky Way Stargate has thirty-nine inscribed symbols on the inner ring. When dialing, this inner ring rotates until the dialed symbol is aligned with the next chevron in the sequence, at which point that chevron engages. In the Stargate SG-1 series, an engaged chevron glows red, and the seventh chevron, always at the top, moves down and up every time a chevron engages. In the original Stargate film, all of the chevrons use this motion, and none of them glow red.
With 39 symbols, the Stargate Network in the Milky Way has:
- 38×37×36×35×34×33 = 1,987,690,320 possible addresses.
However, not all of them represent valid coordinates (i.e. ones where a Stargate is present). Most sets of destination coordinates do not have a Stargate located at them; there are sufficiently few valid coordinate sets that randomly dialing the Stargate is largely futile.
Because the gate on Earth was found without a DHD, the Stargate team on Earth developed the technology to interface with the gate in order to power it and dial it by the use of computers. In Stargate SG-1, when dialing the Stargate using a DHD, its inner ring does not spin, it simply just activates each chevron as they are entered on the DHD. Some species in the series (such as the Nox) possess the ability to instantanously activate a wormhole, thus being able to dial the gate without using a dialing device.
The Giza Stargate's symbols
The Stargate found at Giza, Egypt was the first discovered by humans of Earth, and was the one used by the SGC for a long time to explore other galaxies. Its symbols are as follows:
| Position | Glyph | Constellation | Position | Glyph | Constellation | Position | Glyph | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Origin symbol* | 14 | 
|
Microscopium | 27 | 
|
Taurus |
| 2 | 
|
Crater | 15 | 
|
Capricornus | 28 | 
|
Auriga |
| 3 | 
|
Virgo | 16 | 
|
Piscis Austrinus | 29 | 
|
Eridanus |
| 4 | 
|
Boötes | 17 | 
|
Equuleus | 30 | 
|
Orion |
| 5 | 
|
Centaurus | 18 | 
|
Aquarius | 31 | 
|
Canis Minor |
| 6 | 
|
Libra | 19 | 
|
Pegasus | 32 | 
|
Monoceros |
| 7 | 
|
Serpens Caput | 20 | 
|
Sculptor | 33 | 
|
Gemini |
| 8 | 
|
Norma | 21 | 
|
Pisces | 34 | 
|
Hydra |
| 9 | 
|
Scorpius | 22 | 
|
Andromeda | 35 | 
|
Lynx |
| 10 | 
|
Corona Australis | 23 | 
|
Triangulum | 36 | 
|
Cancer |
| 11 | 
|
Scutum | 24 | 
|
Aries | 37 | 
|
Sextans |
| 12 | 
|
Sagittarius | 25 | 
|
Perseus | 38 | 
|
Leo Minor |
| 13 | 
|
Aquila | 26 | 
|
Cetus | 39 | 
|
Leo |
*This symbol is unique to the Stargate recovered from Giza. In the movie, Dr. Jackson interpreted it as representing the Sun over the peak of a pyramid. Other Stargates have their own unique origin symbols, including the Antarctic Stargate that was also found on Earth.
Pegasus' Stargates
In the spinoff series Stargate Atlantis, an expedition dials the 8-symbol address Template:Milky Way Gate Address from Stargate Command to travel to the Ancients' Lost City of Atlantis, located in the Pegasus Galaxy. They find that the Ancients seeded planets throughout the Pegasus galaxy with Stargates too, but used gates of a slightly different design. However, the differences are mostly cosmetic.
Pegasus Stargates have teal chevron lights instead of red ones, and the address symbols are groups of small white lights instead of embossed figures. Unlike the Milky Way gates, there are 36 Symbols on the gate, but 7 symbols are still required to dial an interplanetary address - which totals 1,168,675,200 possible combinations from each Pegasus galaxy Stargate, fewer than those in the Milky Way but adhering to the same constraints. The address ring does not rotate; instead, the symbols light up sequentially to indicate which one is currently selected. This probably means that manual dialing of Pegasus gates is not possible.
In an apparent departure from the standard "anywhere to anywhere" dialing capabilities of Stargates, the only Stargate in the Pegasus galaxy that's capable of reaching Stargates in the Milky Way is the one located in Atlantis. This is due to a special control crystal apparently unique to the Atlantis DHD without which a Pegasus Stargate cannot encode its eighth chevron. This is likely a deliberate feature, as the Ancients fled the Pegasus galaxy to take refuge in the Milky Way and sealed their fortified city behind them; they did not wish to inflict the Wraith on the Milky Way, for obvious reasons.
Unlike any other known gates, the Atlantis Gate can also identify the point of origin of the gate that tries to dial in, and can block an incoming wormhole. This was used to keep Atlantis sealed for 10,000 years and was programmed in by the ancients before they fled the city after meeting the alternate Dr. Weir who revealed this to the second Atlantis expedition after being revived from an Ancient stasis pod ("Before I Sleep").
Some Pegasus Stargates are orbital: they lead to open space, something never seen in the Milky Way. These apparently have no DHD, and are used exclusively for spacecraft travel, specifically that of the Puddle Jumper ship-class and the enemy Wraith Darts. Orbital Stargates are powered by three power nodes spaced equally along the outer ring. These nodes take the place of the standard DHD in powering the Stargate. The Puddle Jumpers have inbuilt DHDs making travel back through these gates possible, and it appears that Wraith Darts have a similar capability, as they were able to open a wormhole remotely during their first encounter with the Atlantis team ("Rising").
The Atlantis Stargate also features a protective force field which can prevent enemy travellers or weapons from rematerializing, much like the Iris installed on Earth's Stargate by the SGC. A similar technology appeared in Stargate SG-1, where it was used by Anubis to protect his super solider production facility; however, this shield could be safely penetrated by wearing a super solider's armor.
"Origin" Galaxy's Stargates
In the ninth season of Stargate SG-1, it was discovered that the Ancients, originally called the Alterans, were not native to the Milky Way, but originated from another galaxy more distant from Earth than the Pegasus galaxy.
While it is not known what the Stargates in the Origin galaxy look like, their presence is implied by the fact that the Ori (Alterans who remained behind and did not follow the others of their kind to the Milky Way) were able to send Priors (religious messengers) to the Milky Way through a Stargate. Since the transport rings used in the Origin galaxy are white and pearly in appearance, it is fair to assume that the Origin Stargates have a similar appearance. Any gates in the Origin galaxy would far predate both the Pegasus system gates and the Milky Way system gates.
The Ori have demonstrated a far greater knowledge of Stargates and wormhole physics than anyone in the Milky Way with the possible exception of the Ancients. On at least one occasion ("Beachhead") they attempted to create a massive "Supergate", 300 to 400 metres in diameter, which could connect the Origin galaxy and the Milky Way indefinitely.
Durability of Stargates
The Stargates themselves are particularly resistant to damage or destruction: in Stargate SG-1 a Stargate survived a direct hit from a meteor, whilst another was still capable of creating a stable wormhole while on a planet proximate to a newly-formed black hole. A Stargate has also been seen to continue functioning whilst entering a sun, though it was protected by a portable forcefield for a portion of the duration of its survival.
In the ninth season of Stargate SG-1 the United States is revealed to have developed a naqahdriah-enhanced "Gatebuster" nuclear bomb that was theoretically capable of destroying a Stargate. However, when it was first used it failed to destroy the intended Stargate. This could have been for several reasons: the Stargate was active, which may have increased its durability; the Prior made contact with the Stargate a moment before the explosion, perhaps harnessing an Ori-induced power; the shield surrounding the Stargate could have absorbed the blast; or the bomb may have simply not been powerful enough.
However, there have been incidents when a Stargate was destroyed. Anubis used a piece of Ancient technology to destroy the SGC's Antarctic gate, and used a weapon of his own creation to destroy the gate on Abydos.
Earlier uses of the Stargate concept
The concept of the Stargate did not originate with the movie Stargate. Several science fiction writers have previously used the concept of devices creating portals spanning interstellar distances.
- Robert A. Heinlein used Stargate-like devices in several novels (called "gates" in a least two cases), including "Tunnel in The Sky" (1955), "Glory Road" (1963) and possibly for surface travel by the Martian elders in "Red Planet" (1949).
- Andre Norton's Witch World (1963) was colonized by humans and other races using such portals.
- In the Star Trek universe, the Guardian of Forever is an incredibly sophisticated stargate-like device which can open spacetime portals to any point in history on any world in the universe. The Guardian was first seen in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" (1967) and later in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "Yesteryear" (1974). The Guardian roughly resembles the Stargate in appearance (ring-shaped with a watery "event horizon") and in design (used to open wormholes allowing nearly instantaneous travel over great distances).
- Arthur C. Clarke first coined the term “Star Gate” in his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) as a fictional device allowing rapid travel between distant locations. Clarke’s “Star Gate” does not resemble the one described in this article, nevertheless, Stargate SG-1 paid homage to Clarke in the two episodes "2001" and "2010," which correspond to the first two books in his Space Odyssey series: 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: Odyssey Two.
- In C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine series (1976), the gates' potential for facilitating time travel makes them a danger to causality and therefore to the future of civilization. The title character is engaged on a centuries-long quest that takes her from world to world via the gates, setting each gate to self-destruct just after she has used it to move on to the next.
- In the television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1981), travel between stars was also accomplished by a stargate network. (This is similar to jumpgates in other series.) In the television series, the first ship through a stargate makes a short trip across the solar system. Networks of stargates are subsequently developed to link trading planets throughout the Earth Federation and beyond, each stargate carrying a designation such as "Stargate 4." These stargates however were only shown as a diamond-shaped quartet of stars that shimmered when a vessel was making transit.
- Alan Dean Foster used a gate type device in his novel "The I Inside" (1984).
- Dan Simmons' Hyperion universe (1989) contains devices called "farcasters" which permit instantaneous travel between them via dialed or permanent connections. Farcasters can be either terrestrial in the form of doors or rings, or orbital in the form of rings. These were discovered to be part of a plot by the AI TechnoCore to use human brainpower to assist in the creation of the "Ultimate Intelligence", a sort of machine God. After this was discovered, the farcaster network was destroyed in 2852 AD.
Other uses of the Stargate concept
- In a Star Wars novel, an ancient system of "Hypergates" were used by an extinct alien species known as the Gree Enclave. These were nowhere near as sophisticated as the "Gates" of the Stargate Universe, and are considered an inferior technology to the abundant "hyper-drives" of the Star Wars universe.
- In the 1980s Fringeworthy role-playing game, travellers use something that very much resembles the stargate to travel to other dimensions, other alternate Earths. It was also built by an ancient race long gone. Some members of the gaming industry have claimed that the movie Stargate directly plagiarized from this game.[1]
- In Jak 3 the warp gates are similar to stargate, in the fact that they are rings conaining a rippling blue substance used for transportation
- In the Freespace games, humans discover gigantic, ship-sized rings (called "Knossos portals") used for faster-than-light travel. The portals are said to be created by a race known as the Ancients.
- In the Turok the Dinosaur Hunter video games, various ring-shaped portals could be activated and used to travel to other worlds in the game. The portals in the original game bear a remarkable similarity to those in Stargate SG-1. The portals in sub-sequent games varied slightly.
- In the recent Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, for the Nintendo Gamecube, there are a number of ring-shaped dimensional portals throughout the game. These are used by both the main character, Samus Aran, and Space Pirates to travel between a "Light" and "Dark" version of a planet. These portals also bear a striking similarity with those of Stargate.
- In the game Homeworld 2 for PC, a device refered to as a "Hyperspace Gate" serves as the centerpiece of one of the game's final missions. It is shaped and fuctions much like the Stargate; a massive ring that creates a wormhole capable of transporting matter great distances. The Hyperspace Gate is the only way to access the centre of the Homeworld galaxy, a place called "Balcora" where the presence of three super-massive black holes makes normal Hyperspace travel impossible. At the end of the game, a large-scale network of Hyperspace gates are activated, much like the Stargate networks in the Milky Way and Pegasus.
- Author Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince writes of "The Stargate Conspiracy: The Truth About Extraterrestrial Life and the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt." These alternative theories are speculative at best, but shows how the authors love to engrain the term Stargate to Egypt's past. Either the pyramid itself is a gateway to the stars (because of the shafts pointing to a star) or the building of Heaven on Earth based on geographical location of the great and outlying pyramids (c.f. the constellation of Orion)
- The PC game Outcast by Appeal features stargate-like devices called the Daoka that can be used to travel between the many regions of the game world Adelpha.
