GDO's

[Triskelion]

Anybody else get the feeling that during the height of the action nobody was stopping to fiddle with these "Garage Door Openers"? What was the signal that the iris was open? Was there a green light or something? Or did you just step through on an act of faith? How many times did you see them dial up a gate and just step through, while the SGC or Atlantis opens the iris with them in transit? Oops.... It doesn't appear that transit through a wormhole takes more than ten seconds or so.

And btw, welcome to Earth. Splat. Wouldn't it make more sense to route all visitors through an offworld site? Ever wonder how many well-meaning people just dial up Earth and naively step through? They should have rigged the iris to send through a warning or something, say, a Minority Report-style billiards ball with some kind of warning on it.

Just one aspect of a terrific series that never quite sat right with me....

 

[The Wormhole]

There apparentally is something on the GDO that indicates if it's safe to proceed. In the episode Endgame when the Trust stole Earth's Stargate, Teal'c was offworld at the time. When he arrived at the Alpha Site he said when he attempted to send his IDC he got a "Do Not Proceed" signal of some sort.

 

[David cgc]

"Zero Hour" also mentioned they could send a "Hold" signal in response to an IDC.

 

[cultcross]

And btw, welcome to Earth. Splat. Wouldn't it make more sense to route all visitors through an offworld site? Ever wonder how many well-meaning people just dial up Earth and naively step through? They should have rigged the iris to send through a warning or something, say, a Minority Report-style billiards ball with some kind of warning on it.

Just one aspect of a terrific series that never quite sat right with me....

Season 1 made a pretty good sell of needing the iris to be an ever-present line of defence, that unless you were pretty much sure who was coming through, the iris was to be closed. I guess the fact that Earth has that defence and that it may one day be your undoing is one of the risks of working for the SGC. A Stargate program equivalent of a friendly fire incident.