Stargate SG-1 (1997) - 36 questions

Question: What happened to Dr. Jackson? I know that he "ascended," but what does that mean/do? Do the actor plan to permanently return to the show, or is he no longer a part of the regular ensemble?

Answer: Daniel "ascended" meaning he became a being of pure energy on a higher plane of existence. This happened because Michael Shanks was unhappy with his parts and wanted to leave the show. After one season with Jonas Quinn (Corin Nemec) as his replacement, Mr. Shanks returned for (presumably) the rest of the series. In the series this was shown as Daniel violating some major rules of the "ascended" and getting "kicked out" and made human again as punishment.

Question: How come SG-1 or any other "SG" team don't bring a DHD from a different planet back to the SGC and then they could hook it up to dial faster?

Answer: DHD's only work on the planet the gate is on. They aren't interchangeable between gates.

Question: In the movie the Stargate shook and in an episode tells us that they put dampeners on the gate. Off world stargates don't have dampeners so how come they don't shake? Is this because they're controlled by DHDs?

Answer: The Earth Stargate is mounted by man. The offworld gates were erected by the Ancients. They have dampeners built into the pedastal/stairs leading to the gate.

Question: What does NID stand for?

Answer: It stands for either National Intelligence Department, or National Intelligence Division, although it's never expressly stated on the show.

Question: Was the original actor who portrayed O'Neill in the Stargate movie ever considered for the role for the TV show? Or was Richard Dean Anderson picked from the get-go? And if so, why?

Answer: Anderson is one of the producers of the show, so I guess right from the start he wanted the role of Jack. (I believe he was instrumental in making the show happen) Nor do I see Kurt Russell wanting to do a weekly TV show.

Question: After the SGC find out the Russians have the Alpha gate and they're using the original DHD and then the SGC get the Alpha stargate back, do they hook up the DHD? If not, why?

Answer: No, in the episode "48 Hours", the SGC uses the Russian gate to rescue Teal'c who is trapped in the gate's memory buffer. The procedure works, but destroys the DHD in the process.

Question: In the "Stargate" movie, all the chevrons locked, but in the series, it's the one at the top. Surely they should make the Stargate the same?

Answer: In the series, all the chevrons lock as well. They just show the last one as it would be tedious to show all 7 everytime the gate fires up.

Question: In the movie and in early episodes when they travelled through the stargate they arrived on the other side nearly frozen. This no longer happens. I was just wondering if any explanation was ever given as to why this no longer happens, or did they just drop that plot point?

Answer: It's a side effect from stellar drift. Once they compensated for it, it goes away.

Question: How many Stargates were made by the set crew? Also, how many DHDs?

Answer: There are two stargates. One that is set up permanently in the cheyanne mountain set, and one the is moved to locations. There are probably two or three DHD's.

Question: In some episodes you'll see a shot of the outside of Cheyenne Mountain Complex and there will be a truck to the right. Why does it say 'SGT MACK'? Or, who is this guy?

Answer: It's not unusual in the military to paint the name of the NCO assigned to and responsible for that particular vehicle on that vehicle. Sgt Mack is no-one in the series I've ever seen.

Question: What do the alpha-numeric codes represent? I thought that each chevron had a number or letter assigned to it, but only numbers appear in the last three digits and some numbers repeat themselves, I highly doubt that constellations repeat themselves in the night sky of a planet.

Answer: There are over 50 symbols on the stargate. Each one has an alphanumeric designation. The symbols are numbered, not the chevrons.

Question: I know that DHD's only work on the planet that they are on, because of the point of origin, but the gate on Antarctica has a DHD and the point of origin is still Earth, why couldn't the SGC hook up the Antarctica DHD to their gate?

Answer: It was explained in a season 7 ep, the Antartic DHD ran out of juice after only a few test runs when it was recovered, so its useless.

Question: In the movie it's well established that symbols are different from one gate to another. How, then, do the SG teams know the code to Earth from any gate in the network?

Answer: The Gate addresses are made up of the constellations in the night sky above the planet the person is trying to Gate to with the exception of the first & last. The first is the planet of origin (eg. Earth - a pyramid with one moon above it) & the last is the planet you are trying to Gate to (eg. Abydos - a pyramid with three moons above it). As long as you remember the constellations & know the two planet symbols you should be able to Gate home again.

Question: Why does the USAF pronounce the word 'lieutenant' as 'loo-tenant' whilst the RAF and RAAF pronounce it 'lef-tenant'? I realise there are different spellings between countries (aluminium and aluminum, for example) but the word lieutenant is spelled identically in the US and UK, yet still pronounced differently. What's the specific reason for the different pronunciation of this word?

Question: What was report 30185 and why wasn't Mitchell permitted to read it?

Answer: Report 30185 is a joke report referring to the time when SG-1 go back in time to 1969 in the episode '1969'. The joke is that Colonel O'Neil knocked up a hippie and made sure Mitchel was taken care of throughout his life, like how he got into the 302 program while his buddy, a better pilot, did not.

Question: Does anyone know what happened to Cassandra after Dr. Frasier died?

Answer: Cassandra is not mentioned in any of the episodes after the one where Dr Frasier dies. The show does not tell us what happened to her.

Question: I've recently noticed while watching my collection of Stargate SG-1 tapes that one of the team, with the possible exception of Teal'c, seems to say an obligatory "What?" in each episode in such a way that it seems like a ritual signature of the series or an inside game being played by the cast. Has anyone else noticed this, and is it done in each and every episode?

Answer: I can't say I've noticed it every episode, but I agree it happens a lot, most noticably with Daniel Jackson and O'Neill. With the amount of exposition Carter and Jackson have to deliver each episode, after saying "What?" it tends to lead to a long technical or archiological explanation, I wouldn't be suprised if it had now become an in-joke. Much of season 8 seemed to be in-jokes and digs at the show in general.

Question: I noticed that in several episodes (especially season 6) Daniel is wearing what appears to be the same sweater. Is this just a coincidence or is there some special significance to the sweater?

Answer: As far as I'm aware it's just a sweater, nothing special about it.

Question: Why did Richard Dean Anderson leave what was a very popular show?

Answer: While the series was undeniably successful, filming it is a long process, taking many months of often long days. Anderson, after several years of doing this, wished to spend more time with his young daughter, who he felt he was neglecting, and requested that his role in the series be scaled back. Ultimately, he decided to leave the main cast altogether and only make occasional guest appearances.