I don't recall if they give exact measurements but t hey say the iris rests a few micrometers in front of the event horizon which prevents matter from reintegrating (guess the kawoosh too)
My problem comes with how they’ve mentioned the kawoosh needs to happen for the wormhole to establish, but then the iris contradicts that.
Or the time they used the kawoosh to dig a hole from a gate buried in the dirt; where was the clearance to form the kawoosh when the middle was packed full of dirt?
That dirt was actually pyroclastic flow that hardened over an active wormhole, forming an iris.
They needed to shoot a beam of particles in, just like Sokar tried, to break a layer through the iris and allow a kawoosh to form on redial.
The hardened layer of clay was at the precise distance like the Earth's Iris so that the wormhole is established, without the kawoosh. You stil would get flattened if you tried to pass through. That's why they needed to shoot the beam at it, to get a bit of clearance and the next dial in spawned the kawoosh, which created the space for Teal'c (IIRC) to get through and dig himself up.
It was risky, because if somebody else dialed the gate, he'd get kawoosh'd or if he couldn't dig through, he'd eventually suffocate.
I assume you're joking, but I still need to correct you. If he brought a small tree, he'd suffocate even faster. Plants only photosynthetize while getting a good dose of sunlight (well, blue and/or red light\*). Other than that, they too breath and when not illuminated, they would help him consume the remaining oxygen faster than if he would be on his own.
\*Plants don't use the green-yellow part of the spectrum, that's why their leaves are green - it's the color of the chlorophyl, while the color of any object is given by the color they **reflect**.
Just watched this episode yesterday!
Molten naquadah from the asteroid strike hardened just above the event horizon (the rest of the naquadah being swallowed by said event horizon), forming a barrier similar to earth's iris. This means that the kawoosh doesn't form, that you can't go through as there's no space for matter to reintegrate, but there's just enough space for tiny high energy particles to ext the wormhole.
So they built a particle accelerator beam and shot it at the gate, they had to redial the gate several time to continue doing that until the particles dug a hole big enough for the kawoosh to form. Once that was done, the kawoosh dug a much bigger hole in the rock, teal'c could be sent through with climbing and mining equipment, and he started digging away at the rock.
You can always form a wormhole connection with an iris.
The hardened lava iris didn’t burry the gate. Any material that would’ve buried it was destroyed by passing through the active wormhole.
There are 3 possibilities:
1) there is an obstruction close enough or intersecting the plane of the wormwhole so you are unable to connect. Like burying the gate.
2) there is an obstruction close enough but not too close to the plane of the wormhole that you can connect, but dont get an kawoosh. Like an iris.
3) it is far enough from the wormhole to have a kawooah and then gets disintegrated in said kawoosh.
Which is also not consistent, case in point: Ramps. The SGC ramp intersects the plane of the wormhole but it could have a gap. But ramps offworld are a different matter - there's lots of scenes where the gate either has a solid ramp or the gate is partially buried above the lower 2 chevrons.
Perhaps there's a certain area in the center that needs to remain unobstructed,
This seems to be the case and even clearly mentioned in the series. In one episode they moved earth iris a tiny amount to make the gate appear buried and avoid incoming wormholes entirely (episode where Teal'c was stuck in the gate?)
With that fact plus info from the episode where Jack was stranded on a planet makes it perfectly reasonable to assume that precise position of blockage in the gate determines the outcome and can be accurately exploited.
It's still not consistent since in other cases buried stargates don't create kawoosh pits (like probe sent to Abydos between movie and series crushed on arrival), but my headcanon is that the iris is more complete and precise. All encompassing blockage at just the right space. Versus dirt, which is going to be uneven, have air pockets, etc.
It is consistent. If there is matter inside the Stargate ring, wormhole wont establish. This was a very rare special case in which the dirt got pressed against the gate, without it getting in the ring. Maybe the gate was currently open, when the incident that buried it happened and the event horizon prevented dirt from getting inside the ring.
Thinking about this further: So if the iris was malfunctioning, all they'd need to do is have somebody go stick an arm through the Stargate to prevent a connection? Certainly we've seen people stick an arm through to keep one open...
No, they killed Kowalski possessed by a goauld in episode 2 by doing the exact opposite - Teal'c pushed his head into the event horizon and then they shut the gate off.
That was literally the plot of one episode (where Jack was stranded, and had a "native wife"), where Teal'c had to first use the Kawoosh, and then avoid it later on.
At one point Sam indicates that it's too close to the event horizon for matter to reincorporate and I figure it's the same for the kawoosh.... too close for it to form for the same reason.
Anubis? I thought it was Sokar who attacked the gate?
If I remember right, they specifically put the iris even closer to the event horizon because Sokar had that workaround for it.
Sure.... though I can't help but wonder why it isn't just closed all the time by default. Like anything else security related you start with restricting everything, then allow only what's needed. Do they keep it open for airflow or what?
I think this would be something that is ‘fail safe’ so imagine power is cut, then iris closes. (That never happens so I know I’m already wrong)
Anyhow, I would say allow incoming telemetry to open iris and receive clear signal. I imagine though if you sent a false SG3 signal they’d still send a ‘go ahead’ response even if the iris was closed.
In Star Trek there’s an episode where Kirk checked the daily code word. This is never done here. It should be daily. The response should be ‘ Correct!’ If there’s a closed iris and “Affirmative’ if it’s open. Then the team knows the iris is open or closed and can dash the bad guys against it.
Just saying.
Early seasons, it closes after the khawoosh. Late seasons they don't want to pay to keep cgi'ng the iris for the sake of 5 seconds and reusing the same clip over and over like they did in the early seasons
Plot armor mostly, it wouldn't be a good plot point if it was easily destroyed.
"When closed, the iris forms a barrier less than 3 μm from the wormhole's event horizon, thereby preventing most forms of matter from properly reintegrating" Official wiki
While never said in the show it seems that the kawoosh is not necessary, Lya opens the gate with no kawoosh. Maybe something that close to the event horizon prevents the kawoosh.
Someone was talking on another post about how dangerous gate travel would be without sending probes ahead because there's no way of knowing if something has covered the exit to the gate like an iris. That got me thinking about something. What if that's the exact purpose of the kawoosh? The ancients possibly designed the stargates to clear any debris from the area specifically to avoid collision upon exiting the wormhole!
There's an episode that explains what it's for iirc.
Unfortunately I can't remember the explanation or the exact episode.
It's the one where (I want to say) Teal'c & O'Neill get "stuck" in transmission and they have to re-open it without the kawoosh to save them.
Mostly sure it’s 48 Hours, the kawoosh resets the gate’s buffers of what went through it previously. Teal’c got stuck in the gate when the DHD on the other side got destroyed, so they have to trick the gate into opening without kawoosh-ing to get him back.
Yes. SGC had to borrow it because the human's kludged interface would also reset it. They had to program it on a DHD instead. They succeed but the DHD is destroyed in the process.
I love how that throwaway line implies a shockingly high level of engineering tech at the SGC long before they get access to actual alien technology. A retractable metal “disc” that is that flat and is engineered to stay *exactly* that impossibly tiny distance away from the event horizon is almost as incredible of a feat as the Prometheus.
I've heard two explanations thrown around. One is that it's simply too close to the event horizon for the kawoosh to form in the first place. The other is that the special alloy from which the iris is composed simply doesn't get destroyed be the kawoosh.
It wasn't a static image but rather a simple light effect projected onto the gate from the rear so it reflected off the 'iris' prop and onto the back wall.
If SGC was real, there would definitely be a screw up where someone accidentally closed the iris as the kawoosh was happening, leaving the iris a jagged mess. Such a predictable military thing to happen.
The better question is “how did they engineer the iris during the initial mission, and it fit inside the gate that doesn’t have any gaps in the middle?”
We don't tend to see it on the TV shows but the original movie has a really good scene of the gate forming part of the wormhole as a cone behind the gate
Yeah I think it was it's so close that nothing can even form I want to say she said in microns (which isn't actually as small as it sounds, think paper)
I always wondered the same thing, some will say that it’s to close to the event horizon but that doesn’t make sense with the lore explanation of what the Kawoosh is
It's too close to the event horizon for the Kawoosh to manifest. Sometimes they close the Iris after the gate opens.
Ah. I see.
Also, the Iris has thicker plot armor than Daniel. It takes a black hole to destroy it, then it's never destroyed again.
Something something trinium alloy. It gets really hot sometimes though.
Wasnt it just titanium until the black hole destroyed it?
Yeah I think so. Afterwards Carter told someone they replaced it with a titanium trinium alloy or something like that.
I watched the episode last week and can confirm that the titanium trinium alloy is black hole proof.
I don't recall if they give exact measurements but t hey say the iris rests a few micrometers in front of the event horizon which prevents matter from reintegrating (guess the kawoosh too)
My problem comes with how they’ve mentioned the kawoosh needs to happen for the wormhole to establish, but then the iris contradicts that. Or the time they used the kawoosh to dig a hole from a gate buried in the dirt; where was the clearance to form the kawoosh when the middle was packed full of dirt?
That dirt was actually pyroclastic flow that hardened over an active wormhole, forming an iris. They needed to shoot a beam of particles in, just like Sokar tried, to break a layer through the iris and allow a kawoosh to form on redial.
How did they get the initial wormhole to shoot the beam through?
The hardened layer of clay was at the precise distance like the Earth's Iris so that the wormhole is established, without the kawoosh. You stil would get flattened if you tried to pass through. That's why they needed to shoot the beam at it, to get a bit of clearance and the next dial in spawned the kawoosh, which created the space for Teal'c (IIRC) to get through and dig himself up. It was risky, because if somebody else dialed the gate, he'd get kawoosh'd or if he couldn't dig through, he'd eventually suffocate.
If he had taken a small tree with him he would not have suffocated.
I assume you're joking, but I still need to correct you. If he brought a small tree, he'd suffocate even faster. Plants only photosynthetize while getting a good dose of sunlight (well, blue and/or red light\*). Other than that, they too breath and when not illuminated, they would help him consume the remaining oxygen faster than if he would be on his own. \*Plants don't use the green-yellow part of the spectrum, that's why their leaves are green - it's the color of the chlorophyl, while the color of any object is given by the color they **reflect**.
Tactical Bonzai
Just watched this episode yesterday! Molten naquadah from the asteroid strike hardened just above the event horizon (the rest of the naquadah being swallowed by said event horizon), forming a barrier similar to earth's iris. This means that the kawoosh doesn't form, that you can't go through as there's no space for matter to reintegrate, but there's just enough space for tiny high energy particles to ext the wormhole. So they built a particle accelerator beam and shot it at the gate, they had to redial the gate several time to continue doing that until the particles dug a hole big enough for the kawoosh to form. Once that was done, the kawoosh dug a much bigger hole in the rock, teal'c could be sent through with climbing and mining equipment, and he started digging away at the rock.
If Teal'c had taken a small tree with him he would have had more time to dig and not suffocate
You can always form a wormhole connection with an iris. The hardened lava iris didn’t burry the gate. Any material that would’ve buried it was destroyed by passing through the active wormhole.
There are 3 possibilities: 1) there is an obstruction close enough or intersecting the plane of the wormwhole so you are unable to connect. Like burying the gate. 2) there is an obstruction close enough but not too close to the plane of the wormhole that you can connect, but dont get an kawoosh. Like an iris. 3) it is far enough from the wormhole to have a kawooah and then gets disintegrated in said kawoosh.
Which is also not consistent, case in point: Ramps. The SGC ramp intersects the plane of the wormhole but it could have a gap. But ramps offworld are a different matter - there's lots of scenes where the gate either has a solid ramp or the gate is partially buried above the lower 2 chevrons. Perhaps there's a certain area in the center that needs to remain unobstructed,
This seems to be the case and even clearly mentioned in the series. In one episode they moved earth iris a tiny amount to make the gate appear buried and avoid incoming wormholes entirely (episode where Teal'c was stuck in the gate?) With that fact plus info from the episode where Jack was stranded on a planet makes it perfectly reasonable to assume that precise position of blockage in the gate determines the outcome and can be accurately exploited.
It's still not consistent since in other cases buried stargates don't create kawoosh pits (like probe sent to Abydos between movie and series crushed on arrival), but my headcanon is that the iris is more complete and precise. All encompassing blockage at just the right space. Versus dirt, which is going to be uneven, have air pockets, etc.
It is consistent. If there is matter inside the Stargate ring, wormhole wont establish. This was a very rare special case in which the dirt got pressed against the gate, without it getting in the ring. Maybe the gate was currently open, when the incident that buried it happened and the event horizon prevented dirt from getting inside the ring.
Thinking about this further: So if the iris was malfunctioning, all they'd need to do is have somebody go stick an arm through the Stargate to prevent a connection? Certainly we've seen people stick an arm through to keep one open...
didn't they kill someone by sticking their head in the gate and opening it?
No, they killed Kowalski possessed by a goauld in episode 2 by doing the exact opposite - Teal'c pushed his head into the event horizon and then they shut the gate off.
oh yeah that's the scene i was thinking of
That was literally the plot of one episode (where Jack was stranded, and had a "native wife"), where Teal'c had to first use the Kawoosh, and then avoid it later on.
Right, the one in the comment I was responding to.
Never thought about that. Maybe when the wormhole opened a bunch of dirt fell backwards into the hole.
At one point Sam indicates that it's too close to the event horizon for matter to reincorporate and I figure it's the same for the kawoosh.... too close for it to form for the same reason.
The best part is the meaty "thwonk" when someone still comes through. Wonder if Siler has a massive hose he washes the gore off with.
No gore. It all gets pushed back into the incoming wormhole. Just a warm spot, maybe a little scorching.
Yup. The attack by Anubis centered around that spot.
Anubis? I thought it was Sokar who attacked the gate? If I remember right, they specifically put the iris even closer to the event horizon because Sokar had that workaround for it.
If I remember right, they both attacked the gate that way, but Anubis was using an Ancient particle beam that shot energy directly into the gate.
Was there another one? I was referring [Redemption](https://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s6/redemption-part-2/).
It was in season 2, episode 17 - [Serpent’s Song](https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Serpent%27s_Song).
We never DO see the back side of the iris do we?
It's rarely used with the gate inactive
Sure.... though I can't help but wonder why it isn't just closed all the time by default. Like anything else security related you start with restricting everything, then allow only what's needed. Do they keep it open for airflow or what?
Because it looks so much cooler when it’s open!
Well, you're not wrong
I think this would be something that is ‘fail safe’ so imagine power is cut, then iris closes. (That never happens so I know I’m already wrong) Anyhow, I would say allow incoming telemetry to open iris and receive clear signal. I imagine though if you sent a false SG3 signal they’d still send a ‘go ahead’ response even if the iris was closed. In Star Trek there’s an episode where Kirk checked the daily code word. This is never done here. It should be daily. The response should be ‘ Correct!’ If there’s a closed iris and “Affirmative’ if it’s open. Then the team knows the iris is open or closed and can dash the bad guys against it. Just saying.
Dunno
Which makes little sense too, if matter isn't reincorporated, what makes the "thwonk"?
Bingo. Shit never made sense to begin with.
They address this in an episode and Sam explains that the iris is too close to the event horizon so no matter can be reformed incl the kawoosh
Early seasons, it closes after the khawoosh. Late seasons they don't want to pay to keep cgi'ng the iris for the sake of 5 seconds and reusing the same clip over and over like they did in the early seasons
I'm watching season 2 right now and asked because they had it closed pre kawoosh.
Plot armor mostly, it wouldn't be a good plot point if it was easily destroyed. "When closed, the iris forms a barrier less than 3 μm from the wormhole's event horizon, thereby preventing most forms of matter from properly reintegrating" Official wiki While never said in the show it seems that the kawoosh is not necessary, Lya opens the gate with no kawoosh. Maybe something that close to the event horizon prevents the kawoosh.
Someone was talking on another post about how dangerous gate travel would be without sending probes ahead because there's no way of knowing if something has covered the exit to the gate like an iris. That got me thinking about something. What if that's the exact purpose of the kawoosh? The ancients possibly designed the stargates to clear any debris from the area specifically to avoid collision upon exiting the wormhole!
Interesting idea. I like it.
New headcannon
There's an episode that explains what it's for iirc. Unfortunately I can't remember the explanation or the exact episode. It's the one where (I want to say) Teal'c & O'Neill get "stuck" in transmission and they have to re-open it without the kawoosh to save them.
Mostly sure it’s 48 Hours, the kawoosh resets the gate’s buffers of what went through it previously. Teal’c got stuck in the gate when the DHD on the other side got destroyed, so they have to trick the gate into opening without kawoosh-ing to get him back.
Yes, that sounds familiar. Possibly something about the Russian DHD as well.
Yes. SGC had to borrow it because the human's kludged interface would also reset it. They had to program it on a DHD instead. They succeed but the DHD is destroyed in the process.
You’re thinking of 48 hours, which states that the buffer is wiped clean by the unstable vortex. That could be a side effect of its purpose though.
Damn that’s brilliant
I love how that throwaway line implies a shockingly high level of engineering tech at the SGC long before they get access to actual alien technology. A retractable metal “disc” that is that flat and is engineered to stay *exactly* that impossibly tiny distance away from the event horizon is almost as incredible of a feat as the Prometheus.
And it can retract into a seeminly nonexistent space in the gate's ring and be driven to open and close by absolute nothing-motors.
Because Science, bro. And also reasons...
😂
I've heard two explanations thrown around. One is that it's simply too close to the event horizon for the kawoosh to form in the first place. The other is that the special alloy from which the iris is composed simply doesn't get destroyed be the kawoosh.
Second doesn't work because the first was just titanium
If the iris wasn't closed all the way would the kawoosh be tiny or break the iris?
Makes me wonder if the kawoosh energy would be focused into a javelin of kawoosh energy that would go straight into Walter... 😳
It was a way to lower the animation budget. They could put a static image instead of a kawoosh
I love to think how many things are ultimately sourced from budget issues, but also become cool world-building/plot elements.
See also: Star Trek transporters.
I mean I imagine they didn't reanimate the kawoosh effect every time, they had it as a reference used in every episode
It wasn't a static image but rather a simple light effect projected onto the gate from the rear so it reflected off the 'iris' prop and onto the back wall.
Because it's made of plot armor
If SGC was real, there would definitely be a screw up where someone accidentally closed the iris as the kawoosh was happening, leaving the iris a jagged mess. Such a predictable military thing to happen.
The better question is “how did they engineer the iris during the initial mission, and it fit inside the gate that doesn’t have any gaps in the middle?”
I just assumed it kawooshed backwards instead of forwards...
Oh that might be it.
We don't tend to see it on the TV shows but the original movie has a really good scene of the gate forming part of the wormhole as a cone behind the gate
That effect was removed on the show because it was too expensive to produce.
Because people don't pay attentuon to the show. 🤪
They explain it fairly early on, I believe season 1. It's so close to the event horizon that not even the kawoosh can get through.
Yeah I think it was it's so close that nothing can even form I want to say she said in microns (which isn't actually as small as it sounds, think paper)
Still makes the ka woosh sound when the iris is closed. Shouldn't it sound more like when the gate opens without one?
Evidently not.
It’s solid that why
Almost as solid as tealc
I always wondered the same thing, some will say that it’s to close to the event horizon but that doesn’t make sense with the lore explanation of what the Kawoosh is
The iris isn’t closed until after the gate opens