# Stargate Universe; 1.06, Water (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792 "2009-10-31T00:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/81 "2009-11-01T17:37:04Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I could swear that, in a few of the SG1 episodes, they showed that the gate system is a network- that you didn’t jump directly from gate to gate, you had to jump to the nearest gate, which would then instantaneously jump you to the next gate. The entire system is automated- all you have to do is dial your destination, and the gate network would essentially route you through all of the available gates to get you to your destination. You might be thinking of the episode, _Avenger_, where the DHD systems are a network and are vulnerable to a computer virus. Or, you might be thinking of the McKay-Carter Intergalactic Gate bridge, which Rodney McKay specifically had to write a macro for to get to work (which would indicate they’re not a network). No, when you dial from point A to point B, you go from Stargate A to Stargate B, unless it gets Retconned. Also, am I the only one who’s bugged by the fact that Destiny is quite clearly older tech than Atlantis, but Destiny was launched “hundreds of thousands” of years ago, while Atlantis was launched “millions” of years ago? ETA: Also chiming in with Yes, that there was a pod of some sort launched from Destiny. According to an interview with _someone_, can’t remember who… it’s a baddie, although not sure how that’ll play out, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/82 "2009-11-01T17:39:33Z")
> [@astro](#): > > “A thousand deaths are not enough for Yueh” I was thinking that too! I was also thinking that if the swirly aliens sequester water underground we might call them Sand Trout. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/83 "2009-11-01T18:04:48Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > Also, am I the only one who’s bugged by the fact that Destiny is quite clearly older tech than Atlantis, but Destiny was launched “hundreds of thousands” of years ago, while Atlantis was launched “millions” of years ago? Yeah, I brought it up first ep. [The Ancient wiki entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancients_(Stargate)) is a good read, if you haven’t already. I sense a retcon coming about the timeline, unless someone amends it in-show. Volker did amend it a little by saying “the better part of a million years” instead of “hundreds of thousands.” That’s still not enough though. We’re doing “is anyone else bugged by…” questions so here’s mine I promise not to harp on because we may never have it addressed: They’ve been on Destiny three weeks now I guess. Big deal. They’re traveling FTL except for the 12-hour layovers that probably still involve speeds a significant portion of c. Virtually no time has passed on Earth during those three weeks on Destiny. In fact, considering just how fast they seem to be traveling FTL, time could be going backwards or something, because they’re not in the hyperspace immuny-from-plot-holes space. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/84 "2009-11-01T22:09:10Z")
It is explained by **Controvert’s Law of Time** , to whit: _“In fiction, the story the author is trying to convey to the audience dictates the rate at which time passes and may supercede science.”_ Therefore, according to this law, fictional adventurers traveling at relativistic speeds or faster than light in any science fiction story may ignore special relativity, time dilation and other principles unless the plot requires it. This explains why there’s no time distortions when using communication stones during flight and also why instantaneous communication over vast distances does not violate pesky speed of light problems. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/85 "2009-11-02T06:44:11Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Virtually no time has passed on Earth during those three weeks on Destiny. Isn’t it the opposite - time on Earth will be much much faster than on Destiny? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/86 "2009-11-02T13:34:54Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Isn’t it the opposite - time on Earth will be much much faster than on Destiny? Oops! You’re absolutely right. That’s embarrassing, because I know better. The whole time I was writing that I was thinking of the Atlantis episode when they found an Ancient warship with a damaged hyperdrive limping along between Pegasus and Milky Way. I seem to recall the crew had a ZPM and used it to push the ship to 99.9% c. Only a matter of years had passed on board, while 10,000 years had gone by for Earth, and they still had about 10,000 more years to go. Not for them, but for Earth. I liked how the writers acknowledged time dilation when traveling at high speed in normal space. If Destiny has spent the better part of a million years traveling at what - hundreds of times the speed of light then Destiny and it’s innards really shouldn’t be very old. Relatively speaking. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/87 "2009-11-02T14:20:35Z")
Me again. I just remembered the writers do have an out, and it’s plausible within established canon. In an episode of SG-1 the Asgard placed an energy field that slowed down time around a Replicator world, in an attempt to contain them. Later in Atlantis they found a village community of people living within an energy field that did the opposite; time passed quickly. You can do whatever you want if you’re in a magic energy field. Destiny has the mother of all energy fields around itself. It must. Easy enough to add some temporal effects to it. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/88 "2009-11-02T16:15:23Z")
Is the ribbon-drive actually moving the Destiny at FTL speeds, though? Or is it just crossing FTL distances in a shorter amount of time. If they go with some bog-standard SciFi “hyperspace” technobabble, it may be traveling in “hyperspace” at non-relativistic speeds, so no time-dilation required. … Of course, they already _have_ hyperspace handwavium, so this would have to be _different_ hyperspace, but whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/89 "2009-11-02T16:22:59Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Is the ribbon-drive actually moving the Destiny at FTL speeds, though? Or is it just crossing FTL distances in a shorter amount of time. If they go with some bog-standard SciFi “hyperspace” technobabble, it may be traveling in “hyperspace” at non-relativistic speeds, so no time-dilation required. > > … Of course, they already _have_ hyperspace handwavium, so this would have to be _different_ hyperspace, but whatever. They already said that this isn’t hyperspace. My guess is it’s Warp drive or something. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/90 "2009-11-02T19:26:04Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > If Destiny has spent the better part of a million years traveling at what - hundreds of times the speed of light then Destiny and it’s innards really shouldn’t be very old. Relatively speaking. You are interchanging time dilation effects of travelling at 0.9s \* c (lots of nines) with travelling at 100s \* c. I’m not convinced the two are interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792/91 "2009-11-02T20:30:27Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#): > > You are interchanging time dilation effects of travelling at 0.9s \* c (lots of nines) with travelling at 100s \* c. I’m not convinced the two are interchangeable. Since Relativistic mechanics says you can’t travel faster than C, I would think that the relativistic equations are no longer applicable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stargate-universe-1-06-water-open-spoilers/515792.md?page=4)