Stargate

Factual error: The military ranks for everyone but O'Neil are wrong. O'Neil is a Colonel (Full bird), Kawalsky is wearing the insignia of a Lt Colonel, but is referred to by O'Neil simply as Lt., when he should be called Colonel. All the others are wearing enlisted stripes (Ferretti - TSgt, but is credited as Lieutenant Ferretti), the others are also credited as "Lieutenant", but wearing enlisted stripes.

Factual error: When they first power-up the Stargate in the military facility (using Jackson's decryption), the thing surges to life, and electrical sparks spray out of overloaded connections all around the control room. This could only happen if there were no fuses or electrical breakers in the military's control system, which is a ridiculous notion for such advanced military technology. In real life, a powerful overload situation would instantly burn out fuses and trip breakers and the whole system would simply go dead (there would be no sparks). Showers of sparks are a common error in many science fiction and space fantasy films dating back many decades.

Charles Austin Miller

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Suggested correction: If there would be breakers and fuses then yes, the system would simply go dead and then they would have nothing. They intentionally let the system nearly overload because without power they wouldn't be able to finish the sequence.

lionhead

No, that's not the way sophisticated (and expensive) electronic technology works. If you have sparks spraying out of electrical connectors, that means you're melting down millions and millions of dollars of hardware. No technician or electrician or even a first-year auto mechanic would intentionally design and hardwire an electrical system without fuses and/or breakers.

Charles Austin Miller

They're dealing with Ancient technology. It's quiet possible that such an advanced piece of technology as a Stargate could cause powerful arcs of electricity along lines separated even by tripped breakers.

Ancient technology does not override electrical physics. Modern electrical equipment is protected with fuses and breakers for a reason. If the Stargate technology overrode the parameters of the modern equipment, it would melt down the modern components being protected by the fuses and breakers. Either way, the whole system would shut down.

Charles Austin Miller

Factual error: When the USAF car arrives to speak to O'Neil, the car has a GSA (Government Services Administration) license plate on the front. As you see the door open, the printing states an Air Force Registration Number, meaning this vehicle does not require a GSA tag and should have a license plate with the letters USAF.

Stargate mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: Throughout the movie, in the shots of the guys on the alien planet, the white reflector screens and film crew's reflections are visible in their sunglasses. (00:40:20)

More mistakes in Stargate

Ra: There can be only one Ra.

More quotes from Stargate

Trivia: The producers, the casting agents, really wanted Jaye Davidson, from "The Crying Game", to play the head bad guy, but Jaye said, "No more movies", so they kept upping the money they would pay him - this is before actors nowadays get phenomenal money - and it was only when they got to a million dollars that he said yes.

kh1616

More trivia for Stargate

Question: When Jackson and O'Neill send the nuclear bomb up to Ra's spaceship, why didn't he simply send it down again? Sure it wouldn't have made it back to ground before detonation, but at least his ship may have been spared.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: When Ra saw the bomb, he realised that it was a few seconds away from detonation. There wouldn't have been enough time to send it back.

More questions & answers from Stargate

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