10 Massive Stargate Plot Holes
7. How Much Were Those Scientists Paid?
This is somewhat tied into the previous point, yet it also stands out as a huge issue - albeit, one created by the series. In the movie, a simply trial and error experiment would have helped the scientists discover the missing symbol and thus activate the Stargate. However, thanks to the series, their incompetence is made exponentially worse.
In 1945, Ernst Littlefield was accidentally lost through the Stargate. The US government, already suspecting what the device was, did in fact attempt a trial and error method of activating the gate. Once opened, Littlefield walked through the gate, which closed behind him. With (seemingly) no way to retrieve him, he was declared killed in a lab explosion, causing his fiancée, Katharine Langford, years of pain.
In the early '90s, a team of crack scientists were hired to....do exactly what those scientists back in 1945 had already managed to do. To be fair, let us believe that for security reasons, the new scientists were not told about these experiments but, financially, what was the thinking here? Why would a new team of scientists be paid to figure out something (for several years!) when they were not given all of the information?
Now, this is something that has happened in real life events as well...so it's a plot hole that occasionally gets the real life treatment!