10 Massive Stargate Plot Holes
3. The Beta Gate's Point Of Origin Shouldn't Be Different
In Stargate SG-1's first season, a fantastic episode sees Daniel and Teal'c returned to the SGC, while Carter and O'Neill are flung into a frozen cavern, trapped. There is a Stargate nearby but no DHD from what they can see. Carter does find it, but it's buried under ice and takes a lot of digging to get it out.
Carter discovers that there is only one glyph on the Gate and DHD that is unique, so she takes this to be the point of origin, dialing Earth accordingly. And - nothing happens, bar some shaking (on both ends). The reason for this, it transpires, is that both Stargates are Earth Stargates. Carter and O'Neill have arrived in Antarctica, at a Beta site.
This starts a series of stories that involve this second Gate, allowing shady elements of the government to commandeer it, with it eventually replacing the Alpha Gate after that Gate's destruction.
One thing rarely discussed?
Why did this Gate, based on this same world, have a different point of origin than the other one? And why, after it replaces the Alpha Gate, does the original point of origin suddenly appear on the Gate itself?
Budgets - that's why!