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Portal Network: Difference between revisions
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[[File:me2galaxymap 5293.jpg|link=Mass Effect 2|frame|Around the galaxy in eighty seconds.]]
{{quote|''"We came through that big round thing."''|'''John Sheppard'''
Simply put, there are lots of "islands of habitability", and conventional travel between them, if possible at all, is time-consuming, expensive, and generally not attempted unless there is ''absolutely'' no other choice. However, there is a set of [[Cool Gate|gates]] or jump points connecting them together, allowing for near-instantaneous travel.
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In science-fiction versions, it is common for portal transits to induce disorientation, hallucinations, or nausea which make starship crews temporarily extra-vulnerable immediately after transit.
Considering that it would take thousands if not millions of years to set up an interstellar Portal Network without any other means of [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]],<ref>at least, if it needs to be set up in each location -- sometimes the network effect is created by a teleportation engine that actually moves with the ship, but can only go certain places due to spacial topography</ref> it is not uncommon for such things to have been made by the [[Precursors]], in which case the gates are usually (though not always) [[Lost Technology]].
As these provide both a relatively realistic form of [[Casual Interstellar Travel]] and [[Justified Trope|justifies]] the concept of [[Space Is an Ocean]] enough to permit choke point naval battles, Portal Networks are common throughout all but the [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness|hardest]] varieties of [[Speculative Fiction]], which disallows teleportation altogether. They are a convenient means of providing simplified game mechanics, and so are common in both video and tabletop games. In addition they allow writers to avoid making [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|embarrassing scaling errors]], if done right.
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{{examples}}
== Anime
* ''[[Cannon God Exaxxion]]'' - The Riofaldians get around the galaxy by using gigantic space stations powered by antimatter that open and sustain wormholes.
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' has the gate network, a series of gates that allow starships to move through the solar system at speeds approaching significant fractions of light speed. It's possible to get around without using them ([[Perpetual Poverty|which the Bebop crew are forced to on
* In ''[[Divergence Eve]]'' as a crucial part of the plot backstory.
* In the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' [[OAV]], ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog The Movie]]'', the Land of Darkness (and presumably the Land of the Sky) has "[[Warp Zone]]s" scattered all over it; these are invisible portals that connect, via an extradimensional "tunnel" presumably intended to serve as a [[Shout-Out]] to the Special Zones of the games, two specific points on the planet.
* In ''[[Heroic Age]]'', space navigation is only possible either by using psychic powers like [[The Precursors]] did, or the "starways" that [[The Precursors]] set up. [[The Precursors]] also travelled to another galaxy using a [[Cool Gate]]. {{spoiler|It turns out that the whole purpose of the five remaining [[Kaiju|Heroics]] is to recreate said gate.}}
== Comic Books ==
* Decades before ''[[Stargate]]'', the [[Marvel Universe]] had its own portal network referred to as Stargates. These were used by the Shi'Ar Empire to travel around the universe. Sometimes they were ground-based gates for people to walk through, other times they were enormous space-based ones for ships to use.
* Also in the Marvel Universe, [[Another Dimension|a dimension]] known as [[At the Crossroads|The Crossroads]] is full of portals to various dimensions, as well as a roads that lead to all of them and a central point with a "signpost" (in the form of a tree with branches shaped like pointing arms) on it. [[The Incredible Hulk]] was banished there (by [[Doctor Strange]]) after he was trapped in his monster form (in a plotline that lasted several issues) so he could find a world were he could be happy. (He failed.)
* The universe of ''[[Empowered]]'' has the LotusNodes<sup>TM</sup> Portal Network granted to the Superhomeys. It has a Mass/distance limitation that would be higher if the team didn't chintz out on their network plan.
* At one point, [[Flash]] rogue Mirror Master had access to a Mirror Dimension which connected the back of every reflective surface in the world.
== Fan Works ==
* The portgates in the Hunter's world in ''[[With Strings Attached]]''.
== Literature ==
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* A massive part of the premise of [[Dread Empires Fall]]. These portals are spaced a couple of weeks' journey apart, though, so it can still take a few months to travel from point A to B.
* The ''[[Spin]]'' trilogy features one of these, the Hypotheticals having installed an enormous entrance to one on Earth for unexplained reasons.
== Film ==
* Agents of ''[[The Adjustment Bureau]]'' can access a secret Portal Network through ordinary doors... as long as they're wearing a [[Nice Hat|fedora]].
== Live-Action TV ==
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* The [[Stargate Verse]], including ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', and ''[[Stargate Universe]]''. The original ''[[Stargate]]'' movie has a single two-way link (other gates are not shown, but not ruled out either). The expansions give us a full-blown network.
** The gates have a calibration system reminiscent of a rotary telephone. In the film the first six symbols are said to be constellations that act as coordinates in 3-dimensional space while the seventh chevron is the point of origin. The system in the sequels appears to be high-level automation: dial in the destination you want, the gate does the rest, Bob's your larval symbiote.
** Until the pilot episode of the series, the [[Puny Earthlings|humans']] strategy is basically to cover their Stargate so that none of the bad guys can get through to attack. The flaw in this strategy is quickly pointed out: faster-than-light travel ''does'' exist, and the bad guys now know that there is a reason to come to Earth. Throughout the series, space ships and stargates (and, of course, [[Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs|space ships traveling ''through'' stargates]]) are both used as common means of travel. The stargates are faster, being truly instantaneous, but have several disadvantages compared to ships, such as being easier to prevent travel through, being too small to allow passage of anything bigger than a bus, and requiring preexisting gates that are hard to move (although it's not impossible).
* An episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' featured the remnants of a network like this created by the powerful Iconians in the distant past. A [[Continuity Nod|much later episode]] of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' dealt with what might happen if the same technology fell into the hands of some bad guys. An evil artificial variant of such a network, known as "transwarp conduits", is created by the Borg.
** [[Star Trek: Voyager]] also had a remnant portal communications network
* [[Buck Rogers in the 25th Century]] featured Stargates ([[Stargate|no relation]]) for interstellar travel. In-story they were relatively recent technology; the first pilot to go through a Stargate was Doctor Huer.
* If you have the Key, you can use any door with a tumbler lock in this manner in ''[[The Lost Room]]'' miniseries. Opening any such door with the Key results in you entering Room 10 of the Sunshine Motel, which exists outside space/time. You can then close the door and open it in again to a location of your choosing. Better not leave anything (or anyone) in the Room when you leave, though.
== Music ==
* In [[Orbital]]'s video for "Funny Breaks (One Is Enough)", the unnamed woman is able to travel between the interiors of suitcases.
== Tabletop Games ==
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* Explicitly stated to either exist, or [[After the End|did exist]] in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' 4E. The settings being the interregnum between the previous great civilization and the next, some of the portals are still functional. [[Unpleasable Fanbase|D&D fans being who they are]], this is one of the more contested point in the edition, citing it's too [[Video Games]]-like.
** It exists in 3E too, it's called Sigil, the City of Doors. If you know which doors lead to which place in which realm, you can save a great deal of travel time even if you don't have magical means to travel the planes. Since some of those doors aren't doors in conventional sense, you can jump into, say, a closet in Material Plane, land in Sigil, walk a few blocks into a ruined stone gate down the road, and suddenly appear in [[Satan|Asmodeus]]' throne room.
** Also in 3E/3.5, there are ways to turn other things into your own personal Portal Network. For example, a [[Blood Magic|Blood Magus]] will eventually gain the ability to teleport between living things, and can even [[Body Horror|burst out]] like a Xenomorph. A less [[Squick|disturbing]] example is a spell that allows you to do this with trees.
== Video Games ==
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* Level 15 in the SNES version of ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' has a series of [[Portal Door]]s used to reach otherwise-inaccessible parts of the level.
* Star Gates in ''Adventures of Rad Gravity''. The final planet also has a difficult maze of [[Magical Mystery Doors|teleporting doors]].
* The resurrected ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has the TUNNEL Network of [[Swirly Energy Thingy|Swirly Energy Thingies]] that allow users to hop between a wide variety of destinations in Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, Praetoria and elsewhere.
== Web Comics ==
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== Web Original ==
* The Jump Gates allow
* ''[[The Salvation War]]'' - The first thing the nations of the world do when they discover how to open portals into Hell is to funnel in modern weaponry and kick Satan out. The ''second'' thing they do is use Hell as a jumping-off point to mobilize the multinational Human Expeditionary Army more or less anywhere on Earth, putting the kibosh on [[God Is Evil|Heaven's plan]] to destabilize the alliance by stirring up pocket wars on the mortal plane.
* In ''[[Orion's Arm]]'', some areas with very advanced technology are connected by a network of wormholes, which are very useful in a setting with no faster than light travel.
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** The eighth episode makes clear that the reason you have been teleporting to quite a few ruinous areas is because {{spoiler|the Submachine network itself has been tearing these places apart}}.
* In ''[[The Pentagon War]]'', the five inhabited star systems are connected by pairs of linked "hyper holes", created by extremely expensive antimatter bombs.
== Western Animation ==
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* The closet doors in ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]''.
* The finale of ''[[Loonatics Unleashed]]'' ends with our heroes gaining control of a Portal Network, moving their headquarters there, and vowing to use it to protect the entire universe.
* The Net is like this in ''[[
* In ''[[Wakfu]]'', 'Zaaps' are the network of portals used to travel across the archipelago.
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