Why doesn't the military just close the portals in Doom 1?

[Codename_Delta]

Because the military's as dumb as the HECU from HL1

[Thelokk]

Jack wasn't on portal duty that evening.

[kinker31]

1 hour ago, Edward850 said:

Doom 3 already had the answer for this; once the demons broke through, the UAC portal was irrelevant, they just open their own. Doom2 also had this as subtext being "bringing their reality with them", and an implication that they already did this in Doom1 given they teleported a whole moon.

 

For a thread based on the concept of over thinking this, there sure is a lack of reading between the lines, or not reading at all. :V

I'd wage this one step further: What is the UAC's portal was completely irrelevant to begin with?

 

What if the demonic horde were already capable of interdimensional teleportation long, long before the events of Wolfenstein 3D even happened, and were purposefully just waiting for humanity to discover teleportation just so that they could invade their collective asses and trick them into thinking their experiment had gone wrong, when in reality, they already planned the whole entire invasion(s) for decades, waiting for the perfect moment to strike?

 

It wouldn't have mattered if they immediately shut it off (even by emergency methods) once something had gone wrong, Hell would've already been on it's way to subjugate everything, starting with whatever opened the portal first. In fact, it wouldn't have even mattered had Phobos been taken over or not, because what better way to attack and terrify humanity than to start doing so right as they were about to enter a golden age?

[Majin]

i don't know

[sandwedge]

because you are the demons

[Gez]

32 minutes ago, 7Mahonin said:

The military, as in the space marines, were more like a security force. Their mission was to protect UAC assets and personnel, not to get involved with or to intervene on the work and research of the UAC.

Except the plot in Doom is that it's the military that is conducting research into teleportation using infrastructure that the UAC loaned them. The UAC isn't responsible for the interdimensional breach! They're just the one who rented the facilities.

Quote

For the last four years the military, UAC's biggest supplier, has used the remote facilities on Phobos and Deimos to conduct various secret projects, including research on inter-dimensional space travel. So far they have been able to open gateways between Phobos and Deimos, throwing a few gadgets into one and watching them come out the other. Recently however, the Gateways have grown dangerously unstable. Military "volunteers" entering them have either disappeared or been stricken with a strange form of insanity-babbling vulgarities, bludgeoning anything that breathes, and finally suffering an untimely death by full-body explosion. Matching heads with torsos to send home to the folks became a full-time job. Latest military reports state that the research is suffering a small set-back, but everything is under control.

But since everyone blamed them anyway, in Doom 3 and NuDoom, the writers made the UAC responsible. In Doom 3, the military is complicit; in NuDoom the military is irrelevant since Doomguy isn't from their iteration of the space marine corps anyway.

 

As an aside, I do find it weird that the military is "UAC's biggest supplier". I suppose they meant it the other way around, that the military is the UAC's biggest customer.

[IcarusOfDaggers]

Why American CIA tortured and organized the torture of millions of civilians?

Why German Military didn't surrender in 1944, despite the war being over at that point in many of it's generals eyes?

Why did Valkyrie coup-de-tat happen during world war 2?

Why did the Soviet Union deport millions of citizens across occupied nations during it's occupation?

Why does Putin still continue it's war in Ukraine?
Why didn't the western nations react to Putins invasion in 2022?

Why didn't the UAC close the portals once the issue became apparent?

All those questions have one simple answer: Delusional man at the top and there was still  benefit to the owner in some way, did not even matter if millions died, as long as he saw benefit or denied that something was wrong, why shut the portals?

[7Mahonin]

@Gez I was referring specifically to the space marines that Doomguy was with when he was sent over. In the very same plot you are quoting, it says just a paragraph away from what you excerpted:

Quote

You and your buddies, the only combat troop for fifty million miles were sent up pronto to Phobos. You were ordered to secure the perimeter of the base while the rest of the team went inside. For several hours, your radio picked up the sounds of combat: guns firing, men yelling orders, screams, bones cracking, then finally, silence. Seems your buddies are dead.

They have direct orders to secure the perimeter and enter the base to help fend off the attacks, not to intervene with the research operation in any direct way. This is why they would not have just shut down the portals, and besides, they couldn’t. They’re just grunts, not military researchers or UAC personnel. I also feel the UAC portals were not what truly mattered. They were the door mankind used to reveal themselves to the demons, and the demons had ways of getting in on their own. It would’ve been useless to shut it down because it was already too late once they had those early setbacks. They already went too far. 

[Edward850]

1 hour ago, kinker31 said:

I'd wage this one step further: What is the UAC's portal was completely irrelevant to begin with?

The obvious answer to that is they simply couldn't until a portal was opened to them in the first place. They were trapped until something opened the door for them, and once through could bend the reality to their own.

[kinker31]

4 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

The obvious answer to that is they simply couldn't until a portal was opened to them in the first place. They were trapped until something opened the door for them, and once through could bend the reality to their own.

Huh. Perhaps it just might be me disagreeing a bit with the lore then.

[PRO-RC]

They ran out of budget for a closing mechanism 

[Dodgy Dave]

10 hours ago, Shikamaze said:

 Give your best answers. 

 

Because the plot required it.

[idbeholdME]

I feel like Doom 3 does a good job of explaining it and is why I consider the start of Doom 3 as a precursor to the events of Doom 1. Simply over-ambitios research with a megalomaniac in charge, that backfired more than anyone could have expected.

 

5 hours ago, K_Doom said:

It seemed more interesting for scientific advancement to sacrifice a few thousand lives for the sake of knowledge from another dimension. Curiosity is stronger.

That is what the evil caricature they've made of the UAC in the nu-Dooms would do, not the old one.

Edited July 11, 2022 by idbeholdME

[1Destro3456]

5 hours ago, VoanHead said:

they didn’t feel like doing it

I like this explanation cause it makes it seem like the apocalypse was brought to earth because they were too lazy to stop it

[DSC]

7 hours ago, Kinsie said:

tvtropes, cinemasins and their ilk have ruined storytelling for the next three generations

I agree CinemaSins is absolute garbage, and so are all those nitpicky YT movie reviewers. But please, don't shit on TV Tropes! The editors there always remind people that tropes are a fundamental building block of all types of media, and that there is nothing wrong with them. Its not their fault the site tends to be wrongly used sometimes.

[Mr. Freeze]

6 hours ago, Edward850 said:

Nothing wrong with Doom3's story. Sorry you had to learn this from me.

 

We're clearly not on the same page here, so I'll agree to disagree. That being said, hard hard disagree on that. 

 

49 minutes ago, DSC said:

I agree CinemaSins is absolute garbage, and so are all those nitpicky YT movie reviewers. But please, don't shit on TV Tropes! The editors there always remind people that tropes are a fundamental building block of all types of media, and that there is nothing wrong with them. Its not their fault the site tends to be wrongly used sometimes.

 

TVTropes fosters this idea that everything in fiction is quantifiable, and attempts to make every character, every work of fiction, every thing into bullet points and checklists. A guy sitting on a chair isn't a trope! 

 

Cinemasins should be taken into a back alley and have the shit beaten out of him. 

[Gez]

Doom 3's story is dumb; but as a vehicle for Doom 3's plot, it's perfectly serviceable. It's definitely not great literature, but that's not what's asked of it. And it's certainly much better than the story from Doom Eternal that's just a big pile of memes and retcons heaped haphazardly atop itself without any fuck given. (A pity, after Doom 2016's excellent storytelling.)

[mrthejoshmon]

"DOOR STUCK"

[enigma101]

Most likely all the people that could have closed the portal were killed by the demons, or they didn't know how to properly close the portals to stop the demons from coming in.

[K_Doom]

8 hours ago, idbeholdME said:

Simply over-ambitios research with a megalomaniac in charge, that backfired more than anyone could have expected.

 

That is what the evil caricature they've made of the UAC in the nu-Dooms would do, not the old one.

I know that as the op said "give your best answers", it would be interesting to reinterpret what happened this way.

[inkoalawetrust]

6 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said:

TVTropes fosters this idea that everything in fiction is quantifiable, and attempts to make every character, every work of fiction, every thing into bullet points and checklists. A guy sitting on a chair isn't a trope! 

 

Cinemasins should be taken into a back alley and have the shit beaten out of him. 

 

Well you are in luck then, because TV Tropes also thinks that people sitting on chairs isn't a trope !

[BGreener]

22 hours ago, Shikamaze said:

Why doesn't the military just close the portals in Doom 1? Give your best answers. 

 

They simply took over control of the systems.

[Ozcar]

Better question who is the creator of uac?

[Chezza]

I like the Doom 3 type of explanation. Portal connected dimensions but now that evil had a way through, they've infected our world quickly so other gateways can be opened up, spreading alover the place. Like a virus in a computer haha. Once you got it, the original entry point is only one of many problems.

 

Also we see Hell works through corrupted agents so they have had cultists assist with protecting and maintaining the original portal/s until they were no longer needed.

[Mr. Alexander]

ah damn sorry guys. we opened up a portal to the actual biblical hell to which most of us will be damned for eternity when we die. it's okay, though. we pressed the Off switch 

[Zulk RS]

The military DID shut the portals off though. When the first portals opened, the demons flooded the base and killed everyone before they had any idea of what was happening. Then they sent in Doom Guy to the Phobos base to shut off the portal... which he did.

 

Then the Demons just opened up more portals from Hell-side, which the military had no way of shutting off. So Doomguy went into Hell to kill the big boss behind this invasion, the IoS. Then the Military decided that they should make a device which can close portals opened by the demons from Hell-side. And it worked! But then the demons opened up like several at the same time and Doomguy needs to help shut it off.

[YoshizinGordin]

"Why Didn't They Just Keep Themselves Alive Instead Of Dying To The Demons?" Is A WAAAYY Better Question.

[BonJoviStatue]

Some UAC soldiers thought it would be a good idea to capture some of the demonic creatures and have the scientists perform tests on them. But many of them rebelled against the humans and decided to attack the human race to stop their invasion of Hell.

Spoiler

The UAC employees also wanted to keep the beastial demons (Pinkies, Cacodemons, and Arachnotrons) as pets because of how cute they are.

 

[Artman2004]

Maybe the demons had a really powerful demon that could keep the portal open and prevent it from closing, similar to the Nihilanth from Half-Life.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

Close the portals, and miss out on all the shooty bang bang? Leaving the top tier guns to rust in the warehouses? How many chances does one get to shoot a literal demon? Being them on, I say, they said.