Why was Odo such a lousy bush-league shapeshifter?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by Aquehonga, Feb 4, 2009.

  1. Aquehonga

    Aquehonga Fleet Captain

    As correctly noted by the changeling impersonating Robert Foxworth's admiral character in that 2-parter when the Founders went to San Francisco.

    Laas the Louse tried to educate Odo in the ways of shapeshifting, Laas's only positive contribution was that.

    Prior to Kid Nausea, err, Laas's failed teaching experience, the Femme-Odo didn't accomplish much in the Teaching-to-Shapeshift Dept either. She was too busy :luvlove: being “Romulan Commander Woman” to Odo's “Spock” to know :wtf: she was doing.

    Odo never pushed his shapeshifting to the max. He could've/should've counter-infiltrated the Dominion, pretended to be a Founder more than effing once:mad:Not to mention imitating Jem'Hadar, Vorta, and Cardassians.:wtf:

    Odo also could've used his authoritah, as a(n ersatz) Founder, to order around Vorta & Jem'Hadar:hugegrin:

    Back to core-topic: :wtf: was up with Odo's untapped shapeshiting talent(s), assuming there are any:mad::confused: Especially, in particular, Odo's utter failure at impersonating human(oid) faces:mad:

    At series end it would've been :cool: to show Odo shapeshifting into a perfect double of Sisko &/or other DS9 crew. This would show he finally has it & doesn't belong on the Island of Misfit Shapeshifters:D

    2 Herberts {Femme-Odo,Laas} failed at teaching Odo how to be just simply a garden-variety changeling.I'd like to think in the decade Odo's been a Great Linker, that now he can finally imitate human(oid) faces, as well as infernos, clouds & interstellar debris.

    I mean, seriously :wtf: Odo:confused:

    Your view(s)>
     
  2. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    You sure like your emoticons, don't you? :)

    Odo has a few disadvantages: for one thing, he's young. Although this was no impediment to Laas, it seems like Laas was never under the thumb of a solid. Odo, on the other hand, was pretty much at the mercy of Dr. Mora and the Cardassians for much of his life. Odds are he didn't get to explore his abilities a whole lot under their gentle tutelage. He also hadn't had a lot of exposure to his own kind.

    Also, there is no reason to think there isn't some natural talent involved in shapeshifting. Could be he just wasn't naturally that good at it. Laas seemed to be extremely adept, and there were changelings that had no trouble convincingly replacing humans and other solids.
     
  3. Marie1

    Marie1 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    He was taught to shapeshift by a Bajoran. A Bajoran who thought he was goop. I'm surprised he did as good as he did. He learned quicker after meeting the Founders.
     
  4. JNG

    JNG Chief of Staff, Starfleet Command Rear Admiral

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    For many years, this was a guy who was probably trying not to call attention to the fact he was a shapeshifter. I don't think he practiced behind closed doors and maybe even felt resentful every time he had to do it based on the way they treated him like he was the entertainment early on. I can see his development as a shapeshifter was slowed by this, but also, his straightforward and honest personality may hamper him to some extent. He may not be a guy, er, thing who can fully get into being something other than the identity he'd worked hard to make for himself. The more time he spends with his own people, the more quickly he will "catch up," I'm sure.
     
  5. Daneel

    Daneel Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I agree with this. Plus, IIRC, Laas first started shapeshifting over a century earlier, whereas Odo started taking on non-gelatinous forms little more than a decade before the series started. So Laas has had a lot more time to practice. Odo is still maturing as a Changeling.
     
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  6. Photon

    Photon Commodore Commodore

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    Dude, I gotta migrane after reading that. Chill on the smiles
     
  7. jamestyler

    jamestyler Commodore Commodore

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    Thats how I've always saw it, as well as his youth compared to Laas. That episode got into it a little. Odo saw it as an uncomfortable disturbance. He just wanted to fit in and be accepted, not draw attention to himself as being different.

    I'm sure on some level that with his infatuation, and then relationship with Kira, it heightened his need to feel more 'normal' to her.
     
  8. mythme

    mythme Commodore Commodore

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    The future Odo in "Children of Time" nearly perfected how to imitate a face, although it took a few generations to do so. Odo never really seemed all that interested in perfecting his shapeshifting skills. When he first met his people he seemed almost befuddled at the idea that they would spend hours in the form of rock for the sake of experiencing what its like to be a rock.
     
  9. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    He can't do ears, but he can get all the feathers right on a Tarkelian hawk. Weird.
     
  10. Navaros

    Navaros Commodore Commodore

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    It is obviously simply that way to dumb-down the show for the sake of not confusing the audience. Same reason why the female Founder, Laas, and other Founders always look like Odo even though they hate humanoids and are good shapeshifters, hence that makes no sense whatosever on many levels.

    Also, there are more sensible practical implications. It's not like they are gonna give RA's lines to the other actors. That would have been a tragic waste of RA's amazing talents.
     
  11. Anwar

    Anwar Admiral Admiral

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    At first they said that Odo's less than normal face was the result of him only wanting to look like a basic solid form/it was the best he could do.

    Later on, I think they just retconned it so that the smoothface look is the default solid form any changeling automatically assumes when being solid without impersonating someone else. In their DNA, I suppose.
     
  12. jamestyler

    jamestyler Commodore Commodore

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    That might not be far off in logic. It could be a common thing they implant in their biology, a standard image to help connect them with their people. Maybe because they knew he'd spend all his time with solids.
     
  13. mythme

    mythme Commodore Commodore

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    Compound this with the fact that humanoid-shape changelings look a lot like humanoids who seeded the Galaxy in "The Chase" (their representitive played by Salome Jens coincidently) - hence we might have the basis of an interesting backstory for a future novel.
     
  14. Anwar

    Anwar Admiral Admiral

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    I theorized a while back that the Founders were probably one of the first forms of life to emerge as a result of the Progenitors.
     
  15. jamestyler

    jamestyler Commodore Commodore

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    Thats true, and I never even thought about it. I remember when the female changling showed up and noticing some odd similarities.

    Good call :)
     
  16. Crewman47

    Crewman47 Commodore Newbie

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    I thought this as well cause we've seen him take on the shape of different types of animals and objects and most of which would have more complex details to them than a humanoid face. Even as a bird he understands the concept enough to even be able to fly as one and still cannot do a face properly.
     
  17. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Perhaps there is a depth-psychology explanation. He inherited the collective unconscious of the Great Link. (CUGL). Therefore, he is subconsciously afraid of exploring solidity (though at the same time strangely attracted to it, thus "can't" do humans. Classic approach-avoidance conundrum. Case closed. You're welcome.

    Actually, was the "smooth" look just to hide Rene A.'s age? Brent Spiner was getting pretty old lookin' there at the end, for an android, so maybe the smooth-Odo was just a nuts-n-bolts solution?
     
  18. RobertScorpio

    RobertScorpio Pariah

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    Rob