Why did the Changelings look like Odo?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by Captain Nebula, Feb 1, 2013.

  1. Captain Nebula

    Captain Nebula Commander Red Shirt

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    Odo modeled his hair like Dr. Mora Pol, the Bajoran Scientist that worked with him when he was first found. Why did all of the other Changelings have hair just like Odo then?
     
  2. Pavonis

    Pavonis Commodore Commodore

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    To look like Odo, of course. I imagine if Laas had made it to the Great Link before Odo, they'd all look like Laas, with that vaguely Varalan forehead of his.

    And Odo's face is more of a sketch of a humanoid visage, and the Founder's weren't too keen on reproducing humanoid appearance unless they were deliberately infiltrating the enemy. Odo's look was minimalist, and the Founder's liked it.

    Alternatively, the Odo-type appearance of the Founders is their default appearance (perhaps a holdover from when they were Solids, too), and Odo himself just hadn't the experience to hold a more complex form than his default. Hence the Founders look like Founders when they're not mimicking another form, and naturally the young Founder Odo looks like one, too.
     
  3. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

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    Also, Salome Jens' earlier appearance as the ancient humanoid in TNG's "The Chase" sort of looks like a precursor to the Odo makeup, so there might be a workable explanation there.
     
  4. Anwar

    Anwar Admiral Admiral

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    I think that Odo is simply mistaken about his form being based off of Pol, and that his humanoid form is the default form all Changlings can assume when they want to. A holdover from their Solid days.
     
  5. dub

    dub Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    ^^That's also the explanation I tell myself.
     
  6. Triskelion

    Triskelion Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Odo was a celebrity. So they all jumped on the bandwagon. :D
     
  7. heavy lids

    heavy lids Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Exactly. Everyone knows that Odo was the galaxies #1 trend-setter. He had more style than Kirk.
     
  8. Triskelion

    Triskelion Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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  9. Deckerd

    Deckerd Fleet Arse Premium Member

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    Timo will be along presently to tell you that you never saw the Founders except after they had seen Odo and the form he took for solids. Aside, of course, from the other scattered seed that Odo encountered, who looked nothing like the other changelings, who went on his merry way presumably already contaminated by Odo to die a horrible death. All of the changelings, Odo included, were capable of extremely sophisticated shapeshifting, so the excuse that he never got the hang of humans was frankly bollocks.
     
  10. TheRoyalFamily

    TheRoyalFamily Commodore Commodore

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    That always bugged me. He can turn into a bird, capable of flight, which means rather complex feather patterns. Heck, his hair is more complex than his face. And he can do the double-nostril thing like the Cardassians :)

    The only real explanation I can think of is that he practices his shape-shifting by surrounding other objects - so maybe he never just slimed anyone's face before :cardie:
     
  11. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

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    He slimed Kira though.
     
  12. E-DUB

    E-DUB Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I'm surprised that the changelings never, at least to our knowledge, imitated "hot chicks" to manipulate human males. Hey, I'm not saying it's right or wrong but it's a tactic that has been known to work. Right, Dr. Baltar?
     
  13. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Or perhaps they appear that way to make Odo feel more comfortable.

    After all we do know of Changelings who appeared as O'Brien, Bashir and Martok.
     
  14. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    But isn't there that whole thing around Paradise Lost and there being several Changelings on Earth? For all we know one of them may well have been a 'hot chick' :). Or guy. Either works for me.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2013
  15. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The real-life reason we had identikit Changelings? So idiot viewers could tell at a glance their species. The same reason why Romulans sprouted forehead bumps in TNG.
     
  16. Deckerd

    Deckerd Fleet Arse Premium Member

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    Trouble is, the people who were watching the show weren't idiots. My own take was that it was pure intellectual laziness.
     
  17. DS9forever

    DS9forever Commodore Commodore

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    "The Chase" aired several months after "Emissary".
     
  18. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

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    ^ I know that, but it could have been part of an early design concept for Odo. I've not seen any of Westmore's sketches for the character.
     
  19. Hando

    Hando Commander Red Shirt

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    I would say that the Changelings had to have an official appearance.
    How else would their servants recognize them... :shrug:

    What would a Vorta do when a Changeling with human appearance came to him/her and gave him/her an order? Ask the Changling to perform a miracle?
     
  20. C.E. Evans

    C.E. Evans Admiral Admiral

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    I've been of the opinion that it takes energy to maintain a highly detailed humanoid form (especially with the face), and the slightly less detailed form that Odo adopted is just easier to maintain.