Why do the Founder changelings always disguise themselves as Bashir?
- Thread starter urrutiap
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Just because they could get the look right doesn't mean they could pull off the attitude.
(Or as Vic put it, "Style, baby, style.")
(Or as Vic put it, "Style, baby, style.")
A changeling playing the role of Bashir would still need a considerable amount of medical knowledge of human(oid) anatomy in order to play the role of an MD convincingly for weeks or even months- can't have the unpleasant surprise of not knowing how to perform unexpected but urgent delicate brain surgery to save a life, and thus betray yourself. So, how do they get that knowledge without years of study? Is all such specialist knowledge in the Great Link and 'copied' by the individual changeling taking up the role of pseudo-Bashir?
The logic of "MacDuff" in "Conundrum" and "Martok" in "Way of the Warrior" could work here, too. What the Founders need is not the boss making the decisions, because they want the boss to be blamed. What they need is the person the boss confides in, the guy, gal or BEM whose whisperings in the ear of the boss have the greatest effect.
With Sisko, it would probably be Dax. But Bashir is easier: his putoffish attitude makes any pretense easier to maintain, and it's in the real Bashir's blood to hide, obfuscate and outright lie, as he already harbors a dark secret.
Founders might have no trouble mastering every science in the universe, not because they'd suck it out of their victims (they supposedly don't even need to touch those they impersonate), but because the Link has already seen it all, and every Founder is part of the Link. If anything, the Founder playing Bashir might be exposed because it knows way too much about medicine!
Timo Saloniemi
With Sisko, it would probably be Dax. But Bashir is easier: his putoffish attitude makes any pretense easier to maintain, and it's in the real Bashir's blood to hide, obfuscate and outright lie, as he already harbors a dark secret.
Founders might have no trouble mastering every science in the universe, not because they'd suck it out of their victims (they supposedly don't even need to touch those they impersonate), but because the Link has already seen it all, and every Founder is part of the Link. If anything, the Founder playing Bashir might be exposed because it knows way too much about medicine!
Timo Saloniemi
Even if a Founder could be as sexy as Benjamin Sisko, would it make sense when that Founder would need to crawl through corridors, or if he stopped taking meetings in order to conduct sabotage? Assuming that they had their choice of whom to imitate, Bashir at least has the benefit of being able to control his own schedule.
Bashir spent two decades plus lying about who he is.
Any new inconsistency about who is, can be explained away, because this is finally the real Bashir.
Any new inconsistency about who is, can be explained away, because this is finally the real Bashir.
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If I may invert thr OP's question, what makes a better guise for a Changeling?
Only one, Bashir, was able to operate without being suspected. Two, Leighton and Martok, are outed by Odo. They ambassador was outed by technology. And O'Brien never attempted to pretend he was not a changeling. I'm not sure that there is any pattern, but I would suspect a long-term covert operation would be generally harder to pull off, at least when Odo is around, if the person being imitated has authority.
Only one, Bashir, was able to operate without being suspected. Two, Leighton and Martok, are outed by Odo. They ambassador was outed by technology. And O'Brien never attempted to pretend he was not a changeling. I'm not sure that there is any pattern, but I would suspect a long-term covert operation would be generally harder to pull off, at least when Odo is around, if the person being imitated has authority.
I've always suspected that Founders have some sort of etiquette against impersonating each other. The only times one does do it is in The Adversary and Tacking into the Wind. In the case of The Adversary, the Founder there doesn't impersonate Odo until the very end and that can be written off as an act of desperation, hoping to either trick the Defiant crew into thinking he is Odo in the hopes he can convince them to deactivate the self-destruct. And in Tacking into the Wind, it's Odo himself posing as the Female Founder, in that case that's just Odo not adhering to the same code of conduct the rest of the Founders do. Indeed, it's clear the Dominion has no security contingencies for someone impersonating the Founders, since posing as the Female Founder allows Odo to issue orders to Vorta and Jem'Hadar completely unchallenged.
However it's done, it is clearly possible - from the uniform change, the "Bashir" who operates on Sisko to remove his prophetic visions in Rapture was the Changeling imposter...
Eh I dont think so. I think the best time for the second Founder changeling to switch places with Bashir was when Bashir was trying to tag along with Garak for that wild goose chase for Garak to meet up with his dying mentor/father.
What bugs the heck out of me from that 2 parter episode is Worf was the one that tagged along with Garak so why not have the Founders changelings go to Deep Space Nine as Worf? Makes more sense then trying to hide out at Deep Space Nine looking like Bashir for a short time
What bugs the heck out of me from that 2 parter episode is Worf was the one that tagged along with Garak so why not have the Founders changelings go to Deep Space Nine as Worf? Makes more sense then trying to hide out at Deep Space Nine looking like Bashir for a short time
Well, we know it wasn't that, because the Bashir who claims to be real says he was abducted from "a burn treatment conference on Meezan IV".
But of course, I fully agree that the most practical time to replace folks would be during the imprisonment in the two-parter. Any of these folks who "escape" from the secure facility could be Founders. And really should be considered such: it makes no sense for Martok to still be alive, so the one-eyed Klingon they meet must be a second Founder impersonator trying to wiggle into a position in the Empire.
Except it turns out he isn't, and the impossible escape was for real - even though the Dominion is famous for arranging fake escapes, and indeed this is the very first thing we see them doing... Missed opportunities there.
Timo Saloniemi
No, Zimmerman was not in ill health that I'm aware of. He was just working on the next model EMH.
Zimmerman's disease came about later. His push to create more EMH models is because of the ridicule the Mark I encountered, as stated in the VOY ep:
You go watch Voyager especially one of the last seasons when theyre close to getting back home. They figure out a way through holo communication or whatever. Zimmerman even tells Doctor that hes dying from some wacky Star Trek disease.
Like with Picard how the men in the Picard family go through some nonsense that affects their hearing or whatever which was revealed in Star Trek Nemesis. And with Sarek having wacky Vulcan dementia/alzheimers
Like with Picard how the men in the Picard family go through some nonsense that affects their hearing or whatever which was revealed in Star Trek Nemesis. And with Sarek having wacky Vulcan dementia/alzheimers
The Doctor transported to the AQ specifically to cure his dying father of future space cooties.
As posted above, that happened later.
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