Odo can be... knocked unconscious??

[Gary7]

I happened to watch "The Assignment" recently. And at one point, Miles punches Odo in the head, knocking him out.

Odo is a changeling. His brain is... probably distributed throughout his body, not concentrated solely in the human head that he replicates, right? And so if that's the case, his being knocked on the head shouldn't have done anything to him. What's the rationale on this? Or is it just another one of those glaring inconsistencies in the Star Trek universe?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Well, the good news is that I believe this is during Odo's "trapped as a solid" arc and therefore he was frozen into humanoid form. So it makes sense this time. The bad news is that there are a couple of episodes from earlier in the series where he gets knocked out or knocked down, like by falling rock in "Vortex". That always puzzled me - shouldn't he, at worst, just lose his form and "go goo"? Unless somehow he gets "locked" temporarily when he takes a sudden shock?

 

[Yevetha]

Maybe if he does not expect to be hit he cannot dodge.

 

[TheLobes]

The bad news is that there are a couple of episodes from earlier in the series where he gets knocked out or knocked down, like by falling rock in "Vortex". That always puzzled me - shouldn't he, at worst, just lose his form and "go goo"? Unless somehow he gets "locked" temporarily when he takes a sudden shock?

I always imagined it was more to do with reflexes. Odo doesnt have infinite reflexes, if someone shoots a phaser at him (like at his mirror universe double) he surely must need time to process this and shift, its still a mostly voluntary procedure. When a rock falls, it just depends on reflexes whether someone avoids it, either by moving or changing. Its just like our movement, it always depends a bit on the mind.

Plus Odo is pretty young by changeling standards, its obvious from his interactions with that changeling from season seven that hes still got a lot to learn.

 

[od0_ital]

Yeah, in 'The Assignment', Odo was still human, so it makes sense that he could get sucker punched.

 

[Timo]

there are a couple of episodes from earlier in the series where he gets knocked out or knocked down, like by falling rock in "Vortex".

A couple, or just this one?

I mean, it would make eminent sense for Odo to fake being knocked out in that particular episode. The villain Croden had led him through a series of wild goose chases, telling a string of lies. Now he had come up with the ultimate whopper: that he was a decent guy after all, only lying to Odo because he needed the Changeling's help in saving what was left of his family.

What better way to put that decency to test than to fake injury in a situation where Odo really couldn't be injured, or endangered much by faking an injury? If Croden came back for him, his story might hold a kernel of truth after all. If he didn't, Odo could always transform into something that sped past Croden and waited for him at the runabout...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[toughlittleship]

I like to think that the toh-maire gas in "Vortex" was the Changeling equivalent of kryptonite and hindered Odo's shapeshifting abilities.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

there are a couple of episodes from earlier in the series where he gets knocked out or knocked down, like by falling rock in "Vortex".

A couple, or just this one?

I mean, it would make eminent sense for Odo to fake being knocked out in that particular episode. The villain Croden had led him through a series of wild goose chases, telling a string of lies. Now he had come up with the ultimate whopper: that he was a decent guy after all, only lying to Odo because he needed the Changeling's help in saving what was left of his family.

What better way to put that decency to test than to fake injury in a situation where Odo really couldn't be injured, or endangered much by faking an injury? If Croden came back for him, his story might hold a kernel of truth after all. If he didn't, Odo could always transform into something that sped past Croden and waited for him at the runabout...

Timo Saloniemi

I like the way you think here, Timo.

 

[Gary7]

I can appreciate Odo faking unconsciousness, in the right circumstances. But it looks like there have been a few where it doesn't really make sense. Even "locked in human form", it's just the form. I highly doubt he imitates a human brain and all of the human internal organs, his body functioning exactly like a human being. It's just his external appearance, right?

 

[Timo]

Umm, no. Odo himself apparently can't do human internal organs, or doesn't bother to. But when the Link forced him into humanoid shape, they did give him humanoid internal organs. We see this because Odo subsequently e.g. becomes hungry amd begins to eat food...

He probably got all the uncomfortable bits, including a skull that can be fractured, a brain that can rattle inside the braincase, and a large number of places that can develop an itch. After all, it was supposed to be punishment for him.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Infern0]

He was in solid form at the time which i assume is humanoid, and O'Brian is known to have a good dig on him.

 

[od0_ital]

Yep, when Odo was locked in human form, he had all the downsides - blood (a blood type, even!), hunger pains, back aches, alcohalism, and even had to poo.

So, when O'Brien clocked him, it makes sense that he was knocked the fuck out.

 

[MrBorg]

I can appreciate Odo faking unconsciousness, in the right circumstances. But it looks like there have been a few where it doesn't really make sense. Even "locked in human form", it's just the form. I highly doubt he imitates a human brain and all of the human internal organs, his body functioning exactly like a human being. It's just his external appearance, right?

I take it you've never seen "Broken Link"?

Spoiler: Broken Link

The Founders turn him into a solid as punishment for killing another Changeling. So basically he is a human until some episode I can't remember the name of (Been a while since I watched DS9).

 

[toughlittleship]

^ When DS9 arrives on Netflix in October, I want you to watch "The Begotten" first!

 

[Timo]

...and ponder whether the baby Changeling randomly ended up on Odo's lap, or whether it was deliberately delivered there by the Great Link as a form of a test to see whether Odo could be paroled.

I mean, it's unthinkable that Quark would just give up something like that for free! Somebody must have paid him good money to get him to "donate" the Chagelinglet to Odo.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[G2309]

Obrien's Irish charm stopped him from seeing it coming.

 

[od0_ital]

... I mean, it's unthinkable that Quark would just give up something like that for free!

He didn't.

Watch the scene again. When Odo gets the baby changeling from Quark, Quark holds a padd up & Odo presses his thumb to it. That's how bills get paid in the future, and was shown several times throughout the series.

 

[Odo]

Timo, you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I was doing. You're fairly perceptive, for a humanoid.

 

[Gary7]

Yeah, I'd forgotten about "Broken Link". Saw it a long time ago. So I see now, Odo was basically "fully human" when O'Brien hit him. Now it all makes sense. Thanks for revealing the mystery.


Weird though... in "Apocalypse Rising", we see Odo converted to look like a Klingon. His "human" features are more apparent. It would have been possible for him to have his face fully converted to human. But I guess he preferred to keep the look he has always had. For the actor, it would have been quite a relief, though.

 

[od0_ital]

^

The reason his face looks "more human" is because they couldn't add Klingon make up on top of the Founder make up, so that's how Rene Auberjonois would look as a Klingon, not Odo.