Odo can be... knocked unconscious??

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by Gary7, Jun 24, 2011.

  1. Gary7

    Gary7 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2007
    Location:
    ★•* The Paper Men *•★
    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?
     
  2. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    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?
     
  3. Yevetha

    Yevetha Commodore

    Joined:
    May 8, 2011
    Maybe if he does not expect to be hit he cannot dodge.
     
  4. TheLobes

    TheLobes Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2010
    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.
     
  5. od0_ital

    od0_ital Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2001
    Location:
    Nacogdoches, Texas
    Yeah, in 'The Assignment', Odo was still human, so it makes sense that he could get sucker punched.
     
  6. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2003
    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
     
  7. toughlittleship

    toughlittleship Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2006
    Location:
    United Kingdom
    I like to think that the toh-maire gas in "Vortex" was the Changeling equivalent of kryptonite and hindered Odo's shapeshifting abilities.
     
  8. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    I like the way you think here, Timo. :)
     
  9. Gary7

    Gary7 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2007
    Location:
    ★•* The Paper Men *•★
    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?
     
  10. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2003
    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
     
  11. Infern0

    Infern0 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2008
    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.
     
  12. od0_ital

    od0_ital Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2001
    Location:
    Nacogdoches, Texas
    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.
     
  13. MrBorg

    MrBorg Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2011
    Location:
    Cube 0398, Grid 343
    I take it you've never seen "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).
     
  14. toughlittleship

    toughlittleship Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2006
    Location:
    United Kingdom
    ^ When DS9 arrives on Netflix in October, I want you to watch "The Begotten" first!
     
  15. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2003
    ...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
     
  16. G2309

    G2309 Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2009
    Obrien's Irish charm stopped him from seeing it coming.
     
  17. od0_ital

    od0_ital Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2001
    Location:
    Nacogdoches, Texas
    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.
     
  18. Odo

    Odo Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2011
    Location:
    Earth
    Timo, you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I was doing. You're fairly perceptive, for a humanoid.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2011
  19. Gary7

    Gary7 Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2007
    Location:
    ★•* The Paper Men *•★
    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. ;)
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2011
  20. od0_ital

    od0_ital Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2001
    Location:
    Nacogdoches, Texas
    ^

    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.