We're coming up on the episode on H&I where Garak and Worf are captured by the Jem Hadar and they discover Bashir is already imprisoned, which means that the Bashir on the station is a changeliing. We know this because the real Bashir is wearing the old style uniform. So when did they switch to the new grey shouldered uniform? Was it at the beginning of the season?
The episode was called Rapture, in season 5. Not sure which actual number, but that's easy enough to google
Even though they didn't actually come up with the Bashir changeling thing till later, "Rapture" is such an interesting one because it works perfectly with that twist and it gives that episode a whole new layer, since Sisko's visions are quickly leading him to the imminent Dominion invasion and it's Changeling!Bashir who's our only source that the visions could kill Sisko if not stopped. There's that fun bit where Sisko is starting to put it together and then Bashir strides in all "we must operate now."
"RAPTURE" was the 10th produced, and aired, episode of season 5. That was when the uniforms switched. Changeling Bashir was in at least these episodes... "RAPTURE" "THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT" "THE BEGOTTEN" "FOR THE UNIFORM" "IN PURGATORY'S SHADOW" "BY INFERNO'S LIGHT"
Thanks! Actually, I don't think changeliing Bashir was in For the Uniform, but of course he was "there," lurking in the background. Interesting comment about the decision to operate on Sisko--maybe the operation wasn't necessary, after all. I think we can assume that changeliing Bashir wouldn't hurt the baby Changeliing.
I can't find it now, but I'm sure I've read some interview where they talk about how they told Alexander Siddig about the Changeling twist during the filming of "For The Uniform." Bashir had one scene in that ep, in the bar with Quark and O'Brien, and they had to cut it because he overplayed it and was too obviously a sinister alien infiltrator in his performance.
No, there was no changeling as early as Rapture. It was merely a matter of writing being farther ahead than production. There are no Easter eggs to be found.
Of course, the uniform cue is a fallacy to begin with. Bashir was captured in his sleep, and not in field conditions, either - he wouldn't have been wearing his day uniform. What he is wearing at the prison camp must then be either his preferred pajamas (which might be his old uniform for all we know) or then something that was readily on stock at the camp. This fully allows for his day uniform to be of the new type, and for the kidnapping to come fairly late in the game. Timo Saloniemi
I thought Bashir said he was on his way back to the station from a burn conference...(or was that in a g/b fic I read) but I for sure remember him saying he'd been in the camp for a month. And I don't think he'd wear his uniform as pj's. What was he wearing in the episode Cardassians? (Where he was so not alarmed to find Garak in his quarters. Just saying...)
His exact words: "I went to bed one night and woke up here". That was during his stay at that conference on Meezan IV, not before or after it. The same as in "Inquisition", say (that is, after the change to the new day uniforms): blue silk. Perhaps he dresses differently outside the station, though? Timo Saloniemi
Don't worry, Memory Alpha solves the PJ's dilemma: Honestly, given the frequency with which Starfleet officers are abducted from conferences, it should probably be in the handbook: When at a conference, always go to bed in your uniform, because you have a 1-in-3 chance of waking up in alien captivity and you don't want to be in your pajamas for the length of the imprisonment.
It is of course never addressed in an episode, but in the past, some nations have enforced military discipline in their prisoners-of-war camps. They would have to behave like soldiers, respect the chain of command (with the imprisoning officers at the top), and report to muster in uniform. Yes, that would mean that they would require prisoners to wear their uniforms, and may provide one, if one was available.
Nothing intentional, but there's plenty of accidental Easter eggs, much like with Bashir's genetic engineering (I've sometimes thought about starting a thread on that, maybe I'll do that soon). DS9 was so gifted at pulled off these retroactive twists they just thought of years/months/weeks after the fact. I've always been amazed at how well the show holds together given that they planned almost nothing and just made it up as they went along -- an interesting contrast to the way shows are done today, so exhaustively planned out in advance. It's always been odd to me there's disagreement on this plot point. To my view, the show explicitly tells us, without ambiguity, that Bashir is a Changeling from "Rapture" on. And they also have discussed that in interviews...
And maybe when the abductors go after their quarry, they're told, oh yeah, grab a uniform while you're at it...
We know that Bashir's genetic status was not an accident: it was based on an evaluation of the direction of the character and an effort on the part of the writers to make sense of who he was after years of neglecting his background. Bashir the Changeling was something intentionally introduced for For the Uniform, but only circumstantially could it be possible date back to a previous episode. It resides quite firmly in the realm of pet theories.
I think we're just talking about this in different ways. Obviously neither was an "accident", they were both intentional choices at the time they were established on the series, but they are similar in that they are both back-dated reveals. Well, if seeing it on screen and knowing it was also the intent of the creative team at the time doesn't convince you, I'm sure nothing I say will either, so I'll nod along with that. This is why I love granular, obsessive Trek fandom, I love the weird theories that people pull out of the background. I certainly have my own stable of those -- I've almost fanwanked myself to a reading of the Ferengi plot in which Nagus Rom makes sense!
Regarding Bashir-Changeling not harming the baby one found in "THE BEGOTTEN", I had a theory on it since it was first revealed he was a Changeling, back in its original airing. The Female Changeling in early season 6, I think it was in "BEHIND THE LINES", tokd Odo that they forgave him for killing that Changeling years ago. I think it was no accident they happen to find a baby Changeling, and I think that Bashir-Changeling was the one that set everything in motion, and ultimately 'told' the baby, by linking with it, to merge with Odo and make him a Changeling again. Which also led me to another theory... I think Bashir-Changeling WAS the Female Changeling posing as Bashir. We see that runabout destroyed, but the Dominion can transport light years away... Eris did it, that Vedek did in "COVENANT". That Changeling would certainly have done that before getting killed. Which also led me to another theory... the Female Changeling is Odo's 'mother', for lack of a better term, since we never fully understand how Changelings are born. Notice every other Changeling has had an issue with him after he killed Krajensky-Changeling... except her. She even said bringing him back was more important than the Alpha Quadrant. For my money, it stands to reason she would be the one to put into motion all the things that would give Odo his abilities back. She knew he had to be punished, but she didn't want it to be permanent.