How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOILER

[Can]

Right now I am rewatching Season 4 of DS9 and one thing occured to me. When General Martok ( or changeling look like Martok ) arrived DS9 and met Sisko and others , he did a blood test with his own bidding , cut his hand and blood came out , dripping. But it was explained throughly before that when a part of a shapeshifter leaves it turns ts original state. If Martok we saw in this episode was a changeling , how can this be ? Is that a goof by writers ?

 

[mrs260]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

In one episode, Joseph Sisko said that any shapeshifter with any smarts would drain some blood from a humanoid and hold it within itself, to be let out on demand.

 

[Kegek]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

And it's generally agreed in "Apocalypse Rising" that whoever replaced Gowron (eventually revealed to have really replaced Martok) probably had to have a way to fake the blood test. That's why they use a different method.

However, insofar as goofs by the writers go, Martok was not supposed to be a changeling when they wrote "The Way of the Warrior". They decided to make him the changeling only when writing "Apocalypse Rising" because they didn't want to get rid of Gowron - the implication at the time being, of course, that the people the Dominion replaced were simply killed. But Martok himself proved popular enough to bring back again as a POW. They were really making this stuff up on the seat of their pants, and that shows at times.

 

[od0_ital]

Can said:
Right now I am rewatching Season 4 of DS9 and one thing occured to me. When General Martok ( or changeling look like Martok ) arrived DS9 and met Sisko and others , he did a blood test with his own bidding , cut his hand and blood came out , dripping. But it was explained throughly before that when a part of a shapeshifter leaves it turns ts original state. If Martok we saw in this episode was a changeling , how can this be ? Is that a goof by writers ?

Are ya sure he cut his hand?

The knife wouldn't have to have been a part of the Founder, it could have been just a tool. While Kira & Sisko would use it to cut their own hands, followin' Martok's lead, he held his palm to his body when he went to slice & dice.

Its entirely possible that, if Martok wasn't usin' the Joseph Sisko Method of Avoidin' Changeling Detection, he had a modified blade that may have had a hollowed out compartment, released the blood into his palm, where it then dripped to the table.

The cool thing about that is, it wouldn't even be DNA tested - all Martok would have to have done is kill some poor fool warrior on the ship, and there ya go.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

That wasn't Klingon blood anyway. Klingon blood looks like Pepto Bismal.

 

[od0_ital]

^

Only on the big screen.

 

[exodus]

Can said:
Right now I am rewatching Season 4 of DS9 and one thing occured to me. When General Martok ( or changeling look like Martok ) arrived DS9 and met Sisko and others , he did a blood test with his own bidding , cut his hand and blood came out , dripping. But it was explained throughly before that when a part of a shapeshifter leaves it turns ts original state. If Martok we saw in this episode was a changeling , how can this be ? Is that a goof by writers ?

I was under the impression he was abducted after all that.

He did say he was taken while hunting. So it was when he went back to the Klingon home world.

 

[mrs260]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

But he also said to Worf--who dishonoured his son in order to talk to him in WotW--"I've heard of you."

I think I'd remember meeting someone dishonoured my son, even if my son were an annoying brat with a petty violent streak.

 

[Anwar]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

Martok said in "Purgatory's Shadow" that he had been a captive of the Dominion for 2 years, meaning he was captured sometime in the middle of Season 3. That would put his capture around the same time as the Tal Shiar/Obsidian Order attack on the Founder homeworld.

And seeing as how that was also a trap engineered by Dominion infiltrators, it's a nice coincidence.

 

[Kegek]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

mrs260 said:
But he also said to Worf--who dishonoured his son in order to talk to him in WotW--"I've heard of you."

I think I'd remember meeting someone dishonoured my son, even if my son were an annoying brat with a petty violent streak.

Ah, Drex. Martok's son, only seen once when his character was first introduced.

A bit like... Drax. Grand Nagus Zek's son, only seen once when his character was first introduced.

I'm kind of freaked out now, but obviously Martok wasn't being kept informed about what was happening to his son. However, this changeling must have been a damn good one to fool even him, which says something for the changelings - they probably research their long term assignments assiduously so that they can remain in character.

The lesson of this is: Don't RPG with Odo.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

Kegek said:

A bit like... Drax. Grand Nagus Zek's son, only seen once when his character was first introduced.

Krax, actually. Drax was the guy from Moonraker, who was probably far better at being a Ferengi than Krax... until he tried to kill off all his customers. That's a big no-no that's probably in the Rules of Acquisition somewhere.

Drex returned in Hertzler's two part Martok-Worf duology. Krax returned in The Worlds of DS9: Ferenginar story.

 

[nx1701g]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

I'm shocked that there hasn't been a character named Drax.

 

[Turbo]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

AdmiralGarak said:

Kegek said:

A bit like... Drax. Grand Nagus Zek's son, only seen once when his character was first introduced.

Krax, actually. Drax was the guy from Moonraker, who was probably far better at being a Ferengi than Krax... until he tried to kill off all his customers. That's a big no-no that's probably in the Rules of Acquisition somewhere.

Mr. Quark...you appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season.

 

[Phily B]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

They didn't cut their own hand on set either.

It was probably a simple trick on the changelings part.

 

[Jono]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

AdmiralGarak said:

Kegek said:

A bit like... Drax. Grand Nagus Zek's son, only seen once when his character was first introduced.

Krax, actually. Drax was the guy from Moonraker, who was probably far better at being a Ferengi than Krax... until he tried to kill off all his customers. That's a big no-no that's probably in the Rules of Acquisition somewhere.

Drex returned in Hertzler's two part Martok-Worf duology. Krax returned in The Worlds of DS9: Ferenginar story.

I thought that Drex was very well written in those novels.

The blood test was a fairly easy thing to get around. DS9 probably had the best system, Odo. He showed in season 4 then he could force a changeling to reveal itself when he grabbed the Leyton changeling on Earth. Just have Odo roughly grab you and if you pass you all good.

Other then that the phaser sweep worked well. It seemed to be pretty mild and it could be used without really causing any damage to anything, so if should be okay to use on, say someones hand without causing any harm.

 

[Tzenkethi]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

Because nobody tested the blood he spilled to see if it was his.

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

Kegek said:
And it's generally agreed in "Apocalypse Rising" that whoever replaced Gowron (eventually revealed to have really replaced Martok) probably had to have a way to fake the blood test. That's why they use a different method.

However, insofar as goofs by the writers go, Martok was not supposed to be a changeling when they wrote "The Way of the Warrior". They decided to make him the changeling only when writing "Apocalypse Rising" because they didn't want to get rid of Gowron - the implication at the time being, of course, that the people the Dominion replaced were simply killed. But Martok himself proved popular enough to bring back again as a POW. They were really making this stuff up on the seat of their pants, and that shows at times.

I think I'm agreeing with this. Same difficulty as when the Doctors character was supposed to have been imprisoned for some extended period of time.

 

[Timo]

Re: How did fake Martok fool everyone during blood test-SPOI

It did lead into interesting and enjoyable plot twists, too. Such as us finding out Bashir had a dark secret - one that provided a perfect excuse for him to be so obnoxious whenever he was at risk of forming an intimate relationship. It even meshed with the tour into his subconscious in "Distant Voices", even though the writer of that episode had no idea of this dark secret!

Other then that the phaser sweep worked well. It seemed to be pretty mild and it could be used without really causing any damage to anything, so if should be okay to use on, say someones hand without causing any harm.

We don't really know if the phaser sweep would have worked. We only know it worked on Odo - but Odo was a toddler. Phaser tickling might have an effect on him that it would not have on adult Changelings.

Timo Saloniemi