Introduction of FC style uniforms

[Redshirts_Widow]

Kegek Kringle said:
First Contact took place in S5, witness the change to the FC uniform that year.

Can anyone recall which S5 episode they were introduced in? I only ask becuase I remember taking exception to their introduction when we first see them. When in 'In Purgatory's Shadow' we discover that Bashir had been captured and imprisoned by the Dominion, he is wearing the old style DS9 jumpsuit to distinguish himself from his changeling counterpart and therefore infers that he has been imprisoned for quite a while, certainly since the introduction of the new uniforms. All well and good - We can assume that every episode with Bashir in a FC style uniform is his Changeling doppelganger.

What i never got was that in 'The Begotten' Julian did some pretty nifty surgical work in delivering the O'Briens baby; In 'Rapture' he does some pretty nifty medical diagnosis on Sisko.And was wearing FC style uniform and hence was a Changeling!!

I never understood why either; i) If Bashir was a Changeling at that point, why he did all these medical procedures, or ii) If he wasn't a changeling, why they bothered putting captured Bashir in an old style uniform in the first place!

Comments?

 

[shatastrophic]

Rapture Season 5 episode 10, the episode right after the Ascent. Sisko wears his com badge above the Grey shoulder line. I don't know why but it still looked cool. Rapture is when Sisko had a vision that forces him to make a decision on Bajors' interests with the federation. I wished they would've followed up with this in season 7. I mean wasn't the whole point to get Bajor into the federation as members. To me I always interpreted that Worf went on the Defiant towards earth in "The Ascent" while Quark and Odo did all of the stuff in this episode. However I think the original DS9 uniform was still seen in the beginning of this episode. FC came out the same week here in Denver that the episode "things past" aired, which was 2 episodes before "rapture". Maybe Worf got his new uniform early on the way to earth to defend it against the borg.
I also think the changeling did due the procedures to Sisko in this episode in order to stay under cover, how the changeling knew of humans and there bodies i don't know. But the bigger question is, since the changeling did due the procedures, wouldn't it give them some insight to this wormhole they were so dependant upon to help them take over the alpha quadrant. the changeling bashir at this point would've known there is a relationship between Sisko and the wormhole. Why did they act so surprised in "sacrifce of the Angels" when the Defiant was the only ship to reappear from the wormhole. they should've had an idea that maybe he talked to the wormhole aliens and asked for a favor.

 

[SlyCardie]

I imagine that the Changelings do a lot of background research and studies before assuming the role of another person undercover. Still, to learn about the human anatomy and perform surgery may be a stretch, so you might have caught something there.

 

[mrs260]

I don't see why it would be a stretch. Heck, there's no reason to believe that a Changeling hasn't been through Starfleet Medical and shared the knowledge through the Link so all undercover Changelings are qualified doctors. (Medical staff would be the most logical people to replace, after all, since they seem to be the ones in charge of the blood screenings.)

 

[Kegek]

shatastrophic said:
Sisko wears his com badge above the Grey shoulder line. I don't know why but it still looked cool.

Costuming error. There are a few other minor ones in S5, but that's the most obvious.

 

[Timo]

Changelings have pulled off far more demanding tricks than brain surgery. A couple of them must have been living on DS9 all the time, to be able to accurately report such things as O'Brien's holodeck lunch for stardate XXXXX.X. The very act of being Julian Bashir 24/7 would be extremely demanding already, even without his profession.

OTOH, the fake Bashir could easily have faked the brain surgery he did on Sisko. Indeed, the Changeling would have benefited from pretending that Sisko's two-aspirins-and-don't-call-me-in-the-morning headache actually required demanding surgery.

And in the end, the Sisko that emerged from that surgery played right into the hands of the Dominion, by isolating Bajor from the Federation. The Founders couldn't have done better if they had replaced Sisko with one of their own! I do wonder whether Sisko's vision really came from the Prophets, or whether it was implanted by his surgeon...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DumbDumb2007]

Terrible Uniforms.

 

[Stormrage]

DumbDumb2007 said:
Terrible Uniforms.

I loved them. They are my favourite uniform. They look cool.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Stormrage said:

DumbDumb2007 said:
Terrible Uniforms.

I loved them. They are my favourite uniform. They look cool.

Same here. Best Trek uniforms to date.

 

[azzurri08]

I agree, The FC uniforms are the best because they are more plain and don't look as cheesy as older uniforms. I also liked the idea of ENT uniforms, but they did look they were all mechanics.

 

[Squiggy]

I like 'em as well. The TOS uniforms were in bright vivid colors so NBC could show off the fact that "WE'RE IN COLOR!"

TNG's were a natural evolution of that, and DS9 evolved from that...looking like a circus of light so bright that it would burn some retinas.

FC simpler color-wise, with only subtle differences to show the different divisions.

No need to make it look like a pajama party anymore.

 

[Redshirts_Widow]

Timo said:

OTOH, the fake Bashir could easily have faked the brain surgery he did on Sisko. Indeed, the Changeling would have benefited from pretending that Sisko's two-aspirins-and-don't-call-me-in-the-morning headache actually required demanding surgery.

And in the end, the Sisko that emerged from that surgery played right into the hands of the Dominion, by isolating Bajor from the Federation. The Founders couldn't have done better if they had replaced Sisko with one of their own! I do wonder whether Sisko's vision really came from the Prophets, or whether it was implanted by his surgeon...

Timo Saloniemi

It was all part of a Dominion plan all along... That's food for thought certainly. So looking at the episodes with Bashir as a changeling, what else could he have influenced?
Bajor not entering the UFP and the delivery of Kirayoshi O'Brien we know about. Did anything else happen in these clutch of episodes that Changeling-Bashir could have affected?

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Regarding where Sisko was wearing the combadge, it was an ill-fitting costume in the first place. Also, the grey part was FAR lower Brooks' chest than the old coloured uniforms.

Old: http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x06/captivepursuit011.jpg

New: http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/5x10/rapture_064.jpg

Later cuts of the uniforms were a little tighter and had a little less grey. Here's Sisko in the series finale:

http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/7x25/leave_behind_052.jpg

It wouldn't surprise me that Brooks himself moved the badge to where it was more comfortable slapping it above his nipple than on it.

The OTHER uniform question here is for O'Brien. Even at official functions, Miles would ALWAYS roll up his sleeves on his old jumpsuit. With the new ones, this practice disappeared. I'm sure the actor didn't mind the change either - after all, in five-plus years on the Enterprise, he didn't do anything like that.

Mark

 

[SlyCardie]

You're probably right. If one infiltrated Starfleet Medical in season one, by season 5 he could probably have the education to perform a surgery. And that's a good point about infiltrating the blood screening teams. I just think brain surgery is a bit crazy, but with the instruments of the future it's probably possible.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I wish they'd planned Bashir's replacement in advance. Like he was taken during 'Let He Who Is Without Sin...' or something. Dropping only the most subtle hints that something is up (ones you'd only realize well after the fact).

THE BEGOTTEN raises questions. Did the Bashir changling let the young changling die, or was the young changling brought to the station to return Odo back to his gelatinous state? A test of sorts to see how much Odo cares about changlings? A chance for redemption?

 

[DeafPoet]

I doubt the Bashir changeling let it die. It was probably legitimately beyond help. No changeling ever having harmed another and whatnot.

 

[azzurri08]

Agreed. Based solely on that point I doubt the changeling bashir would have harmed or let the ill changeling die without doing anything, even if it meant exposing himself.

 

[Timo]

OTOH, Changelings are famous for cruelly exploiting their babies. That's how Odo came to be, after all.

It would IMHO make perfect sense that the baby was used as a tool to first test, then revigorate Odo. The whole explanation for how Quark came to possession of the critter stinks to high heaven to begin with. It definitely looks as if Quark was paid to dump it on Odo's lap, without so much as a haggle for the price he'd extract from Odo.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Gibraltar]

I seem to remember an episode where Odo and some of the other crew were with him aboard a runabout and the others experienced some of Odo’s dreaming memories of DS9 back when it was still Terok Nor during the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. I can’t remember if there was any strange phenomenon behind this shared consciousness between the crew or if it was explained as some kind of quasi-telepathic ability of the Changelings.

It stands to reason that the Changelings might be at least partially telepathic, allowing them to absorb the memories and knowledge of their victims so as to better portray the person they’ve replaced. I’m guessing this would also help explain why the Federation never utilized Betazoid telepaths to screen their personnel as a Changeling detection technique. If the Changeling in question can project their victim’s surface thoughts and emotions, they’d probably be difficult to detect using such means.

Thus, Doctor Bashir’s surgical knowledge would have been absorbed by his Changeling doppelganger, allowing the Founder to carry out Julian’s duties aboard the station without arousing suspicion.

Just my $.02

 

[nx1701g]

There was a theory posted to this board before that maybe the Bashir-ling had a PADD with the steps of the proceedure on it inside his 'stomach' and was reading the screen step by step.