Spoilers Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

[jian]

The one thing I wish they'd explained is why all the Changelings look like Odo, when Odo is attempting to look like the scientist who raised him. I wish they'd thrown in at least a brief explanation of "we took on this form to try and convince you to stay" or something.

The only other Changeling who’s not disguised as something or someone else is the Female Changeling (Salome Jens) who says she chose her appearance to make Odo feel more comfortable. That doesn’t explain why she doesn’t use another face when Odo isn’t around, but honestly that’s probably just visual shorthand to remind us who she is.

That said, it would certainly be useful for Changelings to have a clear and consistent appearance that does not look like Vorta or Jem’Hadar, to be obviously Founders, to avoid confusion, and to consistently trigger their obedience conditioning. And maybe that’s what Odo’s look is based on, from his own infant memories.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Odo is perfectly capable of imitating a human, but he finds it tiring and stressful, so wouldn't want to keep it up all day every day. He uses a form that he finds not too uncomfortable.

 

[MarkB]

Odo is perfectly capable of imitating a human, but he finds it tiring and stressful, so wouldn't want to keep it up all day every day. He uses a form that he finds not too uncomfortable.

No, that's never stated in the series. It is specifically stated that it's a skill issue, and we never see him perfectly mimic any humanoid even for a short time.

The closest we get is in Children of Time, where he finally learns to take on a more detailed appearance after hundreds of years' practice.

 

[bloodtide]

I think he says at one point he’s a very convincing pigeon to humans but wouldn’t be at all convincing to another pigeon. I think he just carries the badge around with him (presumably it’s waterproof).

Right, but they don't even bother making the pigeon or rat or whatever even slightly 'blurry' or something. They are 100% perfect.

And...oddly, guess Odo could make a Perfect 'cat humanoid' head, right....like a Catian or Kzin. Or any other 'animal head race', right?

I guess Odo could keep his com badge in his belly, even in say rat form........except we never see it when he does the "flow like liquid"......

The one thing I wish they'd explained is why all the Changelings look like Odo, when Odo is attempting to look like the scientist who raised him. I wish they'd thrown in at least a brief explanation of "we took on this form to try and convince you to stay" or something.

The female changeling does say she does the look to make Odo comfortable. Of course, it does not explain while all the rest do it. And even more so, why all the changelings not around DS9 do it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Right, but they don't even bother making the pigeon or rat or whatever even slightly 'blurry' or something. They are 100% perfect

I think we should be reasonable about how to best spend a tight budget here…

 

[jian]

I think we should be reasonable about how to best spend a tight budget here…

Also they never do a close up on the pigeon, so we can’t tell if it looks like it’s made of plasticine. Even if they did, we as humans mostly aren’t able to tell one pigeon from another or where a given pigeon doesn’t look quite right - we’d have to be a pigeon expert or an actual pigeon to do so. So I think that’s an entirely valid explanation. Presumably Odo looks like an entirely convincing human to a cat.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Also they never do a close up on the pigeon, so we can’t tell if it looks like it’s made of plasticine. Even if they did, we as humans mostly aren’t able to tell one pigeon from another or where a given pigeon doesn’t look quite right - we’d have to be a pigeon expert or an actual pigeon to do so. So I think that’s an entirely valid explanation. Presumably Odo looks like an entirely convincing human to a cat.

So long as he doesn’t look like a convincing pigeon to the cat…

 

[bloodtide]

I think we should be reasonable about how to best spend a tight budget here…

Yea, as the hours of make up on Odo saves money. Just like painting all those spots on Dax....

 

[Staffan]

Right, but they don't even bother making the pigeon or rat or whatever even slightly 'blurry' or something. They are 100% perfect.

And...oddly, guess Odo could make a Perfect 'cat humanoid' head, right....like a Catian or Kzin. Or any other 'animal head race', right?

I guess Odo could keep his com badge in his belly, even in say rat form........except we never see it when he does the "flow like liquid"......

According to Memory Alpha, changelings are capable of mimicking small electronics such as combadges.

As for accuracy, Odo is basically a baby changeling. He's only been self-aware for something like 30-40 years (it's not stated on-screen when he was discovered, but the scientist who experimented on him is still alive and not super-old), and changelings can clearly live for several centuries, possibly forever. So it's not strange that older and more experienced changelings can do things he can't.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yea, as the hours of make up on Odo saves money. Just like painting all those spots on Dax....

Makeup is one thing, you want a blurry animal you need to use cgi, super-expensive (and very slow) in those days.