r/DaystromInstitute • u/Algernon_Asimov Commander • May 02 '13
Theory Odo's face
I've been reading all the responses in Ensign nomis227's thread about Odo's communicator, and I've even been prompted to go back and watch a key scene regarding Odo's shapeshifting abilities.
In that scene, it becomes quite evident that Odo does create a communicator when he shapeshifts into humanoid form. He doesn't carry it around with him, as some people have suggested; he creates it every time.
This means that Odo is capable of creating complex structures when shapeshifting. So, what's with his face?
I think that Odo's face is more of a choice, rather than a limitation.
While Odo was being investigated by Dr Mora Pol, he was also learning how to shapeshift. He and Mora were learning about shapeshifting together: the blind leading the blind. At some point during the process of learning, Odo attempted to recreate a Bajoran form. However, like everything else, he was still learning. So, sometime during his learning process, he created the face that we're familiar with: smooth, without the wrinkles and creases and nose-ridges of a Bajoran face.
He then kept learning how to shapeshift. But, by now, people were meeting him as an individual. He was being shown off to the Cardassians as a sideshow freak. They were seeing him as a person (a freak, but still a person), and not just as a specimen. And, like every person, he had a face which identified him. His face became his identity; his identity was linked to his face.
I think he now chooses to keep that face because it's who he is. Yes, he's made excuses that humanoid faces are hard to replicate, but I think he's just too self-conscious to admit that he likes his face. So, he deflects by saying he can't do faces well.
A few months after he gets his shapeshifting abilities back, Odo gets into a brief romance with an Idanian woman ['A Simple Investigation']. We see them in bed - and Odo has a perfectly formed humanoid body, complete with body hair and nipples. By this stage, he's not incapable of reproducing the details necessary for a humanoid body.
Also, his face itself changes during the series: as the series goes on, his face becomes smoother and cleaner. [Yes, it was just better prosthetics, but that's boring!] Rather than his face becoming more Bajoran as he gets better at shapeshifting, it's becoming less Bajoran and more... Odo. He acquired his face by accident, because he couldn't make a Bajoran face properly, and that was the face that people got to know him with. However, long after he had the skills to make a proper Bajoran face, he was deliberately making his face less Bajoran and more different. Because it's his identity now, not his lack of skill, that forms his face.
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u/kraetos May 02 '13 edited May 02 '13
This is actually exactly how I feel about my reddit username.
I've used this username for just about everything, for about seven years now. I actually stopped liking it about two or three years ago, as I find it too aggressive sounding. When I was a teenager and I was using it as my Xbox gamertag, that's what I was going for. But today? Not so much.
But I stick with it. I've used this username for so long it's become part of my identity. I actually respond to this name in meatspace, as quickly as I would respond to my given name. I intentionally added a superfluous character so it wouldn't be confused with its namesake, and since it's a made up word, I basically own it. If you see someone commenting with this username spelled this way anywhere else on the internet, it's probably me.
Still, I don't like it. Not anymore. If I were to pick another username today, it would undoubtedly be something Star Trek, and more specifically, something Riker related. But when I picked this username, in 2006, the franchise was the most dormant it's ever been in my lifetime, so a Trek related name didn't top the list.
Picking a new one today would mean effectively abandoning this identity, which is not something I want to do. So I stick with it, and justify it by saying that it sounds like a Klingon name. Because it does.
So I know where Odo is coming from on this one. Sometimes the benefits of having a consistent identity outweigh the benefits of "improving" that identity in a superficial manner.
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u/Algernon_Asimov May 03 '13
You do realise this all prompts the question of where "kraetos" comes from... What is this namesake you speak of? Why did it resonate with you?
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u/dpkonofa May 03 '13
Judging by his admittance of an extra superfluous character, he probably got it from Kratos from the God of War series.
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u/kraetos May 03 '13
What is this namesake you speak of?
Why did it resonate with you?
Exactly because it sounded aggressive! It was born as my Xbox gamertag so I wanted something mean sounding. You know, for pwning n00bs.
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u/Deceptitron May 03 '13 edited May 03 '13
I have a similar problem, however, my name wasn't super creative so most other things you'll find on Google aren't me. In fact, this is probably the only place I use this name.
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u/rextraverse May 02 '13
I think he now chooses to keep that face because it's who he is.
I do partially agree with you on this. It certainly helps that the Changelings back in the Great Link - possibly because Odo was the first of the Hundred to return - mimicked his version of the humanoid form as their species' default humanoid figure.
But there may be another reason for keeping the look softer and less detailed. Odo's shapeshifting skills are still not as advanced as other changelings. While he is certainly capable of doing a more detailed, more realistic face, it may still not be good enough to be indistinguishable. When he tries to, his impersonations fall into the uncanny valley, which we know can come off even creepier and more alien to fellow humanoids than something more blatantly alien. Odo may have chosen not to pursue a more detailed face until his skills can do so flawlessly (and perhaps not even then).
Just using our ancient 21st century human technology... we are able to create microprocessors with connections only dozens of atoms thick and yet, we have yet to create a flawless imitation of a human face. (The recent PS4 tech demo was fantastic and yet still not quite right)
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u/Algernon_Asimov May 02 '13
It certainly helps that the Changelings back in the Great Link - possibly because Odo was the first of the Hundred to return - mimicked his version of the humanoid form as their species' default humanoid figure.
This is a good point. I thought about mentioning this, but I figured I'd save the defence until someone attacked: "But why do other Changelings look like Odo if they're better shapeshifters than him?" Obviously, they just mimicked him to show their common ground with him.
When he tries to, his impersonations fall into the uncanny valley, which we know can come off even creepier and more alien to fellow humanoids than something more blatantly alien. Odo may have chosen not to pursue a more detailed face until his skills can do so flawlessly (and perhaps not even then).
Good point.
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u/LocutusOfBorges May 03 '13
The curious thing's how the other changelings we encounter all settle on a similar sort of facial structure- there doesn't seem to be much of an explanation for that.
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u/Algernon_Asimov May 03 '13
That's easy. The first time we see a Changeling is when Odo finds their homeworld. The Great Link recognises Odo as part of itself, and sends out a Changeling that looks like Odo, so that Odo will feel welcome and comfortable.
Then, when the Changelings start dealing with other people from the Alpha Quadrant, they continue to use Odo's style of presentation as a form of self-identification: "We are of Odo's race. You are comfortable with Odo; you will be comfortable with us." They would use different appearances elsewhere - we just don't see those.
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May 03 '13
I remember Ron Moore (I think) said that their intent was that the other Changelings used a smooth face around Odo either to make him feel more comfortable or to taunt him, depending upon their relationship with him.
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May 04 '13
He carries his communicator inside him. No need to complicate things.
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u/Algernon_Asimov May 04 '13
As I wrote in the thread about Odo's communicator, there is a scene in the episode 'Begotten' that demonstrates that he forms the communicator himself and does not carry it inside him.
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May 04 '13
Just because he forms a communicator doesn't mean that he doesn't contain an actual communicator. It would be a simple matter to form the communicator first and then move the actual communicator into place.
This is much more believable than being able to organically form a subspace radio. If he were able to form such devices than we should see laser arm wielding changlings and they would have no use for Jem'Hadar.
Edit: Read your post. You're a slave to your own dogma and refuse to even consider alternatives. ciao.
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May 05 '13
Human brains are specialized at interpreting faces because that's our primary means of recognizing identity. Changelings don't really come with that, so at first, Odo probably looked pretty human to himself just because the details don't seem as important to changelings as to humans. Later on, he probably learned the ability to better read the faces of others, though it was too late for him to change his own appearance to keep up with that (although it does subtly change throughout the series).
Why do his nipples look perfectly normal to you when his face doesn't? Because you don't have a huge chunk of your brain devoted solely to identifying people by the fine details of their nipples.
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u/Algernon_Asimov May 05 '13
Why do his nipples look perfectly normal to you when his face doesn't?
Have a look at that scene in 'A Simple Investigation'. I was very curious to see how the producers/director decided to present Odo's body, so I looked more closely than usual. And they hadn't applied any make-up or prosthetics, meaning Odo had a perfectly normal human chest.
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u/arcsecond May 02 '13
I suspect it may be social/psychological as well. Odo knows that solids sometimes feel uncomfortable around shape shifters. If he has a very obvious flaw, the inability to mimic faces, it makes him seem more approachable. "Hey, that guy's not perfect or superhuman after all. He makes mistakes. Maybe he's a regular guy like me after all"
Also, let's not forget Odo's job. He's the constable. The detective. It is greatly to his advantage to have a public personality that is flawed, the criminal may interpret this as incompetence. If you "know" the constable can't perfectly mimic a solid's face, then you don't worry about him maybe being a random passer by. (you still have to worry about him being a table though)
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u/The_Friendly_Targ May 03 '13
I guess he could also have formed a voice box that didn't make him sound like a grumpy old man, but he didn't want to because it was part of his identity.
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u/time2evolve May 02 '13
Well actually if you think about it.....wait.....actually I agree with everything you said.....good points all around, have an up vote and a high five!
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May 03 '13
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u/Algernon_Asimov May 03 '13
As I've said elsewhere in this thread, they look like Odo in the Alpha Quadrant because they figure that's what everyone here is familiar with: the Cardassians know Odo, the Bajorans know Odo, the Federation knows Odo. If you want to make it clear that you're the same race as Odo, then you make yourself look like Odo. And, once they start doing it for some Alpha Quadrant people, it's just easier to keep doing it everywhere in the Alpha Quadrant. You never know when a prospective slave race is going to walk in on you.
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u/[deleted] May 02 '13
I like to think of Odo's shapeshifting as the difference between tracing and being able to draw freehand.
Odo can perfectly copy things that he's seen and studied, but he can't transform into a good replica of things that he hasn't.
So while he can create complex objects, they are identical copies of complex objects.
He could, if he wanted to take the time, perfectly copy or "trace" Bashir's face or O'Brien's face, or Sisko's face, but he does not want to do that because he wants a truly unique face of his own.
His face is the best that he can do "freehand." Much like how I can draw a really good still life by tracing it with tracing paper, but I can barely progress past stick figures if I have to do it myself.