Skip to main content

star trek - What happens to Odo when he is hit by a phaser?


At the end of Deep Space Nine, Season 2, Episode 23 - Crossover (which takes place in the Mirror Universe) Prime Universe Dr. Bashir is fleeing from Mirror Universe Odo and Bashir shoots him with a Bajoran phaser.


Odo promptly explodes like a water ballon.


My question is, what happens to Odo when he is hit by a phaser? Did he actually die (the others seem to think so ...) should he really have exploded into jello?


One thinks of later episodes where phaser sweeps are used to find Changelings (however, on stun.)


The scene in question ...



enter image description here



enter image description here


enter image description here




Answer



It is specifically mentioned in "Chimera" that metal weapons (in this case a dagger) cannot hurt a changeling. From this it is easy to deduce that other weapons CAN hurt a changeling.


Considering how a phaser works (it fires "nadion particles"), the weapon most likely has an effect on what it hits quite different from the effects of a bullet or other non-energy weapon. Whatever "nadion particles" do when they hit matter that isn't a gas, they obviously would do it to shapehifters too. We see solids die when hit by a phaser beam, but we don't usually see them lose a specific limb or whatever is hit. The effect is apparently common to the entire body hit.


"Extreme Measures" tells us that nadion particles were also tried as a tool to cure Odo's disease (they didn't work). Since the disease affected the entire body it is unlikely the particles were meant to "cut" through a specific part of it. They clearly affected the entire body or at least the body mass surrounding the impact zone.


So clearly Odo died when hit by a phaser set to kill. There is no reason to assume that he didn't. (It was also confirmed by a Klingon on the station.)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more