Star Trek's Shapeshifting Changelings Explained

The female changleing in a cave

Despite not being as well known as Klingons, Romulans, or the Borg, the Changelings may be the most deadly foe the Federation and Starfleet have ever faced. Introduced in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," a series set on a former Cardassian space station orbiting a wormhole leading to the distant Gamma Quadrant, the Changelings would quickly form the backbone for the entire series-long story. That they were the same race as the station's enigmatic security chief Odo added another layer to the story. 

Not only do the Changelings wield tremendous powers that allow them to alter their shape and form, but they are also rulers of a vast interstellar empire. With the ability to steal another person's identity and a galactic army at their disposal, they are a terrifying threat that added suspense, thrills, and chills to "Star Trek."

More recently, the Changelings have returned to the franchise after a decades-long absence, first in a brief appearance in an episode of "Star Trek: Discovery." However, Season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard" sees them return in full force to plague the Federation. If it's been a while since you've watched "Deep Space Nine" or aren't familiar with it, you may be looking for a bit of a refresher. From their long history and strange biology to their part in the dreaded Dominion, as architects of the greatest war that "Star Trek" has ever seen, here's a brief primer on the shapeshifting Changelings.

The Changeling's real life origins revealed

The Changelings didn't debut until the "Deep Space Nine" Season 3 premiere episode "The Search," but their conception goes back to an earlier directive from producers. Specifically, the showrunners wanted to create a malevolent foe from the Gamma Quadrant that would help give the series its own flavor. According to the producer Ira Steven Behr, they were nervous. "We can't risk it all on one race of villains," he said in the documentary "What We Left Behind." Instead, they set out to create three evil adversaries, hoping that one would prove popular — and they wanted to make them all terrifying.

"We're gonna make them as scary as any villains you can possibly find," Behr said in the "Deep Space Nine Companion." He told his writers to read Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"  trilogy as research, and the result was the Dominion — an incredibly powerful and ancient group that ruled the Gamma Quadrant. The Jem'Hadar were their foot soldiers, the Vorta were what Behr called 'the face men,' and the Founders of the Dominion were revealed as Odo's shapeshifting people in a shocking twist.

As a result of this change, Odo, played by Rene Auberjonois, became one of the most important characters in the series thanks to his connection to the villains of the multi-season story arc that would dominate the remaining seasons.

The Changelings distant origins explained

Now that we know how the Changelings were created by writers and producers, how did they come to be in the world of "Star Trek"? If we are to believe a story told by the Vorta, their origins date back eons, and they were once solid lifeforms just like humans, Vulcans, or Klingons. Eventually, they evolved into the shapeshifters we know, and their society evolved alongside them as they set out to explore the stars and learn about the galaxy. Unfortunately, when they encountered other populated worlds, they were not greeted with open arms.

Instead, they were met with intolerance and even cruelty for no other reason than their non-solid state. As shapeshifters, they were distrusted by what they called mono-forms — ordinary beings who are confined to a single shape — who they more commonly referred to as "solids." According to the legend, the changelings were hunted by the solids and given the derogatory moniker of "changelings," which they would later co-opt in defiance of the prejudice they faced. They eventually found a haven from the solids in the Omarion Nebula, a remote region where they established a home. 

Eventually, though, the Changelings realized that the only way to overcome the bigotry and intolerance of the solids was to control them. In order to conquer and enslave the rest of the galaxy, they'd first have to build an army.

They're considered gods

In the episode "Treachery, Faith and the Great River," a dying Vorta named Weyoun-6 tells Odo the story of how the Changelings founded the Dominion. According to this Weyoun, a Changeling once found itself on the run from a group of abusive solids, and a race of primitive, ape-like people helped hide the shapeshifter, saving its life. From then on, the Changeling vowed to reward the creatures who had saved it, later using their knowledge of genetics to advance their biology and create the Vorta, a highly intelligent, cunning race that would serve the Founders in all things.

Beneath the Vorta are the Jem'Hadar, a race of genetically engineered soldiers who want nothing more than to obey the Founders and are among the most efficient killers in the "Star Trek" canon. They live short lifespans but are bred quickly, aging into adulthood in a matter of days, and are kept docile thanks to an addiction to a chemical compound called Ketracel-white. But the Founders also engineered both the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar to worship them as gods, as they are, in a very real way, the masters of their creation.

Except for in the most extreme circumstances, it is nearly impossible for either race to defy the Founders. With an undying loyalty, the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar have helped assure the Changeling's supremacy and the Dominion's endless rule of the Gamma Quadrant.

Changeling biology

As shapeshifters, the Changelings have biology unlike any other race in "Star Trek." Their "morphogenic matrix" allows them to take on not just other shapes but other states of matter, too. They can hide in plain sight as a human, an Andorian, or a Tellarite, able to accurately mimic any lifeform nearly instantly. They can even replicate their voice simply by hearing it, though Constable Odo has never been able to quite master these skills.

However, their shapeshifting isn't limited to just people, as Changelings can just as easily become a tree, a rock, or even equipment with a reflective surface. We have seen Changelings become water, vapor, and even fire. Still, their biology has one serious drawback — they must regenerate in their natural, liquid state at least once every 16 hours. We've seen this weakness cause problems for Constable Odo, who must regenerate at least one hour each day by reverting to his liquid form and collecting himself in a small pail that he keeps in his quarters. 

In addition, if any part of a Changeling's body is cut off, removed, or otherwise separated from them, it will revert to its liquid state almost immediately. This is how Starfleet, at first, was able to detect Changelings hiding among them by drawing a blood sample. Of course, the Changelings eventually found a way around this measure, presumably by collecting the blood of the people they were disguised as and releasing it on cue during any blood test.

The Great Link

Since they need to regenerate frequently, and due to the energy required to hold a solid form, Changelings prefer to spend the majority of their time in a liquid state. When they communicate they rarely do so verbally, as they prefer to meld together into what is referred to as "linking," which is a bit like mixing two cups of water together. When linked, Changelings cease to be individuals, merging into what is, in essence, one being. In effect, there are no true individuals among Changelings, only parts of the whole who gain brief periods of individuality when separated from the Link.

As such, the Changeling homeworld is essentially one giant ocean comprised of themselves in what is called the Great Link. During their lifespan they can become individuals to explore the galaxy and return home to the Great Link to share what they've learned. Described as "a merging of form and thought, the sharing of idea and sensation," the Great Link is a place of comfort for Changelings. However, this Great Link, covering nearly the entire surface of a planet in the Omarion Nebula, also makes a tempting target. 

In the two-part "Deep Space Nine" episode, "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast," the Romulan secret police known as the Tal Shiar teamed up with the Cardassian intelligence agency the Obsidian Order to destroy the Changeling homeworld. Unfortunately for the Alpha Quadrant, this all turned out to be a ruse by the Founders to eliminate both factions.

Odo and the Hundred

Though they prefer to remain in the Great Link, the Changelings still thirst for more knowledge of the galaxy. To that end, they dispatched 100 infant Changelings out amongst the stars, which they hoped would come to live among the solids and then one day return home to the Great Link to share what they had learned. When Odo met his people and discovered the Founders, he realized that he was one of these Hundred. However, now that he had spent time among the Bajorans and the Federation, he saw his people as the enemy.

While Odo refused to rejoin them, the urge to be a part of the Great Link persisted. Eventually, he'd encounter two more members of the Hundred. In the episode "The Begotten," a dying Changeling child is discovered, unable to shapeshift, and Odo takes it upon himself to become a parent to the naive, formless creature. While the Changeling eventually dies, it is absorbed into Odo and helps resolve a season-long story that had seen Constable Odo forced into a solid, humanoid shape by his people.

Later, in the episode "Chimera," Odo meets a Changeling named Laas, who has lived among another race of people for the past century. He agrees with Odo that the Founders are misguided and invites him to join his search for other lost shapeshifters to form a new, better version of the Great Link. Odo regretfully declines, feeling a duty to his friends on Deep Space Nine.

They are obsessed with order

As a result of their natural state of oneness in the Great Link, there is rarely — if ever — any disagreement or discord among their race. In fact, it's established on multiple occasions that "no Changeling has ever harmed another," a point that is thrown in Odo's face when he betrays his people and murders a Changeling saboteur in the Season 3 finale, "The Adversary." It is this act that forces the Changelings to force Odo into a solid form in the Season 4 storyline. While Odo is unlike the galaxy-conquering Changelings he comes from, he does share their innate need to bring order to chaos, which some have likened to a biological drive.

This is partly what makes Constable Odo such an efficient security officer and investigator, as his desire to bring order made him a ruthless pursuer of justice in a chaotic environment like the Cardassian space station Terek Nor, which eventually became Deep Space Nine. However, for the rest of his people, this means ruling the galaxy, as they see solids as chaotic creatures which are always fighting amongst themselves. 

Ultimately, the Changelings — as Founders of the Dominion — view their conquering tactics as a means of helping those races achieve peace and order, even if they have to enslave them and break them of their desire for freedom to achieve it.

They plotted to destabilize the Alpha Quadrant

Upon discovering the wormhole, the Changelings were initially content to stay in the Gamma Quadrant. However, as the Federation and other Alpha Quadrant powers made more and more excursions into their territory, the Changelings knew that the chaos on the other side of the galaxy would soon threaten them. In their first meeting with the Federation, they ran an elaborate simulation with the crew of Deep Space Nine to see how they would react to a Dominion presence in the Alpha Quadrant, determining that they would be met with open hostility.

In response, the Changelings began staging plots to destabilize the Alpha Quadrant to make it easier to conquer. After plotting to dismantle the Cardassian and Romulan intelligence agencies, the Changelings infiltrated Starfleet in an effort to trigger a war between the Federation and the Tzenkethi in "The Adversary," revealing the extent of the Changeling threat for the first time.

The story that brought Worf to "Deep Space Nine" also sees a Changeling posing as a high-ranking Klingon official and sparking a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire that risks decimating both sides. At the same time, Changelings begin replacing key individuals on Earth, precipitating a militaristic coup that is only thwarted by Captain Sisko. When these plots are foiled, the Federation knows that a war with the Dominion is all but inevitable.

The Dominion War explained

Following the failed attempt to force the Federation and Klingon Empire into destroying each other, the Changelings lead the Dominion deeper into direct conflict with the galactic powers of the Alpha Quadrant. They are aided by the Cardassians, who join the Dominion, fortifying their forces, and all-out war is quickly declared on the Federation and the Klingons . In what became a high point for "Deep Space Nine," the Dominion War breaks out, and what was truly groundbreaking for "Star Trek" was that victory for the Federation did not seem assured.

In fact, the Dominion succeeds in conquering Deep Space Nine in a status quo shaking story. Later, in what is generally regarded as one of the series' best episodes , "In the Pale Moonlight," Sisko takes desperate action to force the Romulans to join the Federation and Klingon alliance to tip the balance of power. The longer the war drags on, the more it seems like the Changelings would wind up taking over the Alpha Quadrant, as millions of lives were lost. 

What eventually turns the tide, however, is the Cardassians themselves, who rise up to fight back against the Dominion. Led by former villain Damar, the Cardassian rebels help the alliance topple the Dominion and push them back into the Gamma Quadrant. Of course, they aren't alone, as they have a little help from Starfleet's own clandestine intelligence agency along the way.

Section 31's genocidal gambit

At the height of the Dominion War, the Changelings have driven the Federation off of Deep Space Nine. Odo stays on the station along with Major Kira, with plans of helping to sabotage the Dominion, though he often "links" with the leader of the Changelings, causing fears that he has joined their cause. What he doesn't realize is that he has inadvertently passed a deadly genetic disease to the rest of the Changelings, threatening to kill their entire species. It's later revealed that this disease is the work of Section 31, a covert Starfleet intelligence agency willing to go to extraordinary lengths to secure the safety of the Federation.

Led by Director Luther Sloan, Section 31 developed a pathogen that would infect Changelings and break down their molecular structure, making it harder for them to revert to their liquid state. Eventually, unable to assume their liquid form, they would deteriorate and die. Covertly, Section 31 infects Odo with the pathogen with hopes that he will pass it to his people — and that's exactly what happens. A last, desperate, genocidal gambit, Section 31 is willing to wipe out the entire species of Changelings to end the war. 

Unfortunately, rather than convince the Changelings to surrender, it spurs them to fight to the death, promising to kill untold billions before they are exterminated.

Facing Alpha Quadrant justice

It's worth noting that the Dominion War wasn't the only ongoing story that weaved its way through seven seasons of "Deep Space Nine." The story of Captain Sisko and his connection to the Bajoran prophets is also front and center, and in the series finale, both come to a head. While Sisko battles with a demonic entity on Bajor, the greatest starship battle in "Star Trek" history takes place, with the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, and their new Cardassian allies hoping to defeat the Dominion once and for all. However, the Changelings refused to give an inch, even as their hope for victory dwindled.

It was only thanks to Odo that the Changelings finally give in. After being cured of the disease developed by Section 31 — thanks to the efforts of Dr. Bashir and Chief O'Brien in the episode "Extreme Measures." Odo links with the leader of the Changelings and heals them as well. He is also able to convince them to seek peace and avert total annihilation, but it comes at a great personal cost. 

While the Changeling's leader remains in the Alpha Quadrant to face justice, Odo rejoins the Great Link in the Gamma Quadrant where he can cure his people and hopefully teach them compassion and empathy to end their destructive ways. As far as we know, Odo never returns from The Great Link.

A rogue faction resurfaces

In the "Star Trek: Picard" Season 3 episode "Seventeen Seconds" we discover in a shocking twist that the Changelings have returned to "Star Trek" after more than 20 years. What's worse, however, is that they have infiltrated Starfleet. They have an agent aboard the USS Titan, while others are involved in a plot to steal a deadly weapons from Daystrom Station.

Former Enterprise security chief Worf has been aware of this conspiracy and has been tracking down the threat. Thankfully, he is now aided by former Picard ally Raffi Musiker. Given Worf's experiences on "Deep Space Nine," he would seem to be the perfect man for the job. In fact, according to Worf, he was alerted to this rogue faction by his old friend Odo, who is still a part of the Great Link in the Gamma Quadrant. 

It seems that after Dominion surrendered in the final episode of "Deep Space Nine," there was a schism within the Changelings for the first time, as a group of shapeshifters broke away and refused to accept defeat. Now it would seem that this faction is looking to reignite the war with the Federation and conquer the Alpha Quadrant once and for all.

Deep Space Nine: Why the Dominion Founders Chose to Look Like Odo

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine introduced the Changelings, founders of the Dominion, but why did they all choose to look like Odo the DS9 Security Chief?

Quick Links

The odo character defined deep space nine's changelings, odo's changeling friend establishes the universal nature of his look, the dominion founders wanted to appear inviting to odo, the dominion founders kept odo's look for real-world reasons.

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine introduced the new alien species the Changelings, starting with security chief Odo.
  • It was too difficult for Odo to mimic faces, hence his smooth-skinned appearance and the Dominion Founders had the same appearance.
  • Even though they could look fully humanoid, they chose Odo's look for several narrative and real-world reasons.

When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted in January 1993, the series introduced fans to new characters and alien species. Perhaps the most intriguing was the mysterious shapeshifter Odo, who could take on any form but had trouble with faces. When the powerful Changelings, the founders of the villainous Dominion, were revealed, they chose to look like Odo despite being able to replicate humanoid faces perfectly. The detail, conceived of for practical, real-world reasons, inadvertently revealed a lot about these characters.

Deep Space Nine began with a request from the late Bradon Tartikoff, then-head of Paramount Studios, for a sci-fi series like The Rifleman. The classic Western TV show followed the adventures of a father and son on the frontier of the Wild West. Captain Benjamin Sisko and his son Jake were meant to fill that role, and the Deep Space Nine station was the "frontier town" serving as the setting for the show. Quark was the humble bartender. Major Kira Nerys was the local gunslinger not fond of visitors. Odo, lovingly called "Constable," was the station security chief, standing in for the irascible, no-nonsense sheriff. One reason he was so good at his job was he could adopt other forms from stationary objects to simple animals like birds or mice. Still, even he wasn't aware of where he came from or if there were any others like him in the galaxy. When he eventually found his people, he wished he hadn't. The Dominion Founders became the chief antagonists of the series, using their abilities in more sinister ways. Yet, if they could look like anything or anyone, why did they choose to look like Odo when they took humanoid form?

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The introduction of Constable Odo in Deep Space Nine wasn't meant to set up the series villains but, rather, to tie into an old Star Trek tradition. Series co-creator, the late Michael Piller, explained this rationale in DS9 's DVD release's special features. "Equally important was to find the character that represented the traditions of Spock and Data. The outsider who looks in at humanity, and that, of course, became Odo." Piller also notes his name was originally "Otto," but co-creator Rick Berman added the "d." This is later described as the Bajoran word for "unknown sample." Because his natural state was gelatinous, the scientist who discovered Odo didn't know he was a sentient creature.

Odo resented the "solids," as humanoids came to be called because he was initially forced to shapeshift for Bajorans' amusement. He adopted his look, including his hairstyle, after the scientist, named Dr. Mora Pol. Teased in Season 2, the Dominion was an anti-Federation in the Gamma Quadrant. They were a ruthless, brutal authoritarian force who sought to bring order to a chaotic galaxy. The late René Auberjonois, who played Odo, described him as "sort of a curmudgeon and he’s a very rigid man," in Captain's Logs: The Complete Star Trek Voyages by Edward Gross and published during DS9 's first year . Eventually, the writers decided to make Odo's people the mysterious Dominion Founders to keep Odo's story fresh and interesting.

The Changelings, like Odo, resented solids. However, instead of observing and learning to appreciate them, they wanted to dominate them. They presented themselves as gods to their subordinates, specifically the Vorta and Jem'Hadar. During the run of DS9 , many humanoid characters are revealed to be Changelings in disguise, like Dr. Julian Bashir . Since the Dominion Founders can mimic human faces easily, it's almost touching they choose to look like Odo once he finally discovers them. Despite his resistance to their society, they yearned to have him back in their society, called "The Great Link."

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Upon discovering his people, the character known only as "the Female Changeling" or "the Female Shapeshifter" appeared, played by Salome Jens. She adopts the same smooth-faced look of Odo, down to his hairstyle. However, another changeling character established that Odo's look is representative of a changeling still learning to master their abilities. Odo was one of a hundred changeling infants sent into the galaxy to learn about humanoids and return with that knowledge to the Great Link. Laas, played by General Martok actor J.G. Hertzler, meets Odo while traveling through space (as his own ship).

Discovered by a different race of humanoids centuries earlier, Laas is further along in his development than Odo. In one scene, he's able to change shape into fog. Yet, when he's a humanoid he has a similar appearance to Odo, but his face is shaped differently to look like the aliens that discovered him. Laas also had a unique wage of speaking, meant to make him feel more alien, though Hertzler took his inspiration from a Star Trek acting legend. "It's me doing my best imitation of somebody else doing William Shatner doing Kirk !" he said in The Deep Space Nine Companion by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block.

Laas resents solids, just as the Dominion Founders do. He kept his face the way it was out of defiance because it reminded other humanoids that he was different. Yet, since both Odo and Laas struggled with faces in their "infancy," it suggests this is a common approach to taking humanoid form for inexperienced changelings. However, the Female Changeling is implied to be ancient and very adept with her skills. She offers to teach Odo his full potential when they meet. This, most of all, is why the Dominion Founders choose to look like Odo in their "natural" humanoid forms.

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During a mission in the Gamma Quadrant, the Deep Space Nine crew discovers a "rogue planet," and Odo feels an irresistible urge to return to it. There he discovers the Great Link and learns of his heritage. He is apparently the first of the infants sent into the galaxy to return to them. So, upon seeing Odo, the Dominion Founders chose to adopt a similar appearance. This is meant to show Odo a face that, finally, looks like his own. Even when he opposes the Founders, and becomes the first one of their race to harm a fellow changeling, they never give up on him.

DS9 writer and producer Ronald D. Moore took to the early internet service America Online to chat with fans and answer questions. When a fan asked if the Founders were connected to Dr. Mora, whom Odo modeled his appearance after, he disabused that notion. "They did this initially as a compliment and way of reaching out to their long-lost Changeling, and later they kept doing it as a dig and reminder to him of his own limitations," he wrote . Yet, even as a "dig," it is still an outstretched hand to their prodigal child.

Rather than emulating humans, Bajorans, or any of Odo's solid friends, they choose to emulate his appearance as a reminder that he is not alone. This creates distance between Odo and his DS9 family, even after he enters into a romantic relationship with Kira. Despite all they give him, they can never be his equal or his community the way the Great Link can. Still, there are many scenes where the Dominion Founders are not in Odo's presence. Yet, they still adopt his form when talking to their own subordinate species or later Dominion recruits, the Cardassians and the Breen.

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While there are narrative reasons for the Female Changeling to keep Odo's likeness out of his presence, there is also a practical one. Producers needed viewers to know that a character was a Dominion Founder. When the Female Changeling maintains her Odo-like appearance in scenes where she is with her allies, producers want the audience to know it is the same character. Yet, it can go beyond that as well.

Shapeshifting takes effort, including maintaining a humanoid form. They have to revert to their gelatinous state for regeneration after about 16 hours. So, when the Female Changeling needs to take on a humanoid shape, keeping her smooth-faced appearance perhaps takes less effort than if she mimicked a Cardassian or other species. It also serves as a reminder of just who she is to them: a "god."

There's also a tactical element to looking like Odo for the Dominion Founders. They are secretive people, and thus adopt this form as a way to not remind solids they can take on their likeness. It's a way to downplay their abilities, even amongst their own people. Odo defined the Changelings in Star Trek , and thus it makes perfect sense they take on his form when adopting a solid shape. Done to be inviting to him, it served as a constant reminder to everyone else in Deep Space Nine just how different they were.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

In the vicinity of the liberated planet of Bajor, the Federation space station Deep Space Nine guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the galaxy.

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Salome Jens

shapeshifter star trek deep space nine

Series: DS9, TNG

Character(s): Female Changeling, Ancient Humanoid

Salome Jens is an actress best known for her portrayal of the Female Changeling in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She previously appeared as the ancient humanoid in the Star Trek: The Next Generation sixth season episode “The Chase”.

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Memory Alpha

Salome Jens

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Jens was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is the sister-in-law of Star Trek: Insurrection actor Anthony Zerbe as he has been married to her sister, Arnette Jens, since October 7, 1962.

Jens began acting in stage productions in the 1950s. She made her Broadway debut in a play called Sixth Finger in a Five Finger Glove , which only ran for two appearances in October 1956 and co-starred Bill Zuckert . She followed this with performances in such plays as The Disenchanted , A Far Country , After the Fall , Tartuffe (co-starring with Graham Jarvis and Laurence Luckinbill ), and A Patriot for Me . She made her feature film debut in Terror from the Year 5000 (1958, co-starring with Ward Costello ). The following year, she appeared in a made-for-television adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard , also featuring Star Trek: The Original Series guest actor John Abbott .

Salome Jens, 1960s

Salome Jens in the 1960s

She would go on to play the titular character of the 1961 film Angel Baby . She also starred The Fool Killer (1965, with Original Series guest star Arnold Moss ). Possibly her most famous film role came in 1966, when she starred opposite Rock Hudson in Seconds , featuring Original Series guest actors Jeff Corey and William Wintersole . In 1972, she starred in Savages , in which a race of tiny mud-people follow a croquet ball through a forest.

On television, Jens and Barry Atwater co-starred The Outer Limits episode "Corpus Earthling" in 1963, in which Robert C. Johnson dubbed the voices of the alien rocks.

From 1976 through 1977, she had a recurring role in the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman , starring Louise Lasser in the title role. Next Generation guest star Graham Jarvis was a regular cast member on that show. Jens and Jarvis later co-starred together in the 1981 TV movie The Two Lives of Carol Letner .

Jens also had a role in the 1977 television movie In the Glitter Palace , as did Anthony Zerbe. In 1979, she starred in the mini-series From Here to Eternity , along with her fellow Deep Space Nine regular guest star Andrew Robinson and Next Generation guest star David Spielberg . Jens and Robinson had previously co-starred together in the 1974 television movie House of Evil .

In 1981, she co-starred with Deep Space Nine guest actress Gail Strickland in the television movie A Matter of Life and Death . That same year, she played the lead in the feature film Harry's War with Elisha Cook , Noble Willingham , and David Ogden Stiers . The following year, she appeared in the television movies Tomorrow's Child with Bruce Davison and Susan Oliver , Uncommon Valor with Nicholas Guest , and Grace Kelly with William Schallert . In 1986, Jens had a role in the film Just Between Friends , which also featured one-time Next Generation guest George D. Wallace . In the same year, she was also the narrator in Clan of the Cavebear .

In 1988, Jens joined the cast of a new series based on Superman. Superboy showcased the "Man of Steel" in his teenage years. Jens played his adoptive mother, Martha Kent. Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Star Trek: Voyager guest star Sherman Howard played Lex Luthor. Many episodes of the series were directed by later Star Trek director Reza Badiyi . The series ran until 1992.

In 1996, she co-starred with W. Morgan Sheppard , Stephen Root , and her Seconds co-star Jeff Corey in the television movie The Lottery . Jens and W. Morgan Sheppard later appeared together in the 2001 thriller Room 101 . In 1998, she appeared in the film I'm Losing You with Ed Begley, Jr. and Frank Langella .

She has also made several guest appearances on the television series L.A. Law , Melrose Place with Malachi Throne , and Falcon Crest . Her other television guest appearances include The Untouchables , The Outer Limits , Gunsmoke , Bonanza , Kojak , Quincy, M.E. , and The Wonder Years (the latter of which featured recurring appearances by Voyager star Robert Picardo ).

Star Trek appearances [ ]

Ancient humanoid TNG: "The Chase"

Appearances as the Female Changeling [ ]

  • " The Search, Part I " ( Season 3 )
  • " The Search, Part II "
  • " Heart of Stone "
  • " Broken Link " ( Season 4 )
  • " Behind the Lines " ( Season 6 )
  • " Favor the Bold "
  • " Sacrifice of Angels "
  • " Treachery, Faith and the Great River " ( Season 7 )
  • " Penumbra "
  • " 'Til Death Do Us Part "
  • " Strange Bedfellows "
  • " The Changing Face of Evil "
  • " The Dogs of War "
  • " What You Leave Behind "

External links [ ]

  • Salome Jens at Wikipedia
  • Salome Jens at the Internet Movie Database
  • Salome Jens at the Internet Broadway Database
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  • 3 Star Trek: The Next Generation
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Shapeshifter Longevity

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You've been living with the solids' concept of time for too long. Let them worry about their meetings, their schedules, their obligations. None of that has anything to do with you. You are a changeling: you're timeless. — The Female Changeling, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , " Favor The Bold "

As the name implies, shapeshifters and their ilk are a varied bunch, even in how they age. Across fiction, many of them live ordinary lifespans (if not ordinary lives), aging and dying like any other muggle in the world... but others get more.

Regardless of whether they're true shapeshifters, transfigured individuals, werefolk, rubber men, these individuals just happen to live longer. Some might have the ability to resist the aging process, turning out to be a lot Older Than They Look , or even continuing on with their adventures while less mutable characters are forced to retire. Others may be blessed with an unusually long lifespan, thriving for hundreds or even thousands of years. A few may even be outright immortal.

The reasons for this vary, and sometimes aren't made apparent in the media in which they appear. Perhaps it's a trait of the species , perhaps it's some quirk of whatever magic or mutation bestowed this power on the character, or perhaps the individual is an immortal being of some kind who has learned to shapeshift. In cases where it's actually explained, this longevity might even be explicitly tied in with the ability to shapeshift . In this case, the cells regenerate every time they take on a new configuration, each new form adopted is specifically a strong and healthy one and the shapeshifter moves on to a new one before accumulating the wear and tear of age, granting the shapeshifter an extended lifespan in the process.

Whatever the case, this character will live a very long time with their power — perhaps forever.

Compare and contrast Shapeshifting Heals Wounds for more immediate forms of shapeshifting-related survival, and Wizards Live Longer , the exclusively magical equivalent of this trope.

  • Fullmetal Alchemist : Envy is an immortal homunculus around one hundred and seventy-five years old, capable of regenerating from even fatal injuries... and they also have the unique power to shapeshift, allowing them to transform into people, animals, monsters or create weapons from their limbs.
  • Martian Manhunter : J'onn J'onzz is an incredibly versatile shapeshifter and Sizeshifter thanks to his Martian physiology. However, some stories indicate that his people are either immortal or just really long-lived: Depending on the Writer , he can be anywhere from a thousand years old to over a million, and in some plots, he's ended up surviving into the 853rd century.
  • Plastic Man : Plastic Man is a Rubber Man and shapeshifter with an incredible repertoire of possible forms, and in keeping with his elastic physique, he either doesn't age or ages extremely slowly. JLA: Obsidian Age takes this same trait all the way into outright immortality: in the aftermath, he's still alive after three thousand years and even able to continue his career as a superhero.
  • As with the source material, Nyarlathotep is an eons-old Lovecraftian deity. Unlike the original works, the comics make it clear that Nyarlathotep really can shapeshift, a fact that he gleefully demonstrates through some disturbing instances of One-Winged Angel .
  • Sysyphyx is a parasitic entity that can take on human form by decapitating a target and slotting herself into their neck stump, allowing her to assume their appearance; she's also capable of shapeshifting without parasitism, allowing her to mimic the loved ones of her targets. Also, as the prequel comic issue "Nemesis" reveals, she's been alive since the days of Atlantis.
  • Hound : Morrigan has the unique power of shapeshifting, her guises ranging from a hooded crow to a Fomorian hag. She alludes to heroes throughout the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages in the ending narration.
  • Spider-Man : Symbiotes like Venom and Carnage are shapeshifters able to mimic things like clothing, mold their bodies into weapons, and can even alter the physical appearance of their hosts. Also, various sources indicate that the Symbiotes are either incredibly long-lived or are literally immortal: in Spider-Man 2099 , the Venom symbiote is still kicking around more than a century after it was initially introduced, while back in main Marvel continuity, symbiote Monster Progenitor All-Black was created billions of years ago and even had the power to bestow immortality upon its host.
  • X-Men : Mystique is one of the most prominent shapeshifters in the comic cast, having the power to mimic just about any humanoid character, enhance her strength, and even sculpt her body into weaponry. She's also over a hundred years old, her shapeshifting and regenerative powers having allowed her to resist the aging process.
  • All Assorted Animorphs AUs : Discussed in "What if morphing changed the user's lifespan?" which opens with the prompt suggesting that the Andalite morphing technology might de-age the Animorphs to the point when they gained the power every time they demorph, making them functionally immortal. However, the chapter itself turns out to be a subversion: because their powers were based on experimental tech unintended for humans, most of the Animorphs find themselves suffering incurable cancer in their forties, and attempting to use the old Shapeshifting Heals Wounds trick only results in the tumours growing back bigger than ever. The chapter ends with the team having long since succumbed to cancer , with only Ax surviving to safeguard the legacy of his departed friends.
  • The mage-surgeons of the Deviant Nations are not only capable of using their biomanipulation in order to create Shapeshifter Weapons and disguise themselves as other humanoids , but the same magic allows them to extend their lifespans. Unlike the Purified , they aren't actually immortal, but they can live for several decades longer than their natural span and keep themselves in fighting shape: Dr Kiln is more than hale enough to fight on the front lines and keep pace with Elphaba, even though as the alternate Boq he's revealed to be as old as the Mentor herself . He's still alive in the Distant Finale , over eighty years in the future, likely putting him well over a hundred and thirty years of age.
  • The Amorphous League practices a brand of shapeshifting so powerful that they eventually transcend all notions of a Shapeshifter Default Form and enter a Nirvana-like state of being known as " Shapelessness ." It's implied that this brings with it an in-built resistance to aging or perhaps even outright immortality, as the First of the Shapeless AKA the alternate Cowardly Lion is still active with no signs of decay more than fifty years after founding the League. In the Distant Finale , he's still alive and kicking alongside Dr Kiln and the alternate Nessa.
  • Subverted when it comes to the children of League members: though it is possible for them to inherit their parent's abilities, they don't inherit any kind of longevity; indeed, almost all children who have manifested shapeshifting powers have reportedly ended up dying young. It's for this reason why the League refuses to institute hereditary membership, but also why the First of the Shapeless has decided not to start a family of his own. Instead, he becomes a surrogate father to the Empress when she is reborn as a baby shapeshifter at the very end of the story.
  • The Childlike Researchers are afflicted with a condition that frequently causes their physical age to randomly oscillate, thanks to a botched attempt to imbue themselves with eternal youth . Elderly scientists and mages at the time of the incident, they haven't aged at all in the last forty to fifty years, but unfortunately, they've spent most of that time being teenagers, children, and even infants . Worse still, the humiliating treatments inflicted upon them by their jailers is eroding their adult minds, reducing them to immortal child prodigies with no memory of anything other than their unique skills. However, Dr Kiln believes that, if given less repressive caretakers, they might eventually learn to consciously control their transformations and retain their memories.
  • NIMONA (2023) : Initially Played for Laughs when Ballister Boldheart struggles to determine how old the rather youthful-looking shapeshifter Nimona actually is, guessing somewhere around ten even though she's seemingly closer to teenage years . Later Played for Drama when it's revealed that Nimona has been alive for a thousand years, being old enough to have befriended the hero Gloreth when she was just a child, even using her powers to make her new friend genuinely happy during their time together. Tragically, Nimona was also demonized as the legendary monster that Gloreth "defeated" after the little girl's parents violently rejected her .
  • Lifechanger : Drew was born in the 1940s and began shapeshifting in early adolescence, showing no sign of true aging in any of the forms he has adopted since then; in his case, his longevity is explicitly tied in with his ability to transform, for the longer he remains in a single shape, the more his body decomposes — a process he can only keep at bay for a few months per body with heavy-duty antibiotics. Worse still, the process of assuming another human being's form reduces the target to a desiccated husk , but the alternative is so much worse that he's forced to continue onwards with his horrific brand of immortality until he can find love. The film ends with Drew failing in his romantic mission and deciding to remain in a single form until he completely decomposes ... only to become a chrysalis and emerge in the form of an old man, gaining a new — if bittersweet — lease on life.
  • The Specials : Subverted. Due to fluoridation of the water in Tacoma and other states in the American northwest, it's common for superheroes from this region to sport shapeshifting Rubber Man powers, as was the case with Stretchie Boy... but unfortunately, the same chemicals that give them their powers are also highly carcinogenic, so rubbery super-heroes don't live very long — to the point that Stretchie Boy himself was dead within six months of joining the team.
  • The Thing (1982) : The eponymous monster is capable of transforming into anyone or anything it's assimilated, allowing it to remain undercover while it continues to assimilate victims across the base. For good measure, it's eventually revealed that the ship it arrived on Earth aboard crashed over a hundred thousand years ago, the Thing having spent the next few millennia dormant in the ice ever since then. The Things confirms that the Thing is essentially immortal, being able to preserve everything connected to its Hive Mind from entropy; unfortunately, it finds the notion of mortality openly horrifying, along with the concept of individuality — so it sets out to cleanse the human race of both through an Assimilation Plot .
  • Lycans are just as immortal as vampires, since both are the result of mutant viruses infecting members of the Corvinus clan; in fact, this longevity is probably the reason why they were chosen as Viktor's daywalking Slave Race rather than humans. For good measure, Selene notes in the intro that the war between the two species has become even more dangerous in recent years is because older lycans are no longer affected by the full moon and can now transform at will .
  • Played with in Underworld: Evolution with the vampire Monster Progenitor , Marcus Corvinus. While he's both a thousand-year-old immortal and capable of transforming into a giant batlike monster, he only recently gained the ability to transform as a result of becoming a vampire-lycan hybrid, as (in this setting) vampires don't normally have any shapeshifting powers.
  • Subverted in the case of Marcus' brother and the Monster Progenitor of the lycans, William Corvinus. Though he's been alive for more than a thousand years in captivity, he's never been able to revert to human form following his initial transformation, so he's just a giant feral wolf-man. And thanks to his older strain of the lycan virus, the same goes for anyone he infects as well — one of the reasons why he was locked up in the first place.
  • Throughout the franchise, Raven Darkholme a.k.a. Mystique is the most prominent and talented example of a shapeshifter among the mutant cast... and, as X-Men: First Class reveals, her mutation dramatically slows the aging process; having grown up alongside Professor X during the 1940s, she's in her sixties by the events of the first film in the franchise, but looks and moves like she's still in her twenties. She'd presumably still be around by the events of Logan — if Jean hadn't accidentally killed her in Dark Phoenix .
  • Subverted in the case of Senator Robert Kelly in X-Men : after being exposed to Magneto's mutation-inducing device, he develops a fluid body that grants him Rubber Man powers, allowing him to escape his prison, survive falling several hundred feet into the ocean, and swim all the way back to the mainland. Unfortunately, it also comes with a case of Power Degeneration that drastically shortens Kelly's lifespan. Within a matter of days after his exposure, it kills him... allowing Mystique to assume his position in the US Senate .
  • Camouflage : The Changeling and the Chameleon are both shapeshifters, and while they possess varying levels of ability, the two of them are effectively immortal thanks to their powers. For good measure, the two of them have been on Earth for millions of years, with the latter killing its way across numerous battlefields and the former spending eons as various sea creatures before finally noticing the presence of human beings and deciding to impersonate one of them. In the intro, it's actually explained that their species evolved shapeshifting as an Adaptive Ability , and once it developed enough to be consciously controlled, it soon adapted to aging as well.
  • Children of the Red King : Shapeshifters are shown to possess incredible longevity, with Yolanda Yewbeam (who was born in 1900) still alive and very much looking her age when in her true form) by the time she is first encountered by series protagonist Charlie Bone in the early 2000s; her father Yorath (who was born in 1850) is also still alive at that point.
  • In the Dean Koontz short story "Hardshell" (as featured in Strange Highways ), the serial killer Karl Skagg and Detective Frank Shaw are both shapeshifting Eldritch Abominations blessed with immortality, not to mention immunity to poison, disease, acid, temperature extremes, and just about anything short of a nuclear blast. "Frank" himself is a good three hundred years older than his opponent and rubs "Skagg's" nose in the fact that the serial killer is barely an infant by the standards of their kind.
  • Echoes Of The Fall : Just about every single character in the trilogy is capable of "Stepping" into the form of the animal of their native tribe. However, most of them live perfectly ordinary human lifespans, grow old, and die in animal form as per tradition... with one notable exception. At the natural ends of their lives, priests of the Snake people will tunnel into the ground in search of the Serpent's coils; should they succeed in their journey, they will be reborn as children — as is the case with Hesprec, the main character's friend and companion in The Wolf And The Tiger, who also switches genders as well. For good measure, they can do this multiple times, with some priests being old enough to remember the fall of previous civilizations.
  • Patternist : Anyanwu's shapeshifting is actually a uniquely powerful Biomanipulation variant. Whereas other psychics only have limited healing powers at best, Anyanwu has perfect control of her body, including reversing the effects of age. She lives for over 600 years and only dies by her own will .
  • Phantoms : The Ancient Enemy is a gigantic Voluntary Shapeshifter that has existed since the time of the dinosaurs, tens of millions of years ago — and the only reason why this is discovered is because said Ancient Enemy is in the habit of transforming into extinct monsters to terrorize its victims.
  • Star Wars Legends : The Shi'ido are a powerful shapeshifting species that can live for up to five hundred years; their members aren't considered fully mature until they turn sixty and can't mimic non-humanoid species until the age of a hundred and fifty. Senior Anthropologist Mammon Hoole — AKA Uncle Hoole of the Galaxy of Fear series — has been a scientist for decades prior to the events of the original trilogy, and is skilled enough to have taken on truly massive forms like Hutts and Whaladons.
  • The Twilight Saga : Werewolves go through puberty and only start aging when they've found a life partner they can be "bonded" to.
  • Web Shifters : Esen-alit-Quar and her fellow shapeshifters are practically immortal, their natural forms being amorphous blue blobs with no recognizable aging process and few needs. In fact, they actually refer to most other races as "ephemerals" for their brief lifespans.
  • Mercy Thompson : All werewolves are The Ageless , though in practice the average lifespan after you get turned is just 10 years (having a ravenous, violent, monstrous interpretation of a wolf bolted onto your soul does not do wonders for your self control). Walkers like Mercy typically live normal-length lives. Unless they're a direct child of their ancestor deity, like Mercy, in which case they may live for hundreds of years .
  • Doom Patrol (2019) : Rita Farr's aging process appears to have stalled following the accident that gave her Rubber Man powers in the 1950s, and as such, she still looks the part of a glamorous Hollywood starlet. Unfortunately, Rita also suffers from a major case of Power Incontinence , so she's spent most of the last seven decades in seclusion at Doom Manor, obsessively watching her old movies, struggling to use her abilities for anything remotely productive, and occasionally melting into a Blob Monster .
  • Legends of Tomorrow : Charlie (introduced in Season 4) is a shapeshifter who can live forever as long as she changes her appearance. When she loses her shapeshifting powers and gets stuck with the appearance of Amaya Jiwe, she freaks out because she is doomed to grow old and die. In season 5, it's revealed that she is one of the Three Fates of Greek mythology, and her two sisters are also immortal and can shape-shift.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine : The Changelings are well-known for their amorphous nature and impressive shapeshifting powers. It's also indicated that they are exceptionally long-lived, perhaps even immortal: in " Chimera ," Laas was living among the Varalans for over two hundred years with no ill effects; Odo, who was part of the same group of Changelings sent out into the galaxy, is implied to be the same age... and in " Children Of Time ," he's found to be the only original crewmember of the Defiant still alive after two centuries trapped in the past — all others having died and been replaced by their descendants (or in Dax's case, later hosts). Not only is Odo showing no signs of decay at a possible four hundred years of age, but he's an even better shapeshifter .
  • The Alpha Shapeshifter is effectively immortal, unlike his children, having been around since he was created by Eve and fathered all other shapeshifters on the planet. Also, as the name implies, he's a shapeshifter — and even more powerful than his children, as he's capable of transforming without shedding his skin.
  • Leviathans are immortal Humanoid Abominations that were created before angels, and are immediately distinguished by their horrifying ability to transform into just about anyone... once they've acquired a sample of the target's DNA.
  • Vampires are a popular variant on this trope, being not only immortal, but also capable of transforming in a wide variety of shapes depending on the legend — the most common shapes including wolves, bats, and clouds of mist.
  • Classical Mythology : Many gods have the ability to shapeshift, and are of course immortal. However, the truest example of this trope in the Greek pantheon is Proteus, who is known almost exclusively for his shapeshifting powers, to the point that his name gave rise to the word "protean," meaning ever-changing or mutable.
  • In the 5th edition, high-level druids (who can all shapeshift into any animal they've seen) get the Timeless Body ability, at which point they age at 10% of the normal rate.
  • Plasmoids are amoeba-like beings that can shape themselves into a facsimile of any sapient entity, form pseudopods , and pour themselves through incredibly narrow spaces. The exact lifespan of the average Plasmoid varies in both official and homebrewed content, ranging from a hundred and thirty years to borderline immortality, but general consensus is that they're quite long-lived.
  • GURPS : In GURPS Shapeshifters , the Enyyn are essentially an entire species of shapeshifting blob monsters that can assume just about any imaginable form provided it doesn't exceed their existing mass . They're also effectively immortal: not only do they not age, but they're extraordinarily resistant to temperature extremes, are completely immune to radiation, and thanks to their abstract body structures, they're very difficult to injure. As such, Enyyn player characters cost a ton of points, especially given that some of the more active ones can be more than a quarter of a million years old . The sample character provided, Narzhal av’Oronad AKA The Conqueror , costs 1200 points and has a stated age of more than two thousand years, having been exiled from his homeworld for psychopathic traits in the eighteen century and adopted Earth as his seat of power in the nineteenth.
  • Mage: The Ascension : Practitioners of the Life Sphere can develop their talents towards healing and transformation, allowing mages with enough skill to become both master shapeshifters and effectively immortal. This is especially true in the case of the Verbena, the traditional masters of the Life Sphere, who even feature an entire subculture of shapeshifters known as the Lifeweavers.
  • Downplayed with the Garou; according to the revised edition of the game, it's quite possible for werewolves to live for up to a hundred and twenty years thanks to their enhanced health and resilience... but because the Garou live such violent lives in defence of Gaia, most of them never get that far.
  • Of all the Changing Breeds in the game, the Rokea weresharks are the only true immortals to be found. On top of being able to take no less than five different forms — including that of a giant shark and an equally giant Shark Man — they are effectively unaging from the moment of their first Change. The only way they can die is violently.
  • Convoy also uses the Reconfiguration Matrix to resurrect Ultra Magnus after his death in Transformers: The★Headmasters , granting him a similar ability to switch forms as necessary. However, since Magnus doesn't carry the Matrix it takes a lot more out of him.
  • Dragon Age: Origins : Shapeshifting is an art that any mage in the game can learn, but it doesn't appear to confer any particular health benefits and its practitioners live no longer or shorter than any other human being. The exception to the rule is Flemeth, the legendary Witch of the Wilds, who is not only capable of feats of shapeshifting that her fellow shapeshifters can only dream of but has been alive for centuries on end. It's indicated that the immortality is actually a consequence of her fusion with the demon inhabiting her, meaning that Flemeth's mastery of shapeshifting is due to having vast quantities of time on her hands. The ultimate twist is that while she has eternal life, she doesn't have eternal youth , so Flemeth has to routinely steal the bodies of her daughters to replace her own.
  • Final Fantasy VII : Vincent Valentine has the ability to transform into various monsters as part of his Limit Break , thanks to the experiments performed on him by Professor Hojo; also, despite being in his fifties or thereabouts, he looks like he's still in his twenties. The short story collection On The Way To A Smile expands on this: when Red XIII worries about outliving all his friends thanks to his long lifespan , Vincent comforts him by revealing that he's actually immortal, allowing him to remain Red's friend for all eternity.
  • Manaketes can live for several thousand years. In Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade a half-manakete describes the purebloods as "almost immortal."
  • The laguz from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn are all capable of transforming into animals, and also live longer than humans: the beast tribes live for around 300-400 years on average, while the bird and dragon tribes are capable of reaching 1000 years of age or more.
  • The Legend of Dragoon : The eponymous heroes can transform into powerful winged forms thanks to the crystalized Dragon spirits in their possession. However, Dragoons apparently age and die like any other human being, though almost all Dragoons on record have died in battle long before reaching anything close to a ripe old age. The one exception to the rule? Rose, who has been alive since the Dragon Campaign over 11,000 years ago thanks to the magical pendant in her possession.
  • Resident Evil Village : Mother Miranda gained the power to shapeshift into just about anyone and anything thanks to her exposure to the Mold , and frequently travels as a murder of crows. Also, given that her daughter was born in 1909, Miranda is easily more than a hundred and twenty years of age, kept alive as she is by the Mold infesting her.
  • Cucuvea AKA the Owl is a Solitary Sorceress with a notable gift for shapeshifting in a setting where non-werewolf shapeshifters are comparatively rare: she can transform herself into an owl, and indeed prefers not to leave her Arboreal Abode except in animal form. She's also incredibly old, having teamed up with Vlad Dracula himself in order to save the world several hundred years ago, and actually recalls the events of previous Ages. For context's sake, an Age is a previous iteration of the universe.
  • Vampire lords, unsurprisingly, can transform into bats in order to escape unwinnable battles. However, in a surprising twist, vampires are not actually immortal in this setting, just exceptionally long-lived: they can live for many millennia on end, but they can die of old age... though given the predatory nature of vampire society, it's much more likely that they'll die in combat first.
  • Samson, Filia's Parasite , is a sapient Shapeshifter Weapon that currently takes the form of Filia's hair - but when prompted, can shape himself into legs, tentacles, blades, whips, drills, and just about anything else that can give Filia an edge in combat. Also, it's indicated that he's been around for a very long time - to the point that he's actually older than the Skull Heart.
  • Double is a Shapeshifting Trickster who can mimic just about anyone or anything and spends her battles as a Perpetually Protean Blob Monster . It's indicated that she's been serving the Skull Heart for centuries, perhaps ever since it came into being. Dialogue in Eliza's storyline indicates that she's actually Queen Lamia, making her almost as old as Samson.
  • Eliza's entire body is made of blood , except for her brain and the Parasite Sekhmet (which has replaced her skeleton). As such, Eliza can shape her body to an incredible extent, forming the blood into wings, snakes, cats, crocodiles, boats, birds, hieroglyphs, bull heads, and more; in victory animations, she even uses this to dress herself in more extravagant clothes. It's also indicated that the blood is used to fuel Sekhmet and keep Eliza young - hence her " charity blood drives " - and that this process has been at work for centuries. Samson, Leviathan, and Double all recognize her from the days of Queen Lamia's reign.
  • Batman Beyond : Inque appears quite youthful in her Shapeshifter Default Form ... and yet, it turns out that she has an adult daughter, so presumably the experiments that turned her into a polymorphic Blob Monster made of Ominous Obsidian Ooze have prevented Inque from aging.
  • Trollhunters : Trolls can live for hundreds of years, and the shapeshifting changelings — who are modified trolls — are no different. Each one is already mature when swapped with a human baby, and while their human form appears to grow in place of the person replaced, hundreds of changelings have gathered on Earth over the years, stretching back as far as 1894.
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shapeshifter star trek deep space nine

Screen Rant

2 classic movies inspired a star trek: ds9 episode (but you wouldn’t know it).

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Armageddon Game" was an important episode for Bashir and O'Brien, but it sadly had to drop its big Hollywood influences.

  • The DS9 episode "Armageddon Game" establishes a strong friendship between O'Brien and Bashir, despite dropping big Hollywood influences.
  • The episode was originally planned to have elements of chase movies like North by Northwest and Midnight Run, but budget constraints changed the script.
  • "Armageddon Game" became a smaller character piece due to budget limitations, focusing on O'Brien and Bashir's time in an abandoned facility.

Two classic Hollywood movies inspired Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 13, "Armageddon Game", but few of those influences appear on-screen. "Armageddon Game" is widely regarded as the DS9 episode that establishes the friendship between Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) as they end up on the run from the combined forces of the Kellerun and T'Lani. Facing death bonds the two Star Trek: DS9 characters for life, creating one of the franchise's most enduring friendships. However, Bashir and O'Brien's ordeal in "Armageddon Game" is a lot more contained than had been originally planned.

With a teleplay co-written by Morgan Gendel, Ira Steven Behr, and James Crocker, "Armageddon Game" went through several changes in the writing process. Originally, it was Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) who joined Dr. Bashir to dispose of the Harvester weapons, rather than O'Brien . However, it was decided that this didn't fit the existing plans for Bashir and Dax, so Jadzia was swapped for Chief O'Brien . The manner of how O'Brien was exposed to the weapon was also changed, this time by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine producer Michael Piller, who instructed Morgan Gendel to make it more like a "chase movie". However, that format would also change, meaning that the episode's two big Hollywood influences were largely dropped in the finished script.

A Major Hollywood Star’s Uncredited Star Trek: DS9 Role Explained

Midnight run and north by northwest inspired ds9’s "armageddon game".

While writing "Armageddon Game", Morgan Gendel followed Michael Piller's advice to create a "chase movie" episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . For inspiration, Gendel watched Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and the cult classic action comedy Midnight Run , starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin . In North by Northwest , Cary Grant (recently played by Star Trek: Discovery 's Jason Isaacs in Archie ) plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive who's mistaken for a spy. Thornhill is forced to go on the run, and in one of the film's most iconic scenes, Cary Grant runs through a cornfield, chased by a crop duster.

Like Thornhill, Bashir and O'Brien get in over their heads as they become embroiled in a wider political conspiracy to erase all knowledge of the Harvester weapons . It's also easy to see how Midnight Run influences "Armageddon Game" and its portrayal of friendship. In the classic Robert De Niro movie, his no-nonsense bounty hunter Jack Walsh is paired with Charles Grodin's neurotic mob accountant, Jonathan Mardukas. Both men are polar opposites, but as they're chased across country by a rival bounty hunter, the mob, and the FBI, they form a close friendship, not unlike O'Brien and Bashir in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

Midnight Run stars Yaphet Kotto, who was once in consideration for the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, while North by Northwest stars Martin Landau, who was originally offered the role of Spock.

Why Star Trek: DS9 Abandoned Its Hollywood-Inspired Chase Episode

While elements of both North by Northwest and Midnight Run remain in "Armageddon Game", the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode lacks any of those movies' big set pieces. O'Brien and Bashir aren't chased across open land by a starship, for example. The reason for this is purely budgetary, as according to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion , Morgan Gendel's script contained multiple starships, several locations, and various exteriors. While Gendel was clearly just responding to the brief given to him by Michael Piller, it sounds like he wrote a Star Trek movie rather than an hour of television inspired by two classic Hollywood movies.

As a result, "Armageddon Game" became a smaller character piece, with Bashir and O'Brien hiding out in an abandoned facility. A line of dialog is added so that war veteran Chief O'Brien can advise the young and inexperienced Bashir that they're better off in hiding rather than running from location to location. Although Star Trek: Deep Space Nine showrunner Ira Steven Behr wryly, and correctly, pointed out that "Armageddon Game" is "a chase movie on one set", this more contained version gives O'Brien and Bashir some lovely moments, making it a hugely important episode for their characters.

All episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Paramount+.

North By Northwest

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North By Northwest is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most popular films and was released in 1959. The film centers on Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), an average advertising executive in New York who is hunted by foreign spies who think he is actually a secret agent. The film co-stars Eva Marie Saint, whose character Eve Kendall acts as a love interest to Roger.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

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Clue: "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" shapeshifter

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  • Prefix with meter
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  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Episode aired Jan 1, 1996

Robert Foxworth and Susan Gibney in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

Sisko travels to Earth when a bombing at a Federation conference is determined to be the work of Changelings. Sisko travels to Earth when a bombing at a Federation conference is determined to be the work of Changelings. Sisko travels to Earth when a bombing at a Federation conference is determined to be the work of Changelings.

  • David Livingston
  • Gene Roddenberry
  • Rick Berman
  • Michael Piller
  • Avery Brooks
  • Rene Auberjonois
  • Michael Dorn
  • 8 User reviews
  • 3 Critic reviews

Cirroc Lofton and Brock Peters in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

  • Captain Benjamin 'Ben' Sisko

Rene Auberjonois

  • Constable Odo

Michael Dorn

  • Lt. Cmdr. Worf

Terry Farrell

  • Lt. Cmdr. Jadzia Dax

Cirroc Lofton

  • Chief Miles O'Brien

Armin Shimerman

  • Doctor Julian Bashir

Nana Visitor

  • Major Kira Nerys

Robert Foxworth

  • Admiral Leyton

Herschel Sparber

  • President Jaresh-Inyo

Susan Gibney

  • Commander Erika Benteen

Aron Eisenberg

  • Joseph Sisko

Dylan Chalfy

  • Head Officer

Richard Lawrence

  • Security Officer
  • (uncredited)
  • Sisko's Patron
  • All cast & crew
  • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

  • Trivia Sisko notes the names of some of the officers whom he served with on the U.S.S. Okinawa: Daneeka, McWatt, Snowden, Orr, and Moodus. All of these are the names of characters in Joseph Heller 's book "Catch 22".
  • Goofs Joseph Sisko says he has a pot of crayfish, but says "cray fish." A New Orleans native, even in the future, would have pronounced the word with the Southern dialect, "craw fish".

Lt. Commander Worf : Our gods are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them a millennia ago. They were more trouble than they were worth.

Major Kira : I don't think I'll ever understand Klingons.

Chief O'Brien : Don't worry about it, Major. Nobody does. It's the way they like it.

  • Connections Featured in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: What You Leave Behind (1999)
  • Soundtracks Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Main Title (uncredited) Written by Dennis McCarthy Performed by Dennis McCarthy

User reviews 8

  • planktonrules
  • Dec 29, 2014
  • January 1, 1996 (United States)
  • United States
  • Official Site
  • Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
  • Paramount Television
  • See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

  • Runtime 46 minutes

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Star Trek Deep Space Nine Cast: Where Are They Now?

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It's been over 20 years since DS9 wrapped: what have the cast been up to since?

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IMAGES

  1. Odo (Star Trek)

    shapeshifter star trek deep space nine

  2. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

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  3. Who Are STAR TREK: PICARD Season 3's Main Villains?

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  4. shapeshifter

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  5. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" The Changing Face of Evil (TV Episode 1999

    shapeshifter star trek deep space nine

  6. Chase Masterson as Leeta on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Star Trek Ds9

    shapeshifter star trek deep space nine

COMMENTS

  1. Odo (Star Trek)

    Odo / ˈ oʊ d oʊ /, played by René Auberjonois, is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.He is a member of a shape-shifting species called Changelings and serves as the head of security for the space station Deep Space Nine on which the show is set. Intelligent, observant, and taciturn, Odo uses his unique abilities throughout the show to ...

  2. Changeling

    Biology []. The natural form of a Changeling was a viscous orange liquid containing a structure known as a morphogenic matrix.(DS9: "The Begotten") They contained morphogenic enzymes responsible for their shapeshifting ability.(DS9: "Things Past") Changelings (or at least young and inexperienced ones, like Odo) had to revert to their natural liquid state to regenerate every sixteen to eighteen ...

  3. Odo

    The original 1992 Writers' Bible for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine gave this biography for Odo: Odo, an alien male, middle-aged curmudgeon, and a shape-shifter. In his natural state he is a gelatinous liquid. He was Bajoran law enforcement officer on the space station under the Cardassians. Starfleet decides to have him continue in that role ...

  4. Female Changeling

    The Female Changeling was a Founder from a rogue planet located in the Omarion Nebula, in the Gamma Quadrant.She was chosen by the Great Link, a giant gelatinous sea of shapeshifters, to represent the interests of the Changelings in both the Gamma and Alpha Quadrants and instigated a bloody, genocidal interstellar war in order to conquer their inhabitants and worlds and subjugate them to the ...

  5. Star Trek's Shapeshifting Changelings Explained

    Introduced in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," a series set on a former Cardassian space station orbiting a wormhole leading to the distant Gamma Quadrant, the Changelings would quickly form the ...

  6. Deep Space Nine: Why the Dominion Founders Chose to Look Like Odo

    When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted in January 1993, the series introduced fans to new characters and alien species. Perhaps the most intriguing was the mysterious shapeshifter Odo, who could take on any form but had trouble with faces. When the powerful Changelings, the founders of the villainous Dominion, were revealed, they chose to look like Odo despite being able to replicate humanoid ...

  7. Star Trek 6: How DS9's Odo Was In The Final TOS Movie (Three Times)

    In a way, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country featured three different kinds of appearances by Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.Though the actual character of Constable Odo, who wouldn't even debut until 1993 - two years after Star Trek VI arrived in movie theaters - wasn't in the movie, The Undiscovered Country featured a different kind of shapeshifter and the Director's Cut of the film ...

  8. Salome Jens

    Salome Jens is an actress best known for her portrayal of the Female Changeling in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. ... LOS ANGELES - OCTOBER 3: Salome Jens as the female shapeshifter in the STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE episode, "The Search: Part 2." Season 3, episode 2. Original air date, October 3, 1994. Image is a screen grab. (Photo by CBS ...

  9. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller.The fourth series in the Star Trek media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from January 3, 1993, to June 2, 1999, spanning 176 episodes over seven seasons. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, its narrative is centered ...

  10. Martok

    Martok, son of Urthog is a recurring character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, played by actor J. G. Hertzler. Martok is a high-ranking Klingon leader at the Federation-Bajoran space station in the late 2300s. Martok figures prominently in many of the show's long running story arcs, and also is an important relationship for Worf .

  11. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" The Search, Part II (TV Episode 1994)

    The Search, Part II: Directed by Jonathan Frakes. With Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig, Terry Farrell. Odo has found his home and is introduced. Meanwhile Sisko finds out peace talks between the Dominion and the Federation have already started.

  12. Shapeshifter

    Shapeshifter or shape-changer was a generic and generalized term applied to a lifeform that altered its form to assume various different appearances, or shape-shift. The degree of physical transformation varied between different species. Some humanoid shapeshifters assumed a different humanoid shape at the cellular level, while others could shift from non-humanoid to humanoid as well. Some ...

  13. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" Chimera (TV Episode 1999)

    Chimera: Directed by Stephen L. Posey. With Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Nicole de Boer, Michael Dorn. After searching out and finding Odo, another changeling asks him to leave DS9 with him, even though the rest of the crew aren't convinced the new changeling is not part of the Founders.

  14. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" Extreme Measures (TV Episode 1999)

    Extreme Measures: Directed by Stephen L. Posey. With Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Nicole de Boer, Michael Dorn. Dr. Bashir and Chief O'Brien go to some pretty extreme measures to try and track down a cure for Odo.

  15. "Deep Space Nine" shapeshifter Crossword Clue

    The Crossword Solver found 30 answers to "Deep Space Nine" shapeshifter", 3 letters crossword clue. The Crossword Solver finds answers to classic crosswords and cryptic crossword puzzles. Enter the length or pattern for better results. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues . Enter a Crossword Clue.

  16. List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine cast members

    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's cast in season five, after Michael Dorn (Worf) had joined in season four and before Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax) left at the end of season six. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is an American science fiction television series that debuted in broadcast syndication on January 3, 1993. The series ran for seven seasons until 1999. The show was spun off from Star Trek: The Next ...

  17. Salome Jens

    Salome Jens (born 8 May 1935; age 88) is an actress best known for her portrayal of the Female Changeling in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She previously appeared as the ancient humanoid in the Star Trek: The Next Generation sixth season episode "The Chase". Jens was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is the sister-in-law of Star Trek: Insurrection actor Anthony Zerbe as he has been married to ...

  18. Shapeshifter Longevity

    You've been living with the solids' concept of time for too long. Let them worry about their meetings, their schedules, their obligations. None of that has anything to do with you. You are a changeling: you're timeless. — The Female Changeling, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Favor The Bold". As the name implies, shapeshifters and their ilk are ...

  19. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" What You Leave Behind (TV Episode 1999)

    [the female shapeshifter has promised the Breen the control over Earth after the war, leaving Weyoun baffled] ... Top 25 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes a list of 25 titles created 02 Jul 2022 Seasons of "Star Trek" a list of 31 images created 01 Jul 2015 ...

  20. 2 Classic Movies Inspired A Star Trek: DS9 Episode (But You Wouldn't

    Two classic Hollywood movies inspired Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 13, "Armageddon Game", but few of those influences appear on-screen. "Armageddon Game" is widely regarded as the DS9 episode that establishes the friendship between Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) as they end up on the run from the combined forces of the Kellerun and T ...

  21. Salome Jens

    1956-present. Spouses. Lee Leonard. Ralph Meeker. . . ( m. 1964; div. 1966) . Salome Jens (born May 8, 1935) is an American dancer and actress of stage, film and television. She is perhaps best known for portraying the Female Changeling on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1994-1999).

  22. STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE SHAPESHIFTER Crossword Clue

    The Crossword Solver found 30 answers to "STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE SHAPESHIFTER", 3 letters crossword clue. The Crossword Solver finds answers to classic crosswords and cryptic crossword puzzles. Enter the length or pattern for better results. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues . Enter a Crossword Clue.

  23. Clue: "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" shapeshifter

    "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" shapeshifter is a crossword puzzle clue that we have spotted 3 times. There are related clues (shown below). There are related clues (shown below). Referring crossword puzzle answers

  24. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" Homefront (TV Episode 1996)

    Homefront: Directed by David Livingston. With Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Dorn, Terry Farrell. Sisko travels to Earth when a bombing at a Federation conference is determined to be the work of Changelings.

  25. Star Trek Deep Space Nine Cast: Where Are They Now?

    Loaded 0%. /. WhatCulture 1d. WhatCulture 1w. The Daily Aviation 3mo. CNN 5h. 7mo. Benzinga (Video) 1d. It's been over 20 years since DS9 wrapped: what have the cast been up to since?