Back in the day on TrekBBS (alas, I cannot find the original post), someone pointed out that Odo shapeshifts less and less often as the series goes on. It was never a super frequent thing, but it occurred more often in the earlier seasons, but, even accounting for his time as a solid in Season 5, he seems to shapeshift less and less in later seasons.
What reasons (in-universe and real-world) might there be for this? Was it just a budget thing? Were the writers using it as a ātrickā (writing crutch) earlier on? Are we supposed to believe that Odo is trying to assimilate, or reject his Changeling heritage?
Purely from an in-universe perspective, he really seems to do it less once he learns that his people are the Founders of the Dominion. Perhaps he shapeshifts less to differentiate himself from their fascist rule, or so that few recognize him as a founder. We also see he is uncomfortable with the Vorta and Jemāhadar seeing him as a god.
This is what my head-cannon is as well. Later on during the Dominion war people were already lumping him in with the founders and because heās a shapeshifter as well. Iād imagine when the founders are shapeshifting to infiltrate the Federation, it would make you hesitant to do so in public.
It probably doesnāt help that his shapeshifting ability is fairly explicitly part of his Founder heritage, which might make him want to use it less if he doesnāt identify with the Founders as much.
For one thing Odo canāt shapeshift for a significant chunk of season 4
In universeā¦I donāt think he does. āWeā just donāt see it. A LOT of episodes have a line where some characters are TALKING about Odo shapeshifting āOh he caught the Nassican Smugglers by turning into a three headed Karmdozian razor hawkā.
Out of Universeā¦sure the cost was a factor. Plus a lot of it looked badā¦the horrible 90 computer animation.
*Though the BIG problem is: Odo is a Demigod. Just like Data. So the Writers have to forget about him. Odo is immune to physical weapons, so they need to forget that. Odo canāt be knocked out with the āmagic TV off buttonāā¦but he, of course isā¦wink wink. Odo can escape and spy easy. And win every fight. And Remember Odo can shape change PERFECTLY into anything except a humanoidā¦
My in universe reasoning is that he doesnāt shift less, he just does it privately. I donāt think he likes to remind people how different he is and he wants to distance himself from the founders who are known for taking different shapes.
My memory isnāt perfect but I think after visiting his people he gets a room for the first time, fills it with things to mimic and stops sleeping in a bucket. He has later episodes where he gushes to Lwaxana Troi about taking the different shapes and how fun it is so heās definitely shifting. After he gets his abilities back and starts his relationship with Kira we see him have that crazy sex scene in Chimera, so thatās happening off screen a lot.
Also in the episode Chimera he explains to Laas, the other changeling, about humanoids fear of their shape-shifting abilities. It seems like heās keenly aware how different he is and takes steps to cover it up.
Saying that he is still obsessed with the Great Link and yearns to go back so I can see him practicing his abilities in private to keep them up to par for his return. A wish he canāt say out loud because of the whole āevil empire at war with their way of lifeā thing.
My bet on the real reason was itās boring and solves too many problems. It also likely cost more than just having the actors do something instead.
Thereās probably lore reasons you can use, like the one mentioned here about trying to differentiate himself from his ancestors, but Iād bet the real reason is just for better storytelling opportunities.
The VFX almost certainly isnāt cheap either.
I remember one scene where our heroes are fighting Jem Hadar in hand to hand combat and Odo is there (with his shapeshifting abilities, not during the arc where heās stuck as a solid). Odo is punching people in the face and stuff. I remember thinking, couldnāt he just morph into a buzz saw and spin around? Or turn into an octopus with eight terminator-like hand swords? Or maybe a boa constrictor and wrap around them and squeeze 'em all to death? Orā¦
I felt as though something was lost when Odo rarely shifted. It became an almost implausible possibility despite being an essential component of his identity.
I think narratively itās just a much more enjoyable to not have Odo shift shape onscreen, especially as it gives him the ability to overpower a lot of people. In the early episodes this needed to be shown so we could understand Odoās character, but by the fourth season (both when he was a solid and not) we knew enough about the Changelings that we didnāt need to show this as frequently and had to figure out more creative ways to to get around Odo.
