AboutDeran McKean Expertise I am a 35 year fan of all the incarnations of Star Trek from the original show to the newer incarnations, to the books, comics and toys. I can answer most questions regarding the storylines and characters including their non-screen histories.
Experience Thirty-five years of collecting Star Trek merchandise, pouring over the books, comics and attending a number of conventions
Education/Credentials I have a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and an MBA
Question Does Odo feel pain? For example, if Data started pounding his face against the bulkhead repeatedly?
Crystalline Entity vs. Defiant
Crystalline Entity vs. Delta Flyer
In "Latent Image," Janeway likens the Holo Doc to a replicator. Do you think she'd liken Data to a replicator? In a sense, Data is like the Doc, because his behavior to some degree is programmed. However, Data is a physical being, whereas the Doc is just photons and forcefields.
Answer Hey John -
I think Odo can feel pain from burns, sonic pulses that irritate his equivalent of an auditory nerve, and massive energy discharges. Those things tend to work at a molecular level.
Things at a physical level, I don't think would bother him much. To me it would be like hitting a jello mold, the mold might move but its ability to absorb and dissipate the impact of the punch would negate any pain. However if I blasted a jello mold with enough decibels of sound, it would break apart which (were it alive like Odo) I think would cause it pain.
The Entity proved vulnerable to attacks by the Enterprise and, given the Defiant's greater weaponry and speed I would imagine the smaller ship could do at least as much damage.
Though the Delta Flyer isn't as heavily armed as the Defiant, I would bet that its greater speed would prove a challenge to the Entity and (with a smart pilot at the helm) I think the crew inside could come up with a way to defeat the Crystalline Entity.
I would guess that Janeway would recognize that Data was initially created to be an 'evolving' being, capable of learning and absorbing great amounts of information and extrapolating from his past experiences. The Doc was created as a short term supplement to the medical staff, designed with a specific purpose in mind and with a limited knowledge base.
Though the Doc later learned ways to expand his program, gather new information and apply it, his designers did not originally have that in mind when they created him.
Initially the Doc is just a sophisticated computer program responding to stimuli as his program dictates. Data however by his very nature was intended to grow, evolve and eventually develop his own personality.
So, I would hope that Janeway would recognize that Data was created (at least at first) to be much more than a replicator and to develop new and innovative responses to his external environment.
