Changeling Vs. Chameloid: Star Trek’s Shapeshifters Differences Explained

Summary Changelings take center stage with their superior shapeshifting abilities in Star Trek, leaving Chameloids behind.

Chameloids like Martia lack the political prowess and versatile abilities of Changelings in the Star Trek universe.

Sam Richardson's Chameloid character in Star Trek: Section 31 may finally showcase the unique advantages of Chameloids.

Chameloids and Changelings are both shapeshifting aliens in the Star Trek universe, but these two individual species are very different. Chameloids were first introduced in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, when a Chameloid named Martia (Iman) encountered Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) in the Klingon prison, Rura Penthe. Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the franchise's first Changeling, though Odo didn't know his important origin as a Founder of the Dominion when DS9 started.

Changelings and Chameloids haven't been given equal due in Star Trek, despite having similar abilities to impersonate people. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Picard elaborated on the mythology and nature of Changelings as Star Trek's primary shapeshifting species, while Chameloids like Iman's Martia fell by the wayside. That will change with Star Trek: Section 31, when the made-for-streaming Star Trek movie brings back the forgotten Chameloid species. At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, Section 31 star Sam Richardson revealed that his unnamed character isn't human at all, but Star Trek's first Chameloid since Star Trek VI.

Related Star Trek Alien Not Seen For 33 Years Returns In Section 31 Movie At SDCC 2024, Sam Richardson confirms which alien he plays in Star Trek: Section 31, and the last time we saw this species was in Star Trek VI.

What Is A Chameloid In Star Trek VI & Section 31?

Section 31 Brings Back Star Trek VI's Shapeshifting Aliens

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Compared to Star Trek's shapeshifting Changelings, Chameloids are somewhat limited in their shape-changing ability. Chameloids can only change shape into other humanoid forms, and Chameloids' eyes take on a bright golden yellow. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Iman's Chameloid character, Martia, takes on the guise of a "brute" (Tom Morga), a young girl (Katie Jane Johnston), and finally, Kirk himself, once Kirk and McCoy realize they're being set up. In Star Trek: Section 31, the made-for-streaming Star Trek movie starring Michelle Yeoh that debuts in 2025, Sam Richardson's Chameloid character shares the yellow-eyed trait with Iman's Martia.

Because of their shapeshifting abilities, Chameloids may find easy employment with some of the galaxy's more unsavory types. In an early draft of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Martia is sentenced to Rura Penthe for smuggling. Martia's transformations make escape from Rura Penthe quite easy, as the "brute" form lets Martia into restricted areas of the prison, and Martia can slip through restraints as a young girl. No doubt Sam Richardson's Chameloid in Star Trek: Section 31 will have similar skills that could aid Starfleet's black ops team — and indeed, may have landed Section 31's Chameloid on Starfleet's radar to begin with.

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Star Trek: Section 31

What Is A Changeling In Star Trek: DS9 & Picard?

Odo's People Are The Founders Of The Dominion

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine introduced a new type of shapeshifter with the Changelings and DS9's Constable Odo. Changelings can take on almost any form, but the natural state of Changelings is an amorphous liquid, which they must revert to every 16 hours before losing structural integrity and becoming irritable. On their home world, the Changelings exist in the Great Link: a single organic ocean where they can experience each other's emotions, memories, and heal each other. As the Founders of the Dominion, Changelings ruled the Gamma Quadrant, and sought to expand their reach into the Alpha and Beta Quadrants during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Dominion War.

DS9's Odo admits to having difficulty with replicating individual faces, whereas other Founders can easily replace specific people. Presumably, other Founders, like Salome Jens' Female Changeling, mimic Odo's indistinct features when they take a humanoid shape to try sympathetically winning Odo to their side.

Because Changelings could effectively replicate anyone down to the last detail, Changelings were able to infiltrate Starfleet and the Klingon Empire, sowing seeds of distrust. Only blood tests could discern who had been replaced with a Changeling. In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Vadic (Amanda Plummer), a Changeling who had been experimented on by Section 31, led a faction of vengeful Changelings who were allied with the Borg. Vadic's Changelings acquired Vadic's ability to mimic individual humanoids down to their DNA, making them impossible to detect using Dominion War blood tests.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Where to Watch stream rent buy Not available Not available Not available *Availability in US Showrunner Michael Piller , Ira Steven Behr

Star Trek: Picard Where to Watch stream rent buy Not available Not available Not available *Availability in US Showrunner Michael Chabon , Akiva Goldsman , Terry Matalas

Why Star Trek Made Changelings More Important Than Chameloids

Changelings Have Powerful Advantages Over Chameloids

Because Changelings are far more powerful than Chameloids, in terms of both shapeshifting ability and political power, Star Trek made Changelings more important than Chameloids. Changelings have advantages that make them compelling Star Trek adversaries. Changelings aren't limited to humanoid forms, like Chameloids are. Changelings don't eat or breathe, and can survive in the vacuum of space. Their liquid nature makes Changelings resistant to disruptor fire. A quantum stasis field invented by the Cardassian Obsidian Order can prevent Changelings' shapeshifting, but won't kill them. Ultimately, Changelings changed the political landscape in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, because anyone could have been a Changeling replacement during DS9's Dominion War.

Chameloids, by contrast, haven't driven an extensive plot the way that Changelings did in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Picard. Martia wasn't in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country very long, but as a Rura Penthe prisoner desperate to trade Kirk and McCoy for her freedom, Martia really didn't have the power that a Changeling might have had in the same situation. If Chameloids do have advantages that Changelings don't, we just might see them when Star Trek properly introduces Sam Richardson's Chameloid in Star Trek: Section 31 when it streams on Paramount+ in 2025.