So, this afternoon I discovered that Rene Auberjonois, the actor who played Constable Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, died at the age of 79. As a lifelong Trekkie, am quite saddened by this news: Odo was without a doubt one of my favourite characters in Deep Space Nine, a diligent and meticulous detective who valued order and stability in all things, and, as seemingly the only member of his species, was constantly trying to figure out who he was and where he had come from (a question that would be answered to horrifying effect in the later seasons). The fact, of course, that he was a shape-shifting alien who often used his innate ability to imaginative effect made him all the more cool a character in my mind, as was the fact that he was a solitary lawman on what was essentially a frontier space station full of dangerous and shifty people.

Rene Auberjonois gave Odo a persistent gruff, cranky grumble that made it seem like he was constantly annoyed by everything around him, while still giving Odo a dry wit that allowed him to engaging in wonderfully sarcastic banter with characters like Quark. As the series went on, Odo grew more as a character, and I got to see him evolve from a gruff lawman to an entity going through the pains of self-discovery, love and loss, and conflicting loyalties. He was a memorable character whose actor did a great job of letting him grow and be memorable.

He will be missed.