The query I ran is:

r.db('rethinkdb').table('table_status')
    .filter({db: 'db1'})
    .pluck('db', 'name')
    .changes({include_initial: true, squash: true, include_states: true})

The initial values I get back ignore the filter (I get dbs other than 'db1'), and it does not do the pluck, I get the full document back. Once actual changes happen, the filter and pluck are respected.

I tried this on a normal table and it worked fine. I'm assuming other transformations have the same problem but I haven't checked that.

ping @mlucy: I remember us running across something like this before about changefeeds on admin tables being funky, but I can't find another issue about it. I found this issue initially in the ruby driver, but verified it in the data explorer