Guinan (Star Trek)

Guinan is a recurring character in the '' Star Trek'' media franchise who has appeared in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Star Trek: Picard'' and the films ''Star Trek Generations'' and '' Star Trek: Nemesis''. Portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg, Guinan is a bartender in the Ten-Forward lounge aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise''-D. She was also played as a child by Isis Carmen Jones in the episode " Rascals" and by Ito Aghayere in the series '' Star Trek: Picard''.

The character first appears in the second-season opening episode " The Child", and makes recurring appearances during the next four seasons. She mainly works in Ten-Forward, which was added after most of the sets were recreated following the first season. The character is an alien who is several hundred years old and is noted for her warmth and folk wisdom, which she often uses to defuse difficult situations or comfort other characters aboard the ship as they struggle with something.

History

Following the departure of Denise Crosby from the role of Tasha Yar during the first season of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', well-known actress Whoopi Goldberg believed that there was a vacancy for a female actress on the series. She had been a lifelong fan of '' Star Trek'', having been inspired to become an actress by Nichelle Nichols' appearances as Uhura in ''The Original Series''. Goldberg later recalled that she first saw an episode of the series as a child, and after Uhura appeared on-screen, she went running through her house shouting "Come here, mom, everybody, come quick, come quick, there's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!" Goldberg approached her friend, actor LeVar Burton, who played Geordi La Forge in ''The Next Generation'', but the producers of the series ignored her, believing that they were being pranked until Goldberg telephoned the production office directly. However, executive producer Rick Berman later recalled that it was Goldberg's manager who made the call, inviting him and series creator Gene Roddenberry out to lunch with Goldberg to discuss her appearing on the series.

At the time, plans were already underway to add a lounge set to the series. Named Ten-Forward, it was created to have a setting where the crew of the USS ''Enterprise''-D could be shown interacting with each other as well as other aliens in a less formal, social setting. At the lunch between Berman, Roddenberry and Goldberg, she explained that ''Star Trek'' was the only futuristic science fiction series at the time she knew of that featured black people prominently. She enquired whether they had already cast the new Doctor, following the firing of Gates McFadden from the role of Beverly Crusher. They decided this would not work, so Roddenberry and Berman suggested the creation of a new character specifically for Goldberg. Goldberg was unable to commit to appearing as a permanent member of the cast, which fit in with plans for Ten-Forward as they were not expecting to have that appear in every episode.

The character of Guinan was based on Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan, a prohibition-era emcee and owner of the 300 Club in New York City. While the name was adopted, the characterization was changed to a worldly mystic, in line with Yoda from the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of ''Star Trek'', had envisaged the character Guinan as extremely old, leading Goldberg to suggest that she could be the ancestor of some of the other characters on the series.

When Goldberg made her first appearance as Guinan, in the episode " The Child", she was credited as a "Special Guest Star" alongside Diana Muldaur who appeared throughout the second season as Doctor Katherine Pulaski. Guinan-centric episodes would end up being scheduled throughout the rest of the run of ''The Next Generation'' to coincide with the future availability of Goldberg, who at the time was continuing to appear in films and other work. In one instance, for "Imaginary Friend", Guinan was written in at short notice, taking lines originally intended for other characters after Goldberg became available at short notice unexpectedly.

There were plans to introduce a son of Guinan at some point in ''The Next Generation'', but this never occurred. The idea was resurrected during the writing process of the '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' episode "Rivals", with the character of Martus Mazur originally intended to be Guinan's son. After Goldberg was unable to make a guest appearance, the relationship between the two characters was written out. However, the first time that the El-Aurian species was mentioned by name was in this episode, but this may have been inspired by the scripts for ''Star Trek Generations'' which the writing team would have seen by that point in the production of the series.

Goldberg would go on to become intrinsically linked to ''Star Trek'', and a personal friend of creator Gene Roddenberry, subsequently being one of the eulogists at his funeral in 1991. During the initial production of '' Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'', she met with director Nicholas Meyer to discuss appearing as a Klingon in the film. This was vetoed by actor Leonard Nimoy, who had taken the lead on arrangements for the film, as with Christian Slater already set to appear in the film he did not want to be overwhelmed with celebrity cameos. She later described Guinan as a combination of Yoda, herself and Andrei Sakharov, adding that she was "more grateful for ''Star Trek'' now as a mother and grandmother" and described the prospect of ''Star Trek'', saying "We all need to believe there is a good, positive future for us."

Goldberg stated at her first ''Star Trek'' convention in 2016 that she wishes to return to the franchise and appear on '' Star Trek: Discovery'' in the future since the character was specifically designed to be able to appear at any point in the timeline. Returning actor-character combinations are famous in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, and popular also; TNG's " Unification" (1991) diology featuring Leonard Nimoy as Spock in Part II brought in the highest Nielsen ratings (15.4) of that season, and the highest for TNG except for the pilot and finale (see also ''Star Trek'' crossovers). During a January 22, 2020, appearance on ''The View'', the talk show of which Goldberg is a co-host, Patrick Stewart helped realize Goldberg's wish, inviting her to appear as Guinan during the second season of '' Star Trek: Picard,'' and she ultimately appeared in the second season.

Films

The decision was made to feature Goldberg prominently in the first feature film based on ''The Next Generation'', ''Star Trek Generations''. This was due in part to her being far more well known to the general public than the majority of the main cast, having won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991 for her role in the film '' Ghost''. During the course of the film, the character is revealed to be an El-Aurian for the first time. Upon arriving on the first day of production of ''Generations'', Goldberg began looking around the set for Nichols, having expected her to be there since it was a cross-over film between ''The Original Series'' and ''The Next Generation''. It was later reported by Walter Koenig that Goldberg was annoyed as she saw that the fans wanted a scene with Guinan and Uhura together. Nichols did not appear in ''Generations''.

Production

Producer Rick Berman was noted as being "extremely sensitive" about who interacted with Whoopi on the set, according to the book ''The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise'' by Eric A. Stillwell. In one instance where a co-writer of ''Yesterday's Enterprise'' talked with Whoopi, Berman found out about it and said he did not want this kind of interaction which was oriented towards the production office.

Appearances

In "Rascals", Guinan's younger self is played by Isis Carmen Jones, who also played Whoopi's character as a child in the film ''Sister Act'' (1992). Guinan works in Ten-Forward and is one of Picard's friends, and they often chat about problems the ship is having.

Guinan made her first appearance in the second season opening episode " The Child" on November 21, 1988, on first-run syndicated television. During the course of the episode, she gives advice to Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) about whether or not he should leave the ship to join his mother when she transferred to Starfleet Medical on Earth. In this episode, she refers to meeting Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) for the first time when she came on board the ''Enterprise''-D, something which would later be ignored and discounted. She made further appearances in the second season, including in "The Outrageous Okona" where she advises Data to use the holodeck to help him better understand comedy, and again in the Data-centric episode " The Measure of a Man", as well as " The Dauphin" where she and Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) attempt to explain flirting to Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton).

The first revelation of Guinan being something more than a simple barkeeper came later that season in the episode "Q Who". After Q (John de Lancie) sends the ''Enterprise''-D across the galaxy, causing them to encounter the Borg, she trades barbs with the omnipotent being who reveals that he knows Guinan from past encounters and suggests she may have been known by other names in the past. Q attempts to remove Guinan from the Enterprise, only to have her hold up her hands to him in response implying she possessed the power to do battle with him or at the very least to defend herself. She also informs Picard that the Borg drove her species into near extinction over a century earlier. She returned once more in the second episode of the third season, "Evolution", in which she explains she has many children, and later in the season in " Booby Trap" where she reveals that she finds the heads of bald men attractive. She once again comes face to face with Q in "Deja Q". Guinan is central to the plot of " Yesterday's Enterprise", when the timeline is changed after the USS ''Enterprise''-C appears from a spatial rift. Guinan is the only member of the crew who is aware that something has changed, and believes that Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) should not be on the ship. The timeline is restored when the ''Enterprise''-C re-enters the rift.

Guinan appears in " The Best of Both Worlds" part one, where she and Captain Picard mull over his tactics defending the ship from a Borg vessel, contemplating the potential end of human civilization. Guinan assures Picard that, based on her experience with the Borg, "humanity will survive" even if only a handful of humans live to "keep the spirit alive". Guinan also plays a role in the second part which started the fourth season. She advises Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in his predicament in dealing with the Borg-assimilated Picard. She tells him that her relationship with Picard "goes beyond friendship and beyond family". She appears in the following episode broadcast, which follows up on Picard's experiences as a Borg, "Family". In " The Loss", Guinan advises Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) when she loses her empathic senses, telling her that she still has her skills as a counselor to rely on. Guinan joins Picard in his holodeck program Dixon Hill in the episode " Clues". Her other appearances in the season included " Galaxy's Child", "Night Terrors" where she reveals she keeps a rifle behind the bar, " In Theory", and the first part of " Redemption" where she scores higher than Klingon Security Chief Worf (Michael Dorn) on a firing range on the holodeck.

Her first appearance in the fifth season comes in the first episode, the second part of "Redemption". In " Ensign Ro", she strikes up a friendship with Ensign Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) which would continue for the rest of the other recurring character's appearances in the series. In "Imaginary Friend", Guinan discusses the nearby nebula with Data in Ten-Forward. In the following episode, "I, Borg", Guinan objects to the presence of the Borg known as Hugh on the ''Enterprise''-D. Further revelations of Guinan's backstory are made in the season finale, the first part of " Time's Arrow", when after travelling back to 19th century San Francisco, California, Data discovers a photograph of Guinan in a local newspaper. Meanwhile, on the ''Enterprise''-D, Guinan advises Picard that he must lead the away team to travel through a temporal rift to save Data in the past.

Central to the plot of the second half of "Time's Arrow" which opened the sixth season, Guinan meets Picard for the first time in her timeline and works with him and Samuel Clemens to prevent a plot by the aliens of Devidia II. In " Rascals", alongside Picard, Ro, and Keiko O'Brien (Rosalind Chao), her body is de-aged to that of a child following a transporter accident, where the younger Guinan was portrayed by actress Isis Jones. Guinan reveals that her father is still alive at the time, having previously been hiding from him on Earth during "Time's Arrow". In " Suspicions", she advises Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) on whether to trust her instincts when a Ferengi scientist is killed during an experiment on board.

Guinan is originally from El-Auria. Her people, sometimes called "listeners", had been scattered throughout the galaxy after the Borg invaded their homeworld. As a refugee aboard the El-Aurian vessel ''Lakul'', she is rescued from the Nexus by the USS ''Enterprise''-B. This is part of the opening act of ''Star Trek Generations'', the 1994 film made after the series' seven-year run concluded. Guinan did not appear in the next two ''Star Trek'' films (''First Contact'' and ''Insurrection'').

Guinan reveals in '' Nemesis'' that she has been married 23 times. She states in "Evolution" that she has many children, including a son who went through a phase when "he wouldn't listen to anybody"—something unusual "in a species of listeners". Guinan appears in the second season premiere of '' Star Trek: Picard'', when Jean-Luc Picard visits her at her bar in Los Angeles.

Television

Guinan appears in 29 episodes of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', five episodes of '' Star Trek: Picard'' and in two theatrical films, ''Generations'' (1994) and ''Nemesis'' (2002).

Star Trek: The Next Generation

* " The Child"
* "The Outrageous Okona"
* " The Measure of a Man"
* " The Dauphin"
* "Q Who"
* "Shades of Gray"
* "Evolution"
* " Booby Trap"
* "Deja Q"
* " Yesterday's Enterprise"
* "The Offspring"
* "Hollow Pursuits"
* " The Best of Both Worlds" (Parts 1 & 2)
* "Family"
* " The Loss"
* " Clues"
* " Galaxy's Child"
* "Night Terrors"
* " In Theory"
* " Redemption" (Parts 1 & 2)
* " Ensign Ro"
* "Imaginary Friend"
* "I, Borg"
* " Time's Arrow" (Parts 1 & 2)
* " Rascals"
* " Suspicions"

Star Trek: Picard

* "The Star Gazer"
* "Watcher"
* "Monsters"
* "Mercy"
* "Farewell"

Among the episodes with Guinan, "The Measure of a Man" and the two-part episode "The Best of Both Worlds" received noted acclaim, and an extended cut of "The Measure of a Man" was released in 2012.

Film

;''Generations''
In ''Star Trek Generations'', released in 1994, Guinan explains the Nexus to Picard.

;''Nemesis''
In this 2002 ''Star Trek'' film, Goldberg reprises her role as Guinan. In ''Star Trek: Nemesis'', Guinan has attended the wedding between Riker and Troi.

Comics

The character Guinan, looking like the TNG character, appears in various TNG comics series including: A line and ink style Comic version of Guinan appears on the cover of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' Special "Good Listener/A True Son of Kahless" published September 1, 1993.
* ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''
** 80 issues from 1989 to 1996
* ''Star Trek: The Next Generation Special''
** Three issues 1993-1995
* ''Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Last Generation''
** Five issues 2008-9
* ''Star Trek: The Next Generation - Doctor Who: Assimilation²''
** Eight issues in 2012 (Crossover with '' Doctor Who'' franchise)

Novels

The first novel to include Guinan was ''Strike Zone'' by Peter David, published in March 1989. This novel included elements from both Star Trek (1966–69) and the new Next Generation show The later '' Stargazer'' novel ''Oblivion'' features Picard's first meeting with Guinan when he was still captain of the ''Stargazer'', where the meeting helps Guinan overcome her severe depression after she was pulled out of the Nexus.

Reception and commentary

Lina Morgan in her article for Syfy Wire on Guinan's quintessential moments, described her as "easily one of the best characters in the history of ''Star Trek''". His list of moments consisted of the one in "The Measure of a Man" where Guinan explains slavery to Picard; the time that she stabbed Q with a fork in "Deja Q"; the discussion she has with Commander Riker in "The Best of Both Worlds" part two and her lack of sympathy for the Borg in "I, Borg". Roth did state that his favourite moment came in the second part of "Time's Arrow" where she and Picard are trapped in the cave and the sexual tension between the pair, comparing the relationship between that of River Song and The Doctor in '' Doctor Who'' whereby they meet each other for the first time but out of sequence.

Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block state in their 2008 book ''Star Trek 101'' that the key Guinan episode is "Yesterday's Enterprise". They describe her role in the episode as that of a Greek chorus to explain that a change has taken place in the timeline.

Film reviewer Roger Ebert described Guinan as "the Enterprise's resident mystic".

Her episode "Rascals" had a rating of 13.5, only surpassed later in the season by "Aquiel" (14.1) and "Tapestry" (13.8) in Season 6. That would prove to be the turning point downward for TNG as only the finale in Season 7 likely surpassed "Rascals". The franchise, while still massively popular, lost millions of viewers throughout the late 1990s, DS9's pilot, "Emissary" was probably the only DS9 to have higher ratings (18.8) than this turning point down in Season 6 (note that DS9 came out in that latter half of Season 6 of TNG). The first episode with Guinan, "The Child", had a Nielsen rating of 10.9. Although DS9 was not as popular, it was in many ways more critically acclaimed. The late 1990s also saw an increase in ''Star Trek'' production, including the conclusion of TNG's three movies and the launch of ''Voyager'', while DS9 was still on air.

"The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" was ranked No. 70 on ''TV Guide''s 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. In 2002, ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' was ranked #46 on ''TV Guide''s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list, and in 2008, was ranked No. 37 on ''Empire''s list of the 50 greatest television shows.

"Yesterday's Enterprise" was rated as the top episode of TNG by ''Entertainment Weekly''.

In 2016, SyFy rated Guinan as among the top 21 most interesting supporting characters of ''Star Trek'', noting that she was a mysterious character that kept audiences guessing. In 2017, IndieWire rated Guinan as the 3rd best character on ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', noting her as a "fascinating character". In the summer of 2019, '' Screen Rant'' suggested that Guinan could get her own series more easily, due to the character being hundreds of years old there would be many, many stories to tell. In 2018, CBR ranked Guinan the 8th best recurring character of all ''Star Trek''.

In 2018, '' Screen Rant'' ranked Guinan as one of the top eight most powerful character's of ''Star Trek'', remarking "Guinan is one of ''Star Trek’s'' greatest enigmas." In July 2019, ''Screen Rant'' ranked Guinan the 7th smartest character of ''Star Trek''.

See also

* List of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' characters
* List of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' cast members
* ''Star Trek'' (film series)

Notes

References

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External links

{{Star Trek recurring characters

Fictional bartenders
Star Trek alien characters
Star Trek (film franchise) characters
Star Trek: The Next Generation characters
Television characters introduced in 1988