Were El-Aurians abilities against the Q ever explained?

Actors and directors improvise all sorts of things when blocking a scene that doesn't have specific descriptions about movement, and sometimes disregard those descriptions. Maybe that accounts for Guinan's defensive posture.

When I was performing in plays, I often wound up discarding about 2/3 of the stage business I'd come up with during rehearsals.

 

I always thought it was just a superstitious gesture, or maybe a religious sign. Something to ward off evil.

There's nothing, AFAIK, to suggest that it could have had any actual effect.

 

^ But Q did seem to be genuinely startled when he saw her.

 

Q was without his powers when Guinan stabbed him with that fork.

She was testing his claim of being "only human".

Still funny though.

 

The more I think about it, the more I believe Guinan might just be Q's ex.

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Meaning the "omnipotent" Q was unaware that she was aboard the ship, even through she was aboard the ship on other occasions when he visited.

It's possible that Q is unable to see Guinan unless he is in her presence.

 

Seeing someone who knows you from the past, and your nefarious motives and immediately turning away so they don't see you is a special power? I have special powers then.

Yes, I know. Hence the "unarmed" part of my post. It's about the most effective thing I saw her do against Q.

 

Cool.

 

To me the best answer is she has some kind of limited ability against him. Otherwise it really is just striking a pose which seems even more silly to me.

 

^I'll go for that.

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Q doesn't need to use his powers on Guinan to beat her. Q can just magic himself up a 19th century revolver and shoot her.

 

I tend to think it was the Nexus. She left it but part of her stayed behind. Perhaps because that would her (and pressumable) the other El-Aurians who were rescued by the Enterprise B immune to the powers of a Q. In effect she was defending herself, maybe hoping that she could somehow deflect whatever Q was going to do and convince Q to leave the Enterprise D alone.

 

We know her race is incredibly long lived. And they are good listeners.

Maybe it's something as simple as Q can't detect her or her species. His powers won't work on her. Or maybe not. The fork incident does speak volumes.

 

I remember seeing that episode in first run and I also have to admit I thought that scene and gestures implied Guinan had some kind enmity with Q, and the gestures were indicative of psionic power or something, but didn't think it was anywhere near Q's. Then it was never revisited, again. The only thing special about Guinan we ever see is that she is able to sense something was wrong with the timeline in Yesterday's Enterprise.

So now, when I rewatch that episode, in "my universe" it is just a sign of insult towards Q in her culture, and since she is around 500 years old, that they had had some kind of run in before, that really doesn't need explanation. All we need to know is Guinan hates Q because she ran into him before and knows whenever he is around, it means he is up to no good.

 

When I was a kid, I just thought it was Guinan's (and the El-Aurians) way of flipping people off. She was giving him the middle finger.

 

That makes the most sense.

 

^ I'm not sure the Picard of the altered timeline (Klingon war, etc) would have had the time to go fiddling around under San Francisco and therefore Data's head wouldn't have ended up there at all so there wouldn't have been a reason to go down there in the first place and there wouldn't have been any traveling back to the 19th century to meet Guinan but then she probably wouldn't have ended up on the Enterprise-D so what the hell was she doing there at all.................

Damn temporal theory.

 

^Thanks for making Guinan even more confusing.

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