Wouldn't it have been awesome if instead of Neelix manning the mess hall we got Guinan instead? It would have been easy to shoe horn her into the pilot episode. Say Voyager needed to drop her off somewhere after the Badlands mission. Some pros to having Guinan on board: 1. She totes a mean looking phaser rifle behind the bar. That surely would have come in handy during one of Voyager's numerous enemy takeovers. 2. She's a good listener. Voyager needed a counselor, Guinan would have slipped into that role easily. 3. We could have maybe made it to her homeworld, or ran into some other survivors from the Borg assault on her planet. Would make for some good story telling. 4. We could have gotten some more on the Q / Guinan animosity. 4 1/2. She's a bartender! 5. Did I mention the mean looking phaser rifle?
I agree. I think they rushed through a standard "charaxcter checklist" while creating Voyager. The problem with Guinan is that Whoopi is a big star, and she probably liked her cozy spot as "special Guest star" on TNG, plus she could do movies. However, having another El-aurian, even her relative, would have been ideal for Voyager.
Nice thinking, I love the idea of coming across her homeworld. It would have made a lot of the usual suspects here whine about another Borg episode but screw them. Nation of whiners anyway as were told
I don't think it would been such a good idea. I really like Guinan but she belongs in TNG. Neelix was as character better suited for Voyager. Despite being the cook, he also provided them with valuable information about the part of space they were in. I don't think that Guinan could have done that since the delta Quadrant wasn't her "home turf".
It was set in concrete in "Generations", that the transports trapped in the subspace ribbon were "El Aurian refugees". To the best of my knowledge, Guinan's race was never mentioned in TNG. Wesely certainly didn't even know where she was from in "Ensigns of Command" (or was it "Evolution", one or the other). Even in "Q-Who" she only says "my planet" or "my people" where decimated by the Borg; never a proper name. However, in DS9's "Rivals", Martus Mazur was explictly said to be an El Aurian, and the writers said he was the same race as Guinan and was originally written to have been her son.
Guinan would of been a good character for voyager however that would of took away from Neelix being Voyager navigator through space and I doubt Kes would of ben needed without Neelix. On epoint you Didn't tutch on which i really thought you would have would be Guinan-Seven of Nine relationship as far as Guinan having ahate for the Borg but in the case of I-Borg she saw that he was no longer Borg and actually defended him against Picard. No doubt the process of her being resentful for janeway allowing a Borg to become a member of the crew and to trust her would of been great. Plus the changes through the seasons of Guinan and Seven comming to terms with one another and getting closer.
Guinan is one of the most overrated, useless, annoying characters in STrek, in my opinion. She was another lazy plot device used by TNG writers to throw a wrench in something, or make it seem sinister. No more Guinan, ever. Please stop putting her in all the threads.
I'm a fan of Neelix; he added a lot to the show, IMO. I just finished watching "Prophecy" from Spike, and he contributed a lot to that cultural situation with the Klingons; plus he was hilarious with that Klingon woman. Neelix had his niche and filled it well.
As much as I like her, I see no need whatsoever for Guinan on Voyager. Then again I'm one of the 10 or so people who likes Neelix.
What if they kept both Guinan and Neelix? Neelix already had too much on his plate. With him being an Ambassador, guide, morale officer, cook, PITA.... uh I mean good guy. He could have delegated to Guinan.
Upon reflection, it would have been very interesting. Maybe seeing her and Seven interact given her apparent hate of Borg, and with Seven trying to regain her humanity would have lightened that hate much like Hugh did.
Sorry, but I see no room for Guinan on Voyager. They already had Neelix who was cook, morale officer, guide and "listener". They also had Kes, who also was a good listener and who could have interacted with Seven and helped her to regain her her humanity but was dumped when Seven arrived because those in charge didn't want more than 9 main characters. So I can't see how Guinan would have fitted in.
Who would really leave the luxury of the Enterprise to work on a tug boat like Voyager? Wasn't it bad enough they kept bringing back a nobody character like Boothby in uncreative ways? Q, Riker, Boothby, Barclay, LaForge & Troi, wasn't there enough TNG cast on Voy. without adding Guinan?
Purhaps a personal quest to find more of her people? Granted not exspecting to be sucked into the Delta quadrant.