oh, this reminds me to make sure to post a parody of what will inevitably happen as soon as Guinan will appear in season 2 before anyone else does it: "wah wah wah, the ruin Star Trek with their obvious stupid SJW agenda if the male white hero can't accomplish anything befor this WOC tells him what to do!!!!!!!1!!!11!!!111" because we know, youtube will be full of that nonsense
It would be interesting to finally learn more about her and Q. Why did he call her an imp who's not what she seems, and warn Picard about her, and how could she hold him at bay with her hands?
As a very long time Star Trek Fan ... They can service me anytime night or day, for as long as They want.
For me this is a no brainer. Guinan was a very important character in Picard's life and it's Whoopi friggin Goldberg. She should have been in this from the very beginning. It shouldn't have taken Patrick Stewart to extend the invitation.
Whoopi getting emotional at being asked back. This show means so much to people. It never leaves you. Looking forward to Guinan. Also to Sela and Q if they turn up.
To answer the opening post of this thread.... A RESOUNDING YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You all need to accept that even though Picard isn't TNG II, it's very much an extension of TNG. I think it's going to be 90% new, 10% high school reunion. Ever been to a high school reunion? I have. They've all changed and they're all in different situations. The vast majority of them, anyway. They're not going to be pretending it's 1994. In a small way, it feels like I'm catching up with people I haven't seen in 20 years. No, they're not the main focus of the series and there's no need for people to work themselves up into thinking they will be. With that out of the way: they always said how deep Picard and Guinan's friendship was, like I said before. But the one problem with TNG was that they told it, but they didn't show it enough. Picard is a chance to really show. Most importantly Guinan not only has a deep friendship with Picard but is also someone whose home planet was destroyed by the Borg. So she might have something to say about the developments in Picard. She might have something to bring to the table. She might have a point of view that Picard doesn't. And who knows what she might think of Hugh, who she stood up for when Picard wouldn't even give a second thought of speaking to him in "I, Borg"? She's not some random character. She's actually a natural fit into the story, if you think about it and don't knee-jerk dismiss it out of hand. And if Picard goes too far the wrong way on the La Sirena, she's going to be the first person to smack him upside the head and set him straight. Just saying. She'll tell him things other people won't. And he'll listen to her in a way that he won't listen to others. She stops him from getting too caught up with himself.
IMHO, the characters with the strongest ties with Picard were Guinan & Beverly. Data, Riker, Troi, Geordi, Worf, & Tasha were colleagues. But Beverly & Guinan were friends (and more). Ro hurt him when defected. Q and the Borg were also central. I guess if you want to throw in some romantic interests (Vash, the one officer who played keyboard), that is fine. Glad to see Guinan back. Cool to see Gates at the premier.
Just shocking that a TV show would do anything to appeal to fans. Heaven forbid they try to get people to watch! The horror. I had no issue with McCoy in the TNG pilot, or Scotty's episode (which was pretty good). The Sarek episodes were excellent, and the Spock ones good. EDIT: All in a cogent manner that makes some plot sense, or if it does not (like McCoy), a brief minute or two diversion.
If Seven is a foil for Picard, Guinan could be a foil for Seven of Nine (Former Borg drone vs. Someone whose home planet was destroyed by the Borg ).
That would be interesting. In VOY, Seven didn't distance herself from the Borg so much as she saw herself differently from before. Whereas Hugh, who Guinan ultimately stood up for, seemed to reject being Borg more completely. So Guinan might not agree with Seven's methods. I'm speculating in the dark, but I think they'd have a very different view of right and wrong.
Seven is always going to BE Borg to an extent (one look in her bathroom mirror in the morning tells her as much). Seven and Picard have had very different experiences of combat. Picard fought most of his battles from the bridge of the Enterprise. Seven, OTOH, was a ground soldier (How many drones has she seen being literally blown to bits right before her eyes?) Seven spent a good portion of her career being on the receiving end of Starfleet's weapons.