TIMES ARROW

[dispatcher812]

In the epsiode "Times Arrow" , when the crew go back in time, is that the first time Picard and Guinan meet? In the book, "Buried age", a reference is made to that episode but also states that they new each other before that. Can some one explain that to me? or did I read that wrong. I know the new each other for a LONG time but what is the actual time line?

 

[USS Triumphant]

I think the question you are asking may be too linear. As far as I know, it was the first time Guinan met Picard, but obviously not the first time Picard met Guinan. If the reference in Buried Age was from Picard's perspective, that would make sense, since he met her long before that - in his personal timeline.

Or, it's possible they meant a different time altogether, but if so, I'm unfamiliar. Maybe someone else knows?

 

[GalaxyX]

Well I'm no expert here, but what I "think" the episode 2 parter is trying to imply is:

- Guinan was in her tweens (for her race anyway) and she was visiting earth as some sort of holiday trip. She was still not mature Guinan from the Enterprise

- Having suffered an injury, and watching this bald guy sacrifice his chance to get back to his time/world just to save and protect her really had an impact on her. Knowing that she would eventually meet this person again, she never forgot the incident.

- While on screen it was never shown how Picard and Guinan met in the 24th century, I'm guessing that Guinan seeked a position directly on the Enterprise to see Picard again and have a chance to become his friend.

- Picard, being a smart guy, realized that Guinan had some special insight into things, which was one of the reasons he too decided to pursue a friendship with Guinan.

 

[dispatcher812]

How did Guinan know she would meet him again?? Was it just her insight?

 

[USS Triumphant]

How did Guinan know she would meet him again?? Was it just her insight?

She knew he knew her already, and he was from the future. Therefore....

 

[dispatcher812]

I get know, thanks.

 

[Seven of Five]

I love Time's Arrow. Back in the day when I was first getting into TNG, I'd seen about half of season 7 including a Guinan episode, and a few bits of season 1. The local library only had two TNG VHS tapes, with The Inner Light, both parts of Time's Arrow (more Guinan!) and Realm of Fear. I had them for a week and watched them a fair bit. So it has a special place in my TNG heart.

 

[Vic Sixx]

The Aliens seemed incredibly unbelievable to me, Why go into the past to get some of that yummy human juice they lived on? There are plenty of undeveloped planets out there. It seemed liked an story excuse they came up with to introduce Guinan.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I wonder how Joe Menosky pitched this one.

"So, the crew finds Data's head in a cave on Earth... only it's centuries old! And the crew has to go back to 19th century San Francisco, meet Mark Twain, and stop some alien life-vampires!"

Writing staff: "Where did you get the crack you've been smoking, Joe!?"

This is one of the more off-the-wall cliffhangers TNG ever did, at least, even if it didn't really work for me.

 

[2 of 10]

On a side note to Times Arrow, I loved the actor who played Samuel L. Clemens aka Mark Twain. He was perfect for the part, I espically liked the scene when he is on the Enterprise and he sees Warf and yells Warewolf.
The actors name is Jerry Hardin, he is one of my favorite one time actors on any Trek...

 

[Piper]

Hardin was also Deep Throat in The X Files, great character actor and I agree, excellent as Twain.

I love Time's Arrow. It's a lot of nonsense (it's a little difficult to make the idea of Twain on the Enterprise remotely plausible) and there's probably not enough story for two parts, but it's a heck of a lot of fun, a lovely light hearted romp after the heavy duty cliffhangers of the previous two seasons, and I much prefer it to Descent as well.

 

[chris32482]

I also think Time's Arrow is a great episode.

On a side note: Did anyone else think the scene in Nemesis where they find B4's head was kind of cheap? I know when I first saw it I was like, "hey that's already been done in Time's Arrow."
But then again, the whole B4 storyline was useless IMO...

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

A little OT, but wasn't Guinan's "insight" due to her Nexus echo (or whatever)? And that wouldn't happen to her till a few hundred years after Time's Arrow (the 19th century part).

 

[USS Triumphant]

A little OT, but wasn't Guinan's "insight" due to her Nexus echo (or whatever)? And that wouldn't happen to her till a few hundred years after Time's Arrow (the 19th century part).

I started to say above that the Nexus connection might have played into how she knew Picard, but I'm honestly not sure if the thing could work retroactively. Based on Kirk and Picard, I'm thinking it doesn't, though. Although.... that could vary with species. Maybe El Aurians already have a psychic sense that humans don't, built right in to 'em, that would have been augmented by the Nexus both forward and backward.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The whole "race of listeners" thing might have implied some kind of higher sensitivity too.
I haven't seen Generations in a while, I can't remember how much was said about the Nexus and Guinan's abilities.

 

[euphorik]

The actors name is Jerry Hardin, he is one of my favorite one time actors on any Trek...

i thought hardin was great in "time's arrow" too. he wasn't a one-time trek actor, though; he also played radue in "when the bough breaks."

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Radue

 

[lennier1]

On a side note: Did anyone else think the scene in Nemesis where they find B4's head was kind of cheap? I know when I first saw it I was like, "hey that's already been done in Time's Arrow."
But then again, the whole B4 storyline was useless IMO...

Nothing new. The whole thing was done before over and over again.

Spoiler: a short list of examples

- Genocidal opponent(s) with lots of firepower
Duras sisters, Khan, ...

- Finding spare parts for Data leads to trouble
Datalore + Time´s Arrow

- Surfacing of a family member turns out to be a decoy
Picard´s son in Bloodlines, ...

- Marriage of known characters
Miles & Keiko, Worf & Jadzia, Ben Sisko & Kassidy Yates, Tom Paris & B'Elanna Torres, ...

- Destroying up a spaceborne weapon which could destroy planets
Doomsday Machine, Genesis device, Dreadnaught missile, ...

- Opulent wedding ceremony
Worf & Jadzia

- Neighboring races at each other´s throats instead of obvious symbiosis
Attached, Armageddon Game, ...

But we´ve all been over this countless time and the dead horse really deserves a break once in a while.

 

[Hermiod]

The Aliens seemed incredibly unbelievable to me, Why go into the past to get some of that yummy human juice they lived on? There are plenty of undeveloped planets out there. It seemed liked an story excuse they came up with to introduce Guinan.

Personally, I find it very hard to believe that a race of aliens evolved in such a manner that energy from humans was their only food source. What happened before they encountered humans ?

 

[chris32482]

The Aliens seemed incredibly unbelievable to me, Why go into the past to get some of that yummy human juice they lived on? There are plenty of undeveloped planets out there. It seemed liked an story excuse they came up with to introduce Guinan.

Personally, I find it very hard to believe that a race of aliens evolved in such a manner that energy from humans was their only food source. What happened before they encountered humans ?

Was it only humans? I thought they could feed off any humanoid...

 

[GalaxyX]

^^^ I think so too, but they preferred humans in the past because they'd be easy targets, as well as the fact that they could use common disease of the time to blame all the death's on.