Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan is Star Trek: TNG’s most enigmatic character, but one episode of Deep Space Nine would have changed this by giving her a son!
Summary
- Guinan’s son was almost introduced on Star Trek: DS9, but the plan was abandoned due to Whoopi Goldberg’s availability.
- Martus Mazur in DS9 episode “Rivals” was intended to be Guinan’s son, but turned out to be an evil version of her character.
- Martus, the antagonist resembling Guinan, used his listening skills for criminal activities, showing a darker side than Guinan.
Star Trek: Next Generation‘s Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) was almost given a son in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2. Not much was known about the enigmatic El-Aurian bartender in TNG season 2, beyond the fact that Guinan had been a refugee fleeing the Borg Collective. Later episodes revealed her life on 20th century Earth, and her rivalry with Q (John de Lancie). However, details about Guinan’s family or offspring were largely kept under wraps.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers Jim Trombetta and Michael Piller sought to change this, however. Early story outlines for DS9 season 2, episode 11, “Rivals” revealed that the episode’s primary antagonist was actually the son of the beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation character. The plan was abandoned, meaning that Guinan’s family background remained shrouded in secrecy. However, the finished episode of DS9 does draw some interesting comparisons between the villain in “Rivals” and Whoopi Goldberg’s iconic Star Trek character.
Guinan’s Son Almost Debuted On Star Trek: DS9
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 11, “Rivals” centers on a rivalry between an El-Aurian con artist called Martus Mazur (Chris Sarandon) and Quark (Armin Shimerman). When he acquires a mysterious alien gambling device, Martus sets up his own bar and entertainment complex on DS9, with disastrous results. The original intention was for Martus to be the wayward son of Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Guinan, and some of those elements are retained in the finished script. Martus and Guinan are both good listeners, but have wildly different motives.
Guinan’s species was never named onscreen until Star Trek Generations , making Martus the first character to be identified as an El-Aurian.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s plan to confirm Martus Mazur as the son of Guinan was abandoned when it turned out that Whoopi Goldberg wasn’t available for filming. DS9 was being produced in tandem with Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7, which did not feature the character of Guinan, reducing her availability for “Rivals”. It was a wise decision not to go ahead with that aspect of the storyline, as the reveal of Martus as Guinan’s son wouldn’t have had the same impact without Whoopi Goldberg’s involvement.
Martus Mazur Was Star Trek: DS9’s Evil Guinan
While he’s not her son, Martus Mazur is essentially an evil version of Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Guinan. Like Guinan, he spends a lot of time listening to people, garnering the nickname “The Listener” from Quark. However, Martus has more nefarious intentions than Guinan, hoping to use the information gleaned from his discussions to con people out of their life savings and investments. He’s first seen trying to inveigle his way into the affections of grieving widow Alsia (K Allen) so that he could profit from her asteroid mining project.
Guinan would have been furious about Martus’ crimes had he been her son.
Later in the episode, Martus cons a Bajoran woman called Roana (Barbara Bosson) into using her shop to steal customers from DS9’s resident criminal entrepeneur, Quark. Worse still, Martus is pretending to be romantically interested in Roana, a woman grieving the loss of her husband. Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Guinan would have been furious about Martus’ crimes had he been her son. By the end of Martus’ one and only Star Trek: Deep Space Nine appearance, it’s revealed that he’s been conned out of his profits by a superior con artist, the not-so grieving widow, Alsia.
