Last year I did a take where I did my version of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I covered pretty much everything I would have changed about it save for one character:
Guinan
Again, we get more detail in the various novels, etc., but on the show we know she's old. She's met Q, the Borg and generally seems to know what's going on, but how would I handle her?
A few ideas really.
1). "That little shop that wasn't there yesterday..."
We'd have Picard in a the Holodeck, having some R&R in a Dixon Hill sim when he rounds the corner and sees a speakeasy. One that clearly doesn't appear in that chapter. Entering, he sees Guinan tending bar. She gives him, Picard that is, advice relating to the episode. When he leaves the speakeasy's now the diner it was supposed to be.
From there she meets other characters. Sometimes on the Holodeck, sometimes on whatever planet the crew is on. We'd get even fewer bits of her past (although we see her in 19th Century San Francisco and the 23rd Century providing more bits).
2). Could be straight forward
Explain her race, maybe have an episode or two devoted to it. She comes from a race of listeners (not empaths) but Guinan has also been around. Heck, maybe have her tell some of her earlier adventures. Maybe have her working alongside Captains April or Pike?
If (going with Jesse's idea of Troi being a Section 31 agent), Guinan would serve more as the crew's friendly ear.
