WEBVTT

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Guinan.

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Yeah?

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We see a much younger, in
fact, a 400-years-younger

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Guinan than the one that
we all know and love.

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And that makes a big difference.

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You can help me.

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I don't know you.

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I don't want to know you.

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And I don't help.

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Stepping into this insanely iconic role,

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originated by the legend
that is Whoopi Goldberg,

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was a bit of a whirlwind.

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I got pages from my reps for this project

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called Dylan's Kitchen.

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They had no idea what it was,
but they were like, "Read it.

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See what you think."

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I had no idea that it was Guinan.

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My character's name
was Gwen at the time.

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All I know is that three
pages in, I was crying.

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It felt like a story I
desperately wanted to tell

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for the moment that I was in.

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This place is a pressure cooker.

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You know they're actually
killing the planet?

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You know, there are tentpoles
to Guinan's history,

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but interpolation is possible.

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So, we took at heart this idea that Guinan

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spends some time listening.

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We sort of thought, well, if
you were listening here now,

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you might not like what you heard.

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When we meet Guinan in 2024 Los Angeles,

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she is bitter and burnt out.

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She's fed up with humanity

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after pouring her life into making

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the small corner of the earth
that she resides in better.

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And it's damaged her faith

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and her ability to hope
that things will get better.

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Whatever, man.

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It was cathartic and strangely familiar

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to see our world through the
eyes of a jaded El-Aurian.

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I mean, strangely familiar,

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not really purposefully familiar, right?

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Because it's Star Trek,

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and that's kind of what the writers do.

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Who are you?

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I told you, I'm Guinan.

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I tend bar, and I listen.

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Doing research for this project was trippy

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because I watched
Star Trek as a kid.

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So, watching
old episodes of

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TNG was so much fun

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because, not only
could I compare

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what I thought then

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to what I think now,
but it was also like,

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especially thrilling
and surreal

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to watch Whoopi, like,

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do her thing as Guinan

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and also contemplate the reality
of stepping into her shoes.

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And a lot of the
episodes that Guinan is in

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delved into a lot of those big issues.

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One of my personal
favorites is

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"Measure of a Man."

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Well, consider that in the
history of many worlds,

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there have always been
disposable creatures.

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They do the dirty work.

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I told myself that I would
only watch the episodes

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that Guinan was in,

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but I ended up binging,
like, four seasons of TNG

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before I remembered

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I was doing it
for research.

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I'm attracted to bald men.

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Why?

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Maybe because a bald
man was kind to me once.

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Acting opposite
Patrick Stewart was surreal

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for so many reasons.

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I've heard so many
amazing things about him,

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and they're all true. But,
like, actually working with him,

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and, like, benefiting from his
kindness and his generosity

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both on and off the camera was just,

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I mean, transcendent.

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It's like what every actor dreams of.

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He was just so present in
every moment that we were in.

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I love the man.

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I mean, I think he's my favorite Brit.

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And that's saying something,

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because I have family in England.

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I just hope they're not watching this.