WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 3, "Seventeen Seconds."Star Trek: Picard introduced 10 Forward, Guinan's (Whoopi Goldberg) bar on Earth, in season 2, complicating the legacy and history of the bar of the same name from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Guinan was seen tending bar at the earthbound 10 Forward in the Picard season 2 premiere "The Star Gazer," reuniting with a romantically troubled Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). 10 Forward would continue to be an important location even with Guinan not around, as seen in a touching flashback between Picard and Captain William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) just after the latter's son Thad was born in the season 3 episode "Seventeen Seconds."
The flashback scene in "Seventeen Seconds" suggests some of the crew of TNG made the earthbound 10 Forward something of a spiritual successor to the bar of the same name aboard the Enterprise-D. They clearly enjoyed this new location even without the presence of Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), who disappeared shortly after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, when she was secretly pregnant with Jean-Luc Picard's son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). The new 10 Forward is a useful, friendly location, but the time travel aspect of Picard season 2 led to some things about it not quite adding up.
Star Trek: Picard's 10 Forward Los Angeles Bar Retcon Explained
The 10 Forward bar on Earth introduced in 2401 seemed to be an homage to the Enterprise-D's bar when first introduced in "The Star Gazer," but when Picard and his La Sirena crew were forced to travel back in time to the 21st century, the bar was still there, called 10 Forward and owned by a younger Guinan (Ito Aghayere). This suggests the USS Enterprise-D bar was actually named after the Los Angeles bar. That's confusing, mostly because 10 Forward is not a random name for the TNG bar, it's a specific location on the ship, namely the very front end of deck 10.
Slightly less confusing but still worth considering, is that the majority of Los Angeles sank into the ocean after a 2047 earthquake in Star Trek continuity. Also, in the mid-21st century, most major cities on Earth were destroyed during World War III - something Captain Cristobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) seemed strangely unconcerned with when he decided to stay in 2024 at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 2. It's not impossible that Guinan's bar would survive both calamities, but it does seem pretty unlikely that it would weather such a chaotic point in human history unscathed.
When Guinan Opened 10 Forward On The Enterprise-D
While many likely remember 10 Forward as being a constant fixture, it didn't become a part of the show until TNG season 2, the same year Guinan joined the cast. Whoopi Goldberg had lobbied to be part of the show's first season, but producers assumed it was a joke, not understanding why an Academy Award nominee would want to star in a syndicated science fiction show. When it became clear Goldberg was serious, they crafted the character of Guinan for Whoopi and gave her 10 Forward, not only a needed area for crew relaxation and socialization but as a way for the TNG cast to regularly interact with Guinan.
Guinan would go on to become one of the most crucial recurring characters on TNG, offering advice and wisdom to Picard's crew, sometimes more effectively than the ship's actual counselor, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). 10 Forward itself became a fixture of TNG even when Guinan wasn't around, where the usually buttoned-up Enterprise-D crew could unwind and have casual conversations. Star Trek: Picard's new version of 10 Forward isn't quite that iconic yet, but it's become a solid setting for heartfelt conversations, despite its complicated history.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.