Out of Contreks

Ep. 123: ”All Is Possible” (DIS S4E4)

Ryan and Brady tackle a Season 4 Discovery episode that at least one of them finds to be downright sociopathic. We talk infatuated Saru, Tilly's semi-departure from the show, and the pitfalls of viewing every event as a stepping stone in your personal journey.

Ep. 122: ”The Die Is Cast” (DS9 S3E21)

Odo and Garak square off in the second half of this famous DS9 two-parter, the first part of which Ryan and Brady happened to cover almost exactly a year ago! But how does 12 Years A Slave inform the conversation we have about this episode? Is there anything better in the episode itself than the famous behind-the-scenes picture we've used as the episode image? Was frequent director David Livingston up to some new tricks, or were some of these techniques being used to shoot around stand-ins? We cover all of these topics and more this week!

Ep. 121: ”The Survivor” (TAS S1E6)

Ryan and Brady talk about another Animated Series episode, this one with a surprising depth, sweetness, and cleverness. Join them as they discuss Star Trek's policy of nonviolent solutions, shapeshifting into functional but inanimate objects, and interspecies dating.

Ep. 120: ”Once Upon A Planet” (TAS S1E9)

October's Trek Animation Month continues with this strange little sequel to a famous Original Series episode. Listen in as Ryan and Brady discuss how plugged in Filmation was to the overall Trek canon, cool/bad animation art design, and the logic gaps of this supercomputer.

OOC Special 10: Very Short Treks, Season 1 (w/ That’s Not How Science Works)

The Out of Contreks unplanned Star Trek Animation October continues with this hastily-organized, recorded, and edited discussion with Caitlin and Nicole of That's Not How Science Works about the Very Short Treks series of YouTube Shorts. Join us as Ryan talks about how much he liked these episodes while the other three people on the podcast react with skepticism, and stay for lengthy tangents on streaming TV, beating a joke to death, the finale of Enterprise, and more.

Ep. 119: ”Time Amok” (PRO S1E8)

Welcome to October 2023, which, through no intentional planning of our own, has become Star Trek Animation Month for Out of Contreks. In the first of four episodes this month on animated Star Trek episodes, Ryan and Brady talk about the first episode of Prodigy we've covered on the show. We also discuss the potential of an episode like this, compressed storytelling time, and which main Trek cast would be the best hang!

Ep. 118: ”The Prodigal Daughter” (DS9 S7E11)

Ryan and Brady and DS9 return to the well of parent trauma, but this story about Ezri Dax's real mom isn't quite as oddly compelling as the tale of Odo's fake dad. You know what is compelling, though? Miles O'Brien. He's in this one!

Ep. 117: ”The Icarus Factor” (TNG S2E14) and World Cup of Star Trek

Ryan and Brady get together for a loopy, cat-purr-filled discussion of a middling TNG Season 2 episode, but not before spending nearly half the runtime talking about the most recent World Cup of Star Trek vote. After that, stay tuned for discussions of culturally insensitive portrayals of martial arts and musings on how weird it is to see an older gentleman named Kyle.

Ep. 116: ”By Any Other Name” (TOS S2E22)

Ryan and Brady begin with a fun discussion of Shakespeare in Trek before moving on to this perfectly serviceable Original Series episode that appears to have been made on the cheap. Join us as we talk about 1960s sexuality, weird haircuts, and the least expensive special effect of all time: standing still.

OOC Special 9: Strange New Worlds, Season 2

In this extra-length episode (beset with a few Skype challenges), Ryan and Brady check in on the latest season of Star Trek prequel-spinoff show Strange New Worlds, running through the highs, lows, crossovers, effects of the writers' and actors' strikes, and going off on a lengthy digression of how the Star Trek casts have progressively increased in hotness since Deep Space Nine.