Out of Contreks

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

It's a momentous episode of Out of Contreks, as Ryan and Brady do an in-person record to discuss what has been historically cited as Ryan's favorite episode of Star Trek. But does the episode still hold up, 10 years after either of the hosts last watched it? Find out and listen in as Ryan and Brady discuss William Shatner's ineffable qualities, Leonard Nimoy's perfect facial expressions, and one of the funniest bits of sci-fi attention to detail in franchise history.

Ryan and Brady examine a TNG mid-series Klingon episode and discover that it is one of the most narratively important outings of Imperial Phase Trek. There's a lot to talk about, but of course, we focus on the introduction of perhaps the most famous, and the most infamous, recurring Klingon characters of all time: Gowron and Alexander.

Ryan and Brady dive into a Voyager episode that wants to be about colonialism but ends up in that weird end of history imperialist vibe where so much of Voyager accidentally lives. In the process, we discuss the Huaorani indigenous people in Ecuador (we erroneously call them the Auca tribe in the podcast, which is not what the Huaorani call themselves), recollect the Star Trek movies, and laugh about the subplot regard Tom Paris's speeding ticket.

In this discussion of the Season 4 Discovery premiere, Ryan and Brady talk effective storytelling, sub-Whedon banner, and how diagnosing patients in the 32nd century is even easier than in the 23rd century. Just point and click! This episode a little more positive than our usual Discovery episodes but it's still not exactly glowing.

Caitlin and Nicole return for our longest episode ever, discussing all 10 webisodes/short films/whatever these are that make up Paramount+'s Short Treks streaming series. We talk bad animations, what makes good tie-in media, and take a detour at the end of the episode to talk about our hopes and fears for the Section 31 TV show.