Out of Contreks

Max and Michael of the Star Trek miniatures game Into the Unknown join us again for another Deep Space 9 episode. Come for their sneak peek at the new Klingon expansion content coming for the game later this year, and stay for us talking about this episode's strikingly naturalistic writing and the brilliance of Michael Dorn and Terry Farrell.   Interested in purchasing Into the Unknown? You can ch...

Note: We had to reschedule which episode we were doing this week because a power outage limited Ryan’s ability to edit the show. This week on Out of Contreks, Ryan and Brady talk about yet another Season 5 discovery episode, this one with some interesting musings on organized religion. Join us as we apply our own experiences to this episode and talk about whatever is going on in the overarching se...

Ryan and Brady explore some Klingon stuff and some Spock stuff and try to remember what the hell was going on in Star Trek Discovery Season 2. Is this the most confusing Star Trek season to watch out of context... even if you've already seen the whole thing front to back?

Ryan and Brady talk about their first ever series finale to come up on their random number generator, and for once, their two-months-ahead-of-time schedule actually turns out to line up perfectly. Not for their discussion about the premiere date of Strange New Worlds Season 3, which was announced shortly after the episode was recorded, but for the premiere of James Gunn's new Superman movie, which...

Ryan and Brady reteam with Caitlin and Nicole of That's Not How Science Works to discuss this late season Voyager episode that seems to be the writing staff taking another bite of the Tuvix apple. Come for the discussion of Neelix and Tuvok as characters, stay for the weirdly long discussion of Tenet at the end of the show!

Ryan and Brady kick off an unexpected journey into many episodes of Discovery over the next few months with a look at the nu-Trek era's cool Andorian makeup, the limitations of "decompressed" prestige TV storytelling, and how to nail the tone of inserting an important social issue into your work.

Ryan and Brady dig into the pilot of Enterprise, talking about what works, what doesn't, whether it's pronounced "bow" or "bough," and why Brady wasn't allowed to watch Enterprise when he was a kid (it was too horny!).

Ryan and Brady examine this mid-series Voyager outing and cast a wary eye on its rather simplistic portrayal of depression. We also discuss the origins of the Delta Flyer, a couple of entries in Ethan Phillips' non-Trek acting career, and once again ponder the dynamics of what is actually going on in a holodeck.

For once, Ryan and Brady come not to damn Enterprise with faint praise, but to celebrate it! This jaunt through the mirror universe is easily the most fun they've ever had watching an Enterprise episode, and they revel in the fun haircuts, the evil dogs, and one of the simplest and most effective episode openers in the history of the franchise.

Ryan and Brady cover one of the most famous Star Trek episodes of all time, the once maligned, now kind of adored (?) Arena. But does this famous Original Series entry really deserve the mockery or acclaim that many viewers have placed on in over the years? How does it hold up to other, less famous, episodes of the original Star Trek run? We get into those questions and more in this very fun recor...

Ryan and Brady return to the tangled web of late Enterprise Vulcan conspiracy chronology, watching the next episode after another episode they watched a while ago and sort of try to recall at the beginning of the show. Listen in as they discuss the episode's strange surprise ending, continue to heap praise on Jeffrey Combs, and, as so often happens when talking early 2000s Trek, compare this episo...

Ryan and Brady tackle another Season 3 episode of The Original Series, and while this one is a bit thin on plot, it boasts a real set of aesthetic choices that make it well worth a discussion. Join us as we discuss test tube scientists, the great chemistry of TOS's three leads, and how in the end, The Original Series really was a show made by a well-meaning but undeniably horny middle aged guy.

On this week's episode, Ryan and Brady are covering the the longest episode title in Star Trek history! But is this mid-season 3 outing worthy of such a portentous name? Join us as we discuss Shakespearean deliveries, tube-based security systems, and if maybe the Star Trek Season 3 haters didn't know just how good they had it. We also talk about fan-maintained wikis and the Angelina Jolie Tomb Rai...

Ryan and Brady talk about yet another very "lore important" episode of DS9 they've happened to draw, including some discussion on the genuine rapport of Kira and Odo, how to tell when you're in a Star Trek simulation, and, of course, Garak appreciation.

Ryan and Brady dive into the first part of Prodigy's first mid-season finale, discussing the new uniform variant, what happened to make the Diviner so mean, "evil" holograms, and, as always, this show's similarity to Star Wars: Rebels.

Ryan and Brady get together with MVP Out of Contreks listener Mark Rustad to discuss the new Section 31 TV movie, a film that is not very much a movie, nor is it very much about Section 31. There is one pretty cool sequence in it, though, which they talk about for a while, as well as the movie's long-gestating production history, dialogue problems, and how it ranks on the overall list of Star Trek...

In this episode, Kirk has to fight some sentient gas! This might not sound like the most innately interesting thing for an episode of Star Trek to be about, but join Ryan and Brady as we discuss the ways the writing team -- and, especially, the main trio of TOS actors -- get as much juice as possible out of this concept.

It's a good thing Data can't feel embarrassment, because, oh boy, otherwise his mom would be pretty embarrassing! Ryan and Brady discuss this late period TNG episode and its one big twist, how it's similar to a better DS9 entry about Odo, and how there's a normal episode of Star Trek going on in the background.

Fresh from the highs of our 150th episode, Ryan and Brady sit down to discuss Enterprise's version of Devil in the Dark, which heavily features a snot monster. Real talk? Why is this episode called "Vox Sola"? In Latin, that means "lone voice," which I guess sort of makes sense because it's absorbing all of them into its being, but there are still plenty of voices trying to keep that from happenin...

It's an anniversary episode for Out of Contreks, which means that this time, we're tackling The Search For Spock. Join Ryan and Brady as we discuss the first Trek movie that feels like a long TV episode, some incredible '70s fashion that just happened to appear in the '80s, and how, to woo Leonard Nimoy back to the franchise, the Trek helmers allowed him to direct a movie about how Trek isn't as g...

In this DS9 episode, Sisko falls in love with a figment of someone else's imagination. In this podcast, Ryan and Brady talk about that for a while and then discuss the galaxy's most overconfident scientist and how exactly we're supposed to feel about the end of the episode.

In this episode, Ryan and Brady take on the one with young Tom Paris... Wait, I mean Nick Locarno! We also talk Boothby, an understated performance by Gates McFadden, and more!  This episode was put together in a hurry, as Ryan is in a Shakespeare production this weekend, so sorry if the audio is maybe a bit less edited than usual.

Ryan and Brady talk about an episode that really benefits from the long-game serialized storytelling that DS9 and 90s Trek in general did so well. Plus, we touch on more Klingon traditions and praise good old J.G. Hertzler!

Can Star Trek live on aesthetics alone? Brady says no, Ryan says... maybe? Kind of? in this iffy but striking outing of the Original Series' infamous third season. Come for the comparisons to David Lynch, and stay for the boys' reminiscing on puppet-based children's entertainment (the creator of Lamb Chop wrote this episode!). 

In which Ryan and Brady don't make a "Darkling Doc" joke and really go in on trash-talking Brannon Braga for a good long while. Also, if you like the sound of CCG card packs being opened on mic, we do that here for a while!