Out of Contreks

Ryan and Brady discuss an interesting late-era episode of Enterprise, as the show conducts maybe its best-ever attempt at explaining a thing that probably didn't really need to be explained. Join us as we attempt to determine whether this episode-length explanation for why Klingons look different in TOS is better or worse than the one-sentence non-explanation offered in Trials and Tribble-ations, and stay for a winding discourse into which episodes would be best to air with theatrical rereleases of the Trek films.

In a wide-ranging discussion about the latest (and one of the last) outings of the Paramount+ era of Star Trek, Ryan and Brady talk about the inconsistent, often brilliant, often frustrating recent season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Join us as we discuss whether Spock's tryst with a puppet was too far, how the first episode of this season reminds us of Alan Cumming's hilarious remarks about Avengers: Doomsday, and what's up with Starfleet's regressive new dress code.

Ryan and Brady tackle perhaps the most infamous Voyager episode of all time in this in-person record. Join us as we talk about gross practical effects, how you talk to your boss again after something like this happens, and whether a 2 percent chance of death is enough to make you not do something (spoiler: it should be!).

In a rare in-person episode, Ryan and Brady discuss this late-period DS9 outing with some really good performances that also manages to (somewhat) overcome a pretty universal Star Trek weakness: these shows are usually pretty bad at portraying gritty warfare.

O'Brien gets a considerably less pleasant "Inner Light" of his own in this surprisingly harrowing DS9 episode. Ryan and Brady hop around to a variety of topics, including some that are actually important to this episode, like the way you feel when you do something bad in a dream. However, this being Out of Contreks, there is also a lengthy discussion about who pays Starfleet officers' bar tabs and if synthehol actually intoxicates you.

Shran continues to rock. Ryan and Brady spend a lot of time justifiably discussing Andorian antennae (just look at the episode image), compliment this Enterprise episode's commitment to finding a (sort of) non-violent solution, and wonder if the writers ever did quite enough to distinguish the Andorians from the Klingons.

This episode of Deep Space 9 feels very biblical, so it's apropos that Ryan and Brady spend a large portion of it talking about Adventures in Odyssey. We also discuss the reasons people have faith and the recent schism in the Catholic Church, and there's a little bit of Star Trek talk smuggled in there too.

Not gonna lie to you: I don't really remember what we talked about in this episode. If I recall correctly, we talked about Andorian antennae, the lady Andorian freedom fighter, and how boring the Vulcans are on Enterprise. I'm sure it's still a good time, though!

After spending a while at the beginning of the episode talking about upcoming Star Trek video games, Ryan and Brady dive into this very impressive episode of Voyager, which is about what to do if you have bad co-workers... but in space! In so doing, we talk about our own experiences managing employees, the best kind of Star Trek metaphors, and Ryan reveals one time when an irrational fear of his proved totally justified.

Ryan and Brady had some fun with this Enterprise episode! Could it be that the show gets better in the second half? Is this really Stargate or Babylon 5-coded, as Ryan seems to think? How about that CGI? We talk about all that and more!