It had been a while since either Brady or Ryan had seen Shore Leave, the famous, fever-dreamesque outing of the Original Series in which Bones is literally killed and then brought back to life -- an incident that probably isn't even the weirdest thing that happens in the episode -- and boy, had we forgotten some of the finer points. Join us as we discuss Trek's descent into madness, courtesy of the strange, brief Trek career of writer Theodore Sturgeon.

In this wide-ranging episode about a very good episode of Deep Space 9, Ryan and Brady go off on several tangents, everything from nostalgia for parenting young kids to the efficacy of sci-fi metaphor to classic VeggieTales music to which Star Trek species would be the nastiest to bone down with. In between, we talk about the Jem'Hadar and an unsung performance from Bumper Robinson.

Ryan and Brady look into the first part of one of the most famous Voyager episodes, and what we find is something... all right. Join us as we look at why this episode is so famous, where it sits in Voyager lore, and what this show does well and not so well.

Happy New Year! In this episode, Ryan and Brady get their annual Ric Olie reference out of the way quick before discussing a DS9 episode that has a lot of fun little character bits for Sisko as it explores the nature of responsibility. Also, I chose the episode image because of O'Brien's incredible turtleneck. A true god among men.

Ryan and Brady aren't sure what to make of this Enterprise episode that doesn't even seem quite sure of what to make of itself. Still, though, it got us to open some cool Star Trek cards, and it's a rare truly Out of Contreks episode for the both of us.

Would this be a good episode to watch while high? Ryan and Brady discuss the (mostly aesthetic) positives of this late Season 2 TOS episode and generally have a good time talking about a shaggy thing that isn't really very good, but it's got those TOS vibes. Sometimes, that's all you need.

We got a rare opportunity to expose a new person to Wesley Crusher without the burden of expectation, and boy howdy does it not disappoint. Join Ryan and Brady as we talk about Trek's most famous self-insert character, old SNL sketches, the one cool effect sequence in this episode, and how dumb this episode's resolution is.

Ryan gets to nerd out about James Bond as he and Brady talk about this very fun holodeck episode of DS9. Also discussed: Star Trek Timelines, turtleneck fashion, and Star Trek's take on nature vs. nurture as it relates to pattern buffer mishaps.

Production note: This is, hopefully, the last episode where Ryan has bad audio, as we hopefully will have resolved our mic issues by this time. Also, we are actually not doing Cease Fire next episode, due to a scheduling issue. We are actually doing Final Mission (TNG S4E9), and our Big Money Movie Ideas crossover will be coming in a few months.

Sorry for our late episode posting this week, gang! That was on Ryan for forgetting to post it during a very busy crowdfunding campaign at his work. Anyway, on this episode we talk about starting to understand why people weren't super into TOS Season 3, as we dive into an episode premise that has an interesting premise but a not nearly as interesting execution.

Out of the Paramount+ mines, Ryan and Brady tackle a wide-ranging episode that includes talk of the Decipher Star Trek CCG, what fake name you would scramble for in a pinch, how this episode reads like a critique of revisionist plantation tourism, and much more! It's one of our favorites as of late.

How many times have we talked about an episode from the Paramount+ era of Star Trek in which Ryan says "This is one of my least favorite moments in nuTrek?" Is it just bad luck, or are there just too many of those moments? Anyway, Ryan and Brady talk about the episode of Picard where Seven and Raffi have a really long fight in a parking lot. 

Look, we promise, there's no more new Star Trek on the schedule for a while after this. We're trying, people! We've got some primo DS9s coming up, some original series... it's gonna be great.

Ryan and Brady take a detour into the recent Star Trek Day announcements before going long on the third season of Strange New Worlds, a very pleasant show that is also maybe out of ideas? Join us as we talk about what a difference a good cast makes, prequels that could be spiritual but end up being literal, and baseball metaphors.

Ryan and Brady limp to the end of their mini-Discovery run with this Breen-centric episode. But did the showrunners miss an opportunity to reveal the look of the race for the first time? Why are the details of this episode so hard to remember?

Ryan and Brady talk about the old reliable of Star Trek Voyager: A Doctor episode! A goofy outing for the Delta Quadrant crew becomes, if you think about it, a kind of touching meditation on who could survive their innermost thoughts being put on display for all to see.

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 check it out here!

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 season 5 fetch quest.

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 opens this coming weekend and which catches some strays in this episode as Ryan and Brady talk about the unremarkability of commonly expressed artistic statements.

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 record.

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 episode to The Phantom Menace.

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 Raider series. It's a wide-ranging discussion!

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 films (hint: low).

Then, they circle back to 2024 to do mini-specials on Prodigy Season 2 and Lower Decks Season 5, the two shows they couldn't do full specials on last year due to time constraints.

Note: This episode was recorded very close to its air date, so it is only lightly edited.

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 happening. Feels like a first draft!

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 good when he's not in it (which is true!).

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!

Join Ryan and Brady as they discuss the premiere of what at least one of them thinks is actually the best season of Picard, if only for the sartorial choices... and then listen as they both are disappointed that this isn't the second episode, which has fun stuff like the skull of Gul Dukat. They also discuss a bit of Star Trek news that is probably about a month old at this point!

Ryan and Brady mull alien fashion, discuss the always-reliable Jeri Ryan, and reflect on how Neelix is just a very nice man in this surprisingly solid Borg episode of Voyager. Plus, Ryan cracks a pack of Star Trek CCG cards in the cold open! What will he find? (mostly some Hirogen commons)

Ryan and Brady saddle up for their last "accidentally out of order" episode of the summer (for the five or so real-heads who might actually care, obviously, the episode we mention doing "next," Yesteryear, was actually our previous episode, and our real next episode is Voyager's The Raven). Regardless of the confusion, we have a good time talking about Gul Dukat, the greatest villain in Star Trek history, as well as a brief consideration of the number of "important" DS9 episodes we've watched for the show.

Sorry for the late-night post, folks. Ryan just got back from Gen Con.

In today's episode, Ryan and Brady are joined by frequent guests Caitlin and Nicole of That's Not How Science Works to discuss the consensus choice for the best entry of Star Trek: The Animated Series. Join us as we discuss good animation vs. "good" animation, DC Fontana knowing her stuff, and Ryan crying while watching this decades-old cartoon for children.

CORRECTED: Ryan and Brady talk about very Kira-heavy, body modification episode of DS9t. We also spend a bit of time talking about a VCR game that features Robert O'Reilly as Martok, which is where today's episode art is from. It's a good time!

Ryan and Brady delve into the ins and outs of a perfectly serviceable Enterprise episode, including a writing cliche Ryan hates, a discussion of the medbay's weird horny sauna, and a tangent on Paramount+ streaming content.

If the metatextual meditation on PTSD of our last episode was too much for you, allow Ryan and Brady to talk about The Time Trap instead, a goofy Animated Series episode that had Ryan's son saying "huh, good episode" as the credits rolled. Discussed: the alien UN, the weird piece of tape that connects the Enterprise to the Klingon ship, and more.

With what we're pretty sure is our longest episode of all time, Ryan and Brady dive into this classic Deep Space Nine episode with the help of Max Brooke and Michael Gernes, the designers of the upcoming Star Trek miniatures game "Star Trek: Into the Unknown." Max and Michael break down the analysis of Star Trek metafiction, the logistics of holodeck food, and the long-game characterization of DS9, but first, they sit for an extended interview on their cool new game from WizKids, which debuts later this year (and is set during the Dominion War).

Sorry for the audio issues, folks. This file should have both hosts' audio.

Ryan and Brady dig into the final season of Star Trek Discovery and come to the conclusion that this season was, if not great, also was not bad! We rank the seasons, talk about the finale, discuss the ending, and wonder if one of the writers found religion during the course of writing the show. All that, and more!

Ryan and Brady talk about well-meaning but strangely tone-deaf episode of... you guessed it, Voyager. Come for the discussion of how pop culture so often treats Native American culture with a patronizing air, and stay for the ponderings on how a holographic tissue works.

On this gentle evening episode of Out of Contreks (that's what we call it when we post it at night instead of in the morning like Ryan does when he's on his game), Ryan and Brady talk about digital painting techniques and some valiant performances trying to save a pretty boring Data A plot -- so boring, in fact, that it doesn't make an appearance on part two of this TNG two-parter, which we've already covered on the show. We also spend a while discussing the current state of "remastering" Voyager and Deep Space 9, which you can read more about in this interesting article.

What if the Borg but in Enterprise? That's basically all that's on the mind of this episode, and Ryan and Brady get into it. Ryan forgot to post this one early this morning, and now he's doing it in a rush before recording a new batch, so sorry for the lack of episode notes.

Ryan and Brady do a brief overview of this Season 2 Discovery episode and riff on modern progressivism, the bloat of serialized storytelling, and a Christian pop-punk band of the early 2000s.

Ryan and Brady discuss one of the first Star Trek episodes to ever air, the creepy and atmospheric Charlie X! Join us as we discuss the brilliance of D.C. Fontana, science fiction on a budget, the show still figuring itself out, and which actor's head looks like an upside-down triangle.

An episode of Star Trek in which so little happens that Ryan and Brady spend a large amount of time talking about movies, both real movies that currently exist and future Star Trek movies that might one day exist. There is also this one really rude Tellarite in this episode, and we get some juice out of that guy.

Ryan and Brady get into what starts out as a pretty promising episode of Enterprise Season 4 and what turns out to be... an OK episode of Enterprise Season 4. Join us as we discuss a Star Trek board game, time travel rules, and how Nazi Germany is listed on Memory Alpha as one of the combatants in the Temporal Cold War.

Ryan and Brady talk about an episode of The Original Series that is very important to the series canon but is primarily notable for its aggressive (and perhaps unintentional) heteronormativity. Consider this, however: When Brady emailed this episode to me, he wrote "I'm very proud of us for making it through the whole episode without using the phrase 'Cochrane blocked.'" So, mission accomplished, I guess?

Ryan and Brady cover the second season premiere of Star Trek: Enterprise, and in typical Out of Contreks fashion, neither of them has any idea what happened in the finale of season one. Join them as they talk about Archer's Max Headroom cameo, Suliban skin, and Enterprise's trademark "prude sexuality."

Ryan and Brady tackle an early TOS episode that has some pretty uncomfortable views on teenage sexuality, as well as a disease that makes people break out in blue makeup. Along the way, we discuss why exactly this episode is set on an identical copy of Earth, annoying future abbreviations, and the strange decision to cast an actor to play a character who is supposed to be literally half his age.

Ryan and Brady discuss one of their favorite, as well as one of the most infamous, Lower Decks episodes of all time in this holodeck bonanza. Listen in as we attempt to weigh what makes a callback more than a callback, explore which Lower Decker Brady most identifies with, and, of course, give our thoughts on that scene.

In a small scheduling change prompted by the holidays, Ryan and Brady are releasing this DS9 episode just a touch out of order. Fortunately, it's a fun one, as we talk about hacking in the Star Trek universe, undercooked B-plots, and how this small little episode of DS9 strangely predicted COVID-19 (which, by the way, Ryan has, so go easy on him).

Ryan and Brady dig into a very entertaining, strangely prescient episode of The Original Series with a wild, unnecessary twist ending. Is this low-key one of the best Star Trek episodes Gene ever wrote? What does it have to say about the medium of television, and the "civilization" of violence as entertainment? Why did they stop calling video "video" in the future? We cover all that, and more!

Ryan and Brady check in a few weeks late to discuss Season 4 of Star Trek Lower Decks! We talk characterization, deep dives into Nova Squadron lore, and what the show is doing well this far into its run.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Things get unexpectedly real in this Deep Space 9 Odo episode, as Ryan and Brady talk about this surprisingly layered examination of the dynamics between fathers and sons. We also discuss why Odo looks like that.

Ryan and Brady cover the first episode of TNG Season 3 and try to remember at what point in this season the show actually gets really good. We also discuss the humanity of computer viruses and Guinan's questionable backstory. The episode image is a shot of a deleted scene mentioned in the episode.

Ryan and Brady take on a Discovery episode chockablock with elements we don't care for and use it to talk about writing crutches, conflict resolution, and an extended riff on a time when a Star Trek mobile game made several members of its player base extremely mad.

On this special episode of Out of Contreks, Ryan and Brady engage in a quickly recorded, mostly unedited discussion of the recently-concluded final season of Star Trek: Picard. Topics include plot presentation issues, interesting in-universe ramifications, writing crutches, and also how Michael Dorn is the absolute king.

On this week's podcast, Ryan and Brady talk about the underrated Marina Sirtis and a surprisingly layered late period TNG episode. We also talk bad haircuts, whiffed endings, and once again speculate on the rapidly changing levels of inconvenience associated with species reassignment surgeries in the Star Trek universe.

Ryan and Brady talk about one of the best ever episodes of Star Trek, what it has to say about communication and metaphor, and how it's served as an even more prescient indicator for the way we talk to each other now.

On this episode, Ryan and Brady discuss a fun little mid-period TNG outing that allows sometimes-shunted-aside players like Troi, Keiko and O'Brien to flex their muscles. We also discuss the perpetually locked-in Michael Dorn and try to figure out what exactly Picard is hoping to accomplish at the end of the episode.

Here is a link to the Jim Henson Productions title sequence mentioned on today's episode.

In this wide-ranging discussion about a late-period Voyager episode, Ryan and Brady talk about Icheb, Jeri Ryan's ability to elevate material, Neelix's odd food classification, and Star Trek video games.

Ryan and Brady take on this very early TNG episode, some of which looks like it was shot in a black box for some reason. We also cover the first appearance of The Traveler and a surprise turn by Adrian Monk's psychiatrist.

It's a kind of lackluster, confusing episode of Discovery, but Ryan and Brady still find plenty to talk about, including the history of LGBTQ representation in Star Trek, the logistics and origins of time crystals, and of course Pike's incredible jacket.

"There are thousands of shows out there, and this is one of them." This line is spoken in this episode, but does it refer to Star Trek, or this podcast? In a crossover pod with Big Money Movie Ideas (you can hear Ryan and Brady on their show here), we introduce Andrew and Kelsey to this classic original series episode. Listen in as we talk scary rugs, awesome matte paintings and perfectly round eggs and/or holes.

Hi everyone! In celebration of our 100th regular episode, we have turned our random number generator to the pantheon of Star Trek movies to discuss William Shatner's infamous directorial opus. Will we have a The Motion Picture-style realization that this is good, actually, or is the movie as bad as we remember? One thing's for sure: We both have nothing but good things to say about Laurence Luckinbill.

Our first episode of the year is a special episode recorded the day before (with minimal editing in order to get it out in a timely fashion) about the first, elongated season of Star Trek: Prodigy! In the first half of the episode, Ryan's kids, Reggie and Ben, weigh in on the first Star Trek show explicitly marketed toward them. In the second half, Ryan and Brady talk about what Prodigy can tell us about the direction Trek (and the aging millennial pop culture market in general) is headed, before capping the show with a lengthy discussion of the World Cup of Star Trek's recently-completed best season bracket.

Ask not for whom the Morn mourns, he mourns for thee (and for us, who didn't realize this episode was going to come out on Christmas). On Ryan and Brady's 99th episode, they talk about DS9's excellently silly side-character, Ferengi economics, and dad jokes we love.

Ryan and Brady spend a while attempting to dissect this odd Season 7 TNG episode, which feels like it should work for us and just... doesn't. We talk Brent Spiner acting, anti-climactic endings and why this feels like it takes the show back to Season 1.

Ryan and Brady tackle a strange early episode of TNG in which everyone is mean to Data for no reason and the holodeck almost destroys the entire ship on a technicality.

In a rare "Ryan and Brady disagree" podcast, we go deep on Critical Care, a dark, thoughtful, late-period Voyager episode about income-gated health care and the ethics of political violence.

Here's a link to The Joe Manchin Trolley Problem, an article we discuss in the episode.

Join Brady and Ryan as they return for another discussion of Star Trek: Lower Decks, this time the newly-completed third season. A lot of this podcast is them trying to put their finger on just what it was about this season that made it not quite as good as the last two... and then remembering a lot of things that still worked pretty well!

In this DS9 two-hander, we get into the psyche of Elim Garak, one of the best recurring characters in Trek history. We also talk about cool caves, plot twists, and which Muppet it was who sells Scrooge's clothes at the end of Muppet Christmas Carol (apparently, it was not Uncle Deadly, although that's probably who Ryan was thinking of).

An episode where "something is going on" and you wait until the end until you find out what it is. Not gonna lie, this one has really fallen out of the brain in the two months since we watched it. Even Brady  couldn't remember which episode this was until about halfway through the editing process.

Ryan has been dreading this episode for a while, but it wasn't that bad! Well, I mean, it wasn't great. It's kind of annoying, but only because it starts pretty strong and then sort of wastes away to nothing... the Star Trek episode, I mean, not the episode of the podcast. Hopefully that's still pretty entertaining.

You could also call this episode "O'Brien and Bashir: Origins," as it's one of the first outings in which the frostiness between the two men starts to thaw. Join Ryan and Brady as we talk about its sludgy middle, killer opening, and excellent comedy stinger.

In which Ryan and Brady discuss Adam the space hippie, the sensational character find on 1969. This episode of The Original Series has full original music numbers, a surprisingly nuanced message, and renewed relevance in our pandemic era. Check out the podcast for an effusive commentary.