Far-Fetched: Recent Episodes
Mark O’Connell
My career as a writer, from Star Trek: The Next Generation & Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to UFOs, crop circles, Bigfoot and beyond. With celebrity appearances from Mark Hamill, Bill Paxton, Tony Randall, Ray Bradbury and more.
Is Troi's empathy omnidirectional? Can Data think with his right brain? I can't believe how many story ideas I had for this show!
PLUS: Remember how funny it was when the Enterprise got its computer upgraded on the female dominated planet Signet 14?
Here's how we celebrate Star Trek Day at Far-Fetched: by talking about how one hypocritical Texas TV station censored the hell out of Star Trek while simultaneously profiting off of it.
"Timescape" -- Can Picard, Troi, La Forge and Data free the Enterprise and its crew from a deadly time trap?
After a fatal accident in Engineering, Geordi temporarily restores life to an unprepared and unappreciative crewmate. Why didn't it sell?
A project proposal I drew up 28 years ago suddenly comes to life! Also, how patient do you have to be to sell a script to Star Trek?
Marveling at the Star Trek: TNG show bible, written by the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself, Gene Roddenberry.
Star Trek stories will have to wait. The Far-Fetched HR Dept. says it's time for my six-month review.
Turns out, any one of us could be harboring an Id-monster, and it could bust loose at any time.
How I'm celebrating 55 years of Star Trek: by reflecting on the scary times the franchise was close to death, and the miracles that have saved it.
My trail of destruction: I caused a movie star's kid to be attacked by a shark, then I caused the death of a legendary movie director, then I caused a brilliant science fiction icon a moment of social awkwardness. What is wrong with me?
Do I regret taking a screenwriting class with an Oscar-nominated writer who single-handedly invented a film genre, then somehow failing to learn much of anything in the class? Yes, I regret that.
The story of the Kelly-Hopkinsville "Little Green Men" alien invasion is one of the best UFO stories of all time, and yet I was forced to cut it from my book, "The Close Encounters Man."
Probably the only time I'll mention porn in this podcast (but you have to listen all the way to the end to hear it).
I have a talk with my brother Dave about taking the silliness seriously while making Super 8 movie magic. Also, how did our parents not know how often the tarantula got loose in the house?
You understand that communication with an alien race would have to begin at the most basic level.
Summoning the powers of the Brothers O'Connell! In the first ever Far-Fetched interview, my brother Matt and I talk UFOs, Bigfoot, Godzilla and the terrors of a deep, dark forest. Also, I tell the tale of how Patti LaBelle's song "Lady Marmalade" haunts me to this day.
Poor Data! The entire crew of the Enterprise has gone suicidal, and the only person who can save them is an android who can't comprehend how anyone could lose their will to live! The gripping conclusion to "Between Two Darknesses," the spec' script that got me in the door at Star Trek.
In which I try very hard not to do the Star Trek characters' voices (although I sound a little like Data)
We only had one TV set in our house when I was growing up, and I guess I must have monopolized it.
There I was, minding my own business, when my wife bought me a podcasting microphone. Suddenly it occurred to me that I have some good stories to tell about monsters, aliens and writing. And it all started when I was three years old.