It's been about three years since I first started listening to Escape Pod, and I finally caught up on all of the archives. I really pushed hard to finish everything before episode 500, and I got it in just under the wire.
I started listening to Pseudopod in 2012, after I got a link to the show off of Reddit. After awhile I started getting curious about the other shows that Pseudopod mentioned in the endcap section, so I gave Escape Pod a chance. My first episode was Red Card, episode 393, which was a really strange way to enter Escape Pod. Not only did I find that this was a science-fiction horror story, it was hosted by Alasdair Stuart, the same guy who did Pseudopod. Very confusing. Did the same guy do all three podcasts? I didn't know what to think.
The first story that really blew me away was The Tale of the Golden Eagle, episode 402. I really loved that one, and it's still one of my favorites. I know some people would claim that it violates the "show, don't tell" principle, but the whole story is set up like a fable, and it's very well-told, so that's what's important to me. After that I was hooked.
After working my way up from Red Card to what was then the present episode, I dipped back farther and farther into Escape Pod past, and finally decided to start at episode 1 and work my way up to the episode before Red Card as I continued to listen to weekly episodes from Red Card onwards. My first question at episode one was "Who is this Steve Eley guy, and why isn't he hosting any of the current episodes?" It was very interesting to listen to all of his episodes and hear his story, and I felt a loss at his departure, even tho I knew it was inevitable. I'm looking forward to hearing from Steve again in about two episodes from now...
So, I've given every story on Escape Pod a fifteen-minute chance to win me over, and have rarely cut an episode off. I have to admit, it's happened a few times.
There's just one regret I have. I ordered the Escape Pod DVD set back in 2013, and there were a few episodes on the first disk that didn't play. I've given the DVD set away, and I can't go back and check which episodes those were. So I'm missing maybe two or three episodes, and if anyone has that DVD, maybe they can tell me which episodes were corrupted on disk 1.
Anyway, it's been a hell of an enjoyable ride, and I'm very much looking forward to the 500th episode and beyond.