Talk:Escape Pod (podcast)

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Escape Pod is a magazine in the same way that shows like "60 Minutes" are magazines. (see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/magazine)

Calling Steve a "host" in the first paragraph is misleading. On a show a host recites lines which (s)he may or may not have written. An editor of a magazine, print or otherwise, selects the features, schedules releases, coordinates production, handles contracts, budgets, signs checks, oversees marking as well as work done by assistants. After that the editor writes editorials.

In short, Escape Pod is a magazine in an audio medium. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sjanssens (talk • contribs) at 15:59, August 4, 2006.

I don't know if it the definition of 'magazine' as neatly as 60 minutes, as each edition generally has only one feature (the story/review/whatever,) so I can understand Haakon's reasoning, but it is referred to on the official site as "The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine," so using the term in the intro is probably appropriate.

How's this for the intro:

Escape Pod is a magazine-style podcast which presents stories in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. The show is hosted by Steve Eley, who also provides a short introduction and closing comments for each story.

Agreed about the host/editor thing, I missed that one. -- Vary | Talk 16:19, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

I agree that Escape Pod is best categorized as a magazine in an audio medium, not a show. This is because:

• The publication refers to itself as "The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine"
• Though radio shows exist, the word "show" often implies a visual component (as with a television program).
• The content of Escape Pod is similar to major science fiction and fantasy literary magazines, such as Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Calling attention to Escape Pod's similarity to these magazines is more helpful than calling attention to Escape Pod's similarity to television or radio shows.

For similar reasons, I agree that Steve Eley is best considered an "editor," not a "host." - Jrissman 02:16, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

On the contrary, each regular episode (issue) has not only a story but also an editorial, sometimes letters, sometimes events. They're just not clearly seperated by section headers. (Section headers make sense in print but don't work as well in audio.) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sjanssens (talk • contribs) 15:05, August 8, 2006.

I didn't say each episode only had one element, I said it had one 'feature', in the journalistic sense, and my point was that I could understand why the editor who removed the term did so. 'Magazine' is currently the term used in the article, so I don't think the particulars matter. The important thing, as Jrissman and I have said, is that Eely refers to it as a magazine, and so should we.

I've moved the above comment down from where it was originally placed, after the first paragraph of my comment above. Please don't add replies in the middle of other user's comments. It makes the page difficult to follow. Thanks! -- Vary | Talk 15:37, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

If I seem a stickler for the details it's because I'm a member of the Escape Pod/Escape Artists staff. We very much consider our podcasts to be magazines. Here's a thought experiment: If Escape Pod came out once a month with four stories, then your definition clearly considers it to be a magazine. I don't think spreading it out over the month changes that distinction. I know I'm harping on the issue, but I feel it important that our intentions and goals be clear. Sjanssens 16:28, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Table of past episodes

I've just done a lot of work on the formatting and the wikilinks in the table. For anyone who adds to the table, please keep in mind the following:

Stories from Escape Pod may or may not have articles, but books or movies that are reviewed on the podcast probably do. Wikilinking media reviewed by Escape Pod is definitely a good idea. Ditto for authors, whether they have an article or not. Short stories tend not to get articles unless they're extremely notable (major award, made into a movie, etc), so linking story titles is entirely optional, but not discouraged.

If you decide to add a wikilink, please check that you are linking to the correct article or to a red link, and not to an unrelated article. If there is already an unrelated article located at the story's title, you should disambiguate the link to point to the article's correct title or to an empty page where a future article on that story could go.

If the title links to a disambiguation page (a page that is just a link to other pages), or to an article that has a link to a disambiguation page at the top, you can check that page to see if there's already an article on your subject that you can point to. If there isn't, you need to make your link point to a new, nonexistent article. For example, there is already a long disambiguation page at Imperial, the title of the story covered in the podcast's first episode, but not an article on the story, so I altered the link to point to Imperial (short story). Per Wikipedia:Disambiguation, if anyone ever decides to write an article about that short story, Imperial (short story) is where that article will go.

To make the disambiguated title read properly, I piped the link. You can do this by adding a pipe (|) after (short story) and before I closed the brackets, like this: Imperial. This causes only the text prior to the parentheses to be displayed. You can also use a pipe to alter what text is displayed altogether, as in The Lego Moonbase Project, which points to Lego. This is done by putting the target before a pipe, and your desired text after it: [[Lego|The Lego Moonbase Project]].

An article only needs to link to a particular article once, the first time it's mentioned. I haven't taken the time to remove all the extra links today, but linking to a frequent contributor over and over isn't necessary.

Finally, in general, the titles of short fiction should be placed inside double quotes, as "Imperial (short story)". Longer works (for example, the films and books that are reviewed occasionally), should be put in italics using two single quotes. For example, Primer (''[[Primer (film)|]]''). -- Vary | Talk 07:20, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Phasing Spider Menace

The article still states that the new joint Escape Pod-Daikaiju Album is coming in late 2006, but, as we are now in 2007, and that hasn't happened yet, this should be updated, does anyone know the new date?Haggisfarm 19:02, 2 March 2007 (UTC)