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Revision as of 14:15, 1 April 2006
In the fictional universe of Babylon 5, spoo is a valuable and highly desired food product. Made from the alien worm-like creatures of the same name, spoo is considered to be the most delicious food in the galaxy, regardless of which species is asked. Although it is a universally loved foodstuff and an actively traded commodity, the creature itself is regarded with contempt by the races that consume it.
Since its introduction on the Babylon 5 television series, spoo has remained popular among fans of the science fiction saga, spawning everything from attempts to cook their own version of spoo, to fan fiction related to the creatures. In recent years, spoo has taken on various meanings outside the Babylon 5 universe and fan community, and can now be found in areas such as day trading jargon and computer programming.
Origins in Babylon 5
Spoo initially appeared in the first episode of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, when it was briefly mentioned by the Narn Ambassador, G'Kar.[1] J. Michael Straczynski, the show's creator, executive producer, and writer of the episode in question, was soon deluged by questions from fans from the various online message boards on which he frequently participated. At first, Straczynski's responses were intentionally vague and terse: "Spoo is."[2] After a couple of years of speculation from Babylon 5 fandom, Straczynski finally explained the mysteries of spoo, in what has become regarded as a classic and hilarious element of the Babylon 5 mythology.[3]
Creature
In Babylon 5, spoo, the creature, is regarded with contempt by most of the sentient species that have encountered it; this is partly because of its extreme ugliness as a species - tiny, pasty, mealworm-like creatures - and partly because of the difficulty encountered in cultivating the food, in particular, a "sighing problem". According to Straczynski, spoo "are the only creatures of which the Interstellar Animal Rights Protection League says, simply, 'Kill 'em.'"[3]
The creatures are raised on ranches on planets with moist and chilly climates, not because the creatures thrive in such environs, but because it produces the best level of paleness in the creatures' skin. Starting a spoo ranch is relatively easy: the only requirement is to place 200 spoo in the middle of the ranch and wait. Within a short period of time, they have reproduced in sufficient numbers and harvesting can commence, with the preferred method being a simple whack with a stick. Little physical effort is required to cull the herds - spoo are incapable of moving more than six inches in a year, tend to stay propped up against one another "ostensibly for mutual protection," with attempts at movement usually ending up in the creatures toppling over. The primary difficulty in spoo ranching is in the only sound the creatures make: loud, continuous sighing. The only protection against the sighing is the use of earmuffs, which eventually cannot block the sheer volume of sighs as the harvest progresses. The sighing often triggers bouts of major depression, with some ranchers even going mad from the incessant sighs.[3]
Taste and uses
As a food product, spoo is very versatile. It can be made into everything from soups to sandwiches, served cooked or cold. Most often it is prepared in cubes so that it resembles as little as possible the animal from which the food came. Straczynski once jokingly described the taste as "Meat Jello. Served chilled."[4] The taste of spoo is apparently hard to put into words ("spoo-ish" is an acceptable adjective), although different races have their own views on this, and have their own preferences on how it is prepared. As an example, the Narn like their spoo fresh, while the Centauri prefer it aged. Centauri consider being offered fresh spoo an insult, and the presence of it on their home world was a pivotal element in one episode of Babylon 5.[5] As another example, the Pak'ma'ra like the flavor, but will not openly admit to this, partly because of their religious beliefs, which dictate that they only eat carrion.
As a commodity
As a widely consumed food product, like coffee or beef, spoo is a traded commodity, where the price of the product at the consumer level is dictated by the price on common exchanges. During one episode the price of a spoo sandwich is stated as ten credits an ounce; at the end of the same episode it is stated as fifteen credits.[6] While this could be a simple mistake by Straczynski, a bit of fanon assumes that it is an intentional reference to spoo's exorbitantly ridiculous volatility in the market.[7]
Unlike other products, not only is spoo a tradable commodity, but spoo ranches themselves sell shares, not dissimilarly to large corporations.[8] It is not known if this is facilitated by spoo's immense popularity or because the ranches' value is exacerbated by their rarity (due to the difficulty of, and disproportionately high suicide rate in, spoo ranching).
Real-world spoo
In 1998, Warner Bros. and Boxtree UK published a Babylon 5 cookbook.[9] Presented as if it was written around the year 2260, the time when most of the Babylon 5 series takes place, the book contains many recipes for the various foods mentioned and seen throughout the series. Included were recipes for Narn-style spoo and Centauri-style spoo, both using currently available ingredients, with sea scallops taking the place of spoo.
Many fans have attempted to make "spoo" on their own. One common method is the use of tofu, itself a rather versatile and nondescript food with a pale color. And there have been times when Straczynski has been eating at a restaurant or event, and a fan will send over a plate of food, "christened spoo."[10]
Real-world etymology of the word
Babylon 5 is not the first place the word spoo appears. Straczynski was a writer in the 1983 cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. After a fan recalled a possible spoo reference from that show, Straczynski replied, "[Yes], I slipped some spoo in there once. A couple of real cute — as in wanna drop a truck on them cute — elf-types offer Skeletor a bowl of Spoo. His reply: (in a mincing tone to start) 'No, I don't want any SPOOOOOOO. I *hate* Spoo. (beat) And I don't even know what Spoo IS.'"[11] One of Straczynski's earliest responses to the spoo question also revealed how he created the word—"Spoo is Oops spelled backward."[12]
Frank Zappa used the word as a euphemism for semen in the song "What Kind of Girl?", which appears on the 1988 live album Broadway the Hard Way. He claimed in The Real Frank Zappa Book to have learned the word from guitarist Ike Willis, and also used spoo to mean self-indulgent "musical masturbation," in which musicians play an extended solo primarily for their own enjoyment rather than to enhance the musical experience of the audience.[13]
As a humorous nonsense word separate from its fictional meaning, the term "spoo" has been creeping into popular culture, sometimes as a replacement for stuff, as was the case with its first recorded use on USENET in 1989, and later as a misspelling of spew.[14] According to the Dictionary of Slang and Euphemism, spoo is a slang term for ejaculate, etymologically derived from spew, and cited by linguist Pamela Munro in a paper on collegiate slang at UCLA. Stock and bond day traders have begun to use spoo in reference to S&P 500 futures.[15][16] Several individuals however, lay claim to creating the word before Straczynski. One blogger claims to have had spoo attached to him as a nick-name in the mid-1980s on various message boards, but the use of spoo on He-Man predates his own claims.[17] Regardless, Straczynski's works were the first use of it in the popular media.
Current usage
Since its advent in Babylon 5, some people in the science fiction community have used the term "spoo space" on online message boards instead of spoiler space.[18] Spoo is spoofed in the first Babylon Park parody short, Spoohunter.[19] Some computer programmers have used the Babylon 5 reference as titles of their programs. Of note is the Syndicomm Python Offline Orchestrator, a Python-based program for reading bulletin boards, the title of which is back formed to fit the reference.
References
- ^ Mentioned in the episode "Midnight on the Firing Line," by Straczynski.
- ^ From a USENET post made January 27, 1994. Archived at http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-13771.
- ^ a b c The CompuServe post from the first week of January 1995 is archived in many various places: See here, here, and here.
- ^ From a CompuServe post from December 18, 1996, archived at http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-6932.
- ^ Centauri versus Narn temperaments towards spoo provides a vital plot point in the episode "A Tragedy of Telepaths," written by Straczynski. See its Lurker's Guide page at http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/098.html.
- ^ Spoo is a conversation piece in the episode "A View from the Gallery," written by Straczynski from a story by Harlan Ellison and Straczynski. See its Lurker's Guide page at http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/092.html.
- ^ This view is expressed in the "Notes" section of the Lurker's Guide page noted immediately above - or click here.
- ^ In the episode "The Geometry of Shadows," a Technomage infected Londo's personal computers with a virus that converted all his personal finances into a purchase of 200,000 shares in a spoo ranch.
- ^ Briggs-Wallace, Emerson (June 1998). Dining on Babylon 5: Human Edition - The Ultimate Collection of Space Station Cuisine. UK. ISBN 0-7522-1143-9.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ This anecdote was mentioned as an aside in a GEnie post from September 4, 1996. Archived at http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-7751.
- ^ From a GEnie post made July 7, 1994. Archived at http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-8932.
- ^ From a USENET post made August 1, 1994. Archived at http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-14526.
- ^ The Real Frank Zappa Book. Poseidon Press. June 1989. ISBN 0-3184-1476-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ The first USENET occurrence was September 28, 1989 - See the post archived via google at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/sci.physics/msg/7379a1827e328633?dmode=source&hl=en.
- ^ See the about.com entry at http://daytrading.about.com/library/jargon/bl_spoo.htm
- ^ More on Spoo and the S&P 500 can be found at http://www.programtrading.com/spoos.htm.
- ^ For the blogger who claims to have created spoo, see the "about" section of spoo.net at http://www.spoo.net/who/.
- ^ Internet example here, and numerous USENET examples can be attained via a google search, (linked here).
- ^ The short can be accessed at http://www.babylonpark.com/video-archive.htm.
Additional references
The Babylon 5 episodes in which spoo appears or is mentioned:
- "Midnight on the Firing Line"
- "The Geometry of Shadows"
- "Point of No Return"
- "A View from the Gallery"
- "A Tragedy of Telepaths"
- "Meditations on the Abyss"
See also
- List of Babylon 5 articles
- Created by Al Capp in 1948, Shmoo has some similarities to spoo.
- Slurm
External links
- The Temple of Spoo: Spoo resources, recipes, humor, and fan fiction.
- http://spoo.mminternet.com/whats_spoo.html: Concise archive of JMS "Spoo" posts
- The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5: The definitive Babylon 5 resource.
- JMSNews: The J. Michael Straczynski message archive.