Again, I’d like to thank those of you who have been posting feedback; I’ve enjoyed reading your comments. However, as much as I’m enjoying writing these B5V posts, they do take time to write. Sometimes life gets more hectic than usual and I end up having to skim the comments instead of focusing on each one in detail…it’s either that or NOT do a post. I do plan to go back and re-read everyone’s comments after I finish the series.
However, please don’t be hurt if I happen to make a comment or ask a question in one of my posts that you’ve already answered in one of your comments. It doesn’t mean I’m purposely ignoring you or not appreciating the effort you take in posting comments. It simply means that I’ve forgotten (brain lobotomy moment, sigh), or haven’t had time to read your comment in detail. I -will- read your comment in detail at some point.
Of course I’d understand completely if you’d rather not put the effort into posting lengthy B5 background-related info if I’m not reading each one as you post it rather than at the end. There are other B5 fans reading and appreciating your comments, though, so feel free to post for them for now (and for me later 
if you’re still willing).
Whether or not you post, however, I want to again thank everyone for continuing to sit beside me in my virtual living room while I’m watching B5! I’m having a ton of fun and am TOTALLY hooked.
7 comments ↓
Keep up the good work, Debbie!
I’m about 4 or 5 episodes ahead of you and I look forward to every one of your posts. I especially love the screengrabs because even though I only watched the episode less than a week before you I still have trouble remembering stuff that happened and the pictures really help to jog my Swiss cheese brain!
Logically, this should cause an increase in the number of comments *g*.
I’m just about to start re-watching S2…
Don’t worry, Deb; we’ve got a little community growing, here. We’ll keep each other amused, and hold a seat open for you whenever you want to pop in.
(Aren’t you glad you’re welcome in your own site?)
I suspect the comments will be equally rich for you when you get a chance to go through them. And your responses will be so for us, when you get to those.
For those of us (an anonymous way of saying I) who keep coming late to the party, posting about an entry already 3 months old, well… you’ve done us a great favor!
I believe this is aimed at a bit of whimsy I put up, having forgotten for the moment that the detailed background of Spoo was something that was discussed only in the newsgroups of the time. Spoo was mentioned in the series, but the actual details I was aluding to (sighing, etc.) were not. So my apologies. I will have to look that bit up and post it so the intent of that tongue-in-cheek comment becomes a little clearer instead of looking like an actual complaint.
Zen hugs, and much asking of forgiveness.
OK, here’s the missing background from a JMS post back in Feb ‘95 where he describes “Spoo farming”
-!- Begin JMS posting —
Spoo is/are (the plural of spoo is spoo) small, white, pasty, mealy critters, rather worm-like, and generally regarded as the ugliest animals in the known galaxy by just about every sentient species capable of starflight,
with the possible exception of the pak’ma’ra, who would simply recommend a more rigorous program of exercise. They are also generally considered the
most delicious food in all of known space, regardless of the individual’s biology, almost regardless of species, except for the pak’ma’ra, who like the flavor but generally won’t say so simply to be contrary.
Spoo are raised on ranches on worlds with a damp, moist, somewhat chilly climate so that their skin can acquire just the right shade of paleness. Spoo travel in herds, if moving a total of six inches in any given direction in the course of a given year can actually be considered moving. They stay in herds ostensibly for mutual protection, but the reality is that if they
weren’t propped up against one another, most of them would simply fall down.
They do not howl, bark, moo, purr, yap, squeak or speak. Mainly, they sigh.
Herds of sighing spoo can reportedly induce unparalleled bouts of depression, which is why most spoo ranchers wear earmuffs even when it’s only mildly cold, damp, wet and dreary outside. If there is any life-or-death struggle for dominance within the spoo herd, it has not yet been detected by modern science.
Spoo ranching is one of the least regarded professions known. Little or no skill is required, once you’ve got a planet with the right climate. You
bring in two hundred spoo, plop them down in the middle of your ranch, and go back to the nearby house. Soon you’ve got more. When it comes time to cull
out the ones ready for market (the softest, mealiest, palest, most forlorn-looking spoo of the pack), little physical effort is required since they’re incapable of rapid movement without falling over (see above). They do not resist, fight, or whine; they only sigh more loudly. When spoo harvest time comes, the air is full of the sound of whacking and sighing, whacking and
sighing. Even an experienced spoo rancher can only harvest for brief periods of a time, due to the increased volume of sighing, which even the sound of
whacking cannot altogether erase. (also see above) Some have simply gone mad.
Spoo are the only creatures of which the Interstellar Animal Rights Protection League says, simply, “Kill ‘em.”
Fresh spoo (served at an optimum temperature of 62-degrees) is served in cubed sections, so that they bear as little resemblence as possible to the animal from which they have just been sliced. Spoo is usually served alongside a chablis, or a white zinfandel.
Further information on the care, feeding, eating and whacking of spoo can be found in the second edition of the Interstellar Guide to Fine Dining.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
jms
(Since this question has often been asked, if this message could a) be archived, and b) posted on other systems, since I don’t have this on disk and am writing more or less on the fly, that would be nothing less than a wonderfulness.)
-!- End JMS posting —
=====================================
So there you have it. Any post dealing with Spoo and sighing should generally be regarded as being made with the same amount of tongue-in-cheek (or maybe Spoo-in-mouth?) as the above. It got passed around pretty thoroughly in B5 fandom back then, and I simply forgot that you wouldn’t have had a chance to be exposed to it.
I believe the place Spoo figured most prominently in what you’ve seen was when the Technomage placed an accounting invocation (virus) on Londo’s computer. It was set to do terrible things to pester Londo - and one of the things it did was use Londo’s money to buy a Spoo farm.
So as I said, my earlier post was meant entirely in jest. To punish myself, I will have my computer submit an order for 1000 shares of Consolidated Firefly (from the same episode).
Hmmm. Spoo are white, and spoo is sliced from spoo, but spoo is blue. “The OTHER blue meat.”
????
I know, I know … who said JMS’s universe was universally consistent?
Okay, wereever you mentioned reviewing the episodes and comments before getting into Season 4, may I suggest doing that after 317 (#61) War Without End, Part Two as that was the point of the big break for reruns, another 19 weeks between new episodes, with the final 5 for season 3 being held on to run in the US just before Season 4 started in November.
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