by any means necessary

Coined by Malcolm X, appropriated by KRS-ONE. Not an exhortation to violence, but a call to creativity, ferocity, and open-mindedness in working out solutions to anything - ably shown in cut-and-paste Hip-Hop Culture. The phrase has since bubbled up to the mainstream, and has been adopted (in bastardized, "ends-justify-the-means" form) as a motto of capitalism (and politics), though it has antecedents - e.g., the slave trade that brought some of Malcolm's ancestors to the New World.

Babylon 5 Season 1, Episode 12. Written by Kathryn Drennan, directed by Jim Johnston. Originally aired on May 11, 1994.

Primary Plot: Sinclair is forced to intervene in an illegal dockworkers strike.

Secondary Plot: Londo interferes in an important Narn religious ceremony, infuriating G'Kar.

Commentary: This episode establishes Sinclair as a Problem Solver--he finds a clever and humorous solution to the strike, and he finds a clever and humorous solution to the dispute between Londo and G'Kar]. JMS has cited this as one of the main reasons Sinclair was replaced--he was typecast as "The Guy Who Goes Around Finding Clever And Humorous Solutions To Problems", and that's not the direction JMS wanted the character to go.

The name of the episode is a reference to a saying of Malcolm X--pingouin's writeup has the details.


Return to the Babylon 5 Episode Guide.