Villain Teamup!

If I were to create a league of sack ripping, face punting villains I would definitely pick these whacked out bastards...

Alonzo Harris

Training Day is one of my favorite villains of all time from one of my favorite movies. I'm usually not a huge fan of cop movies, but this one stayed with me. Alonzo plays the role of a respected skull busting hero cop...incidentally King Kong has nothing on him. He's smooth, appeals to a persons dark sensibilities is utterly devious and ruthless. Utterly self-interested he recognizes the usefulness of allies but when it comes down to the wire he's in it for himself.

Benjamin Linus

Season 6 of Lost excluded, Ben is delightfully evil, devious and lets face it...kind of funny. By no means physically imposing (despite his beat stick) Ben is a one dangerous SOB who will get you...one way or another.

Sabertooth

Despite the fact that I've come to dislike Marvel Comics over the last ten years or so I've never lost my fondness for this character. He has a primal spirit coupled with a type of modern sophistication. I also really like cats and cat related things...so he gets a spot on my team.

Lex Luthor
Lex is on this list for two reasons, firstly he's bald and has never used Rogaine, spray-on hair or placed the corpse of a dead animal on his scalp. Secondly, he became president...probably by rigging the voting machines in Ohio. Plus...he now has an orange lantern ring...which is pretty cool I guess.

Mr. Burns
My villain team needs corporate backing so that's where Mr. Burns comes in. I'm not so sure how he will get along with Lex, I guess we'll have to wait and see. Having a nuclear power plant at my team's disposal is also a plus...you know...for making mutants and what not. However, we'll have to be careful...he's often undone by idiocy.

Bob "Ganghis" Khan

I include Mr. Khan for thee reasons, firstly he's a blood crazed barbarian face smasher, secondly he commands a horde of blood crazed barbarian face smashing horseman and thirdly he's a military genius. Also, the group needed a little more muscle...

Ann Coulter
Skeletor wasn't available so I picked a loot alike...plus I suppose my group needed a woman. Who better than this soulless witch? While she openly shows no powers, no intellect, ninja skills or anything really of merit...I got to imagine she's hiding something...

Fantastic Without Action?

A lot of science-fiction and fantasy films, television shows and other creative mediums are hinged heavily upon action, a lot of these are very good but a lot are very bad. The above picture is obviously from the classic kick ass science fiction action movie Predator, which can easily fall into the category of a simple action flick. However, I've always thought the movie had some deeper themes, it's a film with fatalistic themes and calls into questions mans place not only in his own world, but existence in general.

On the opposite end of the spectrum you have science fiction and fantasy works (mostly sci-fi from my experience) that effectively tell there story with a minimal amount of action, works like 2001 and Solaris.

To what degree can stories in fantastic settings be effective with a minimal amount of action, or none at all? What is the perfect balance? These are questions I've asked myself when considering my own work. My work would fall into the sci-fi/fantasy category though I try not to limit myself, I just throw in whatever I think works. My work needs to have action, but I hate writing it...not because I find it outright boring but because I find it difficult to do without being cliche or utterly ridiculous. I suppose I want the action in my work to be meaningful, so I try to use it sparingly. Though to be honest I've found myself at times throwing in unnecessary action...mostly because I'm thinking about how to satisfy readers as opposed to myself. So, I suppose, what I'm trying to say is that I need to write for myself first and foremost...hopefully things will fall into place after that!