Posted by andyb on December 10, 2007 at 17:20:59 from 86.163.40.20 user beardbiter.
In Reply to: Re: Swinging the lead (was "real" vs "made up") posted by Owen Roberts on December 10, 2007 at 17:02:26:
"Andrew swung the lead like a professional"
Well that's what I call pulling rank! I think Andrew's point about Nancy's aura of seamanship is valid (remember the sisterhooks exchange in PM?) but AR never really supplies a back story explaining where all this nautical know how came from. Of course were he still alive and so inclined, he could have said that the Blackett girls' regular fortnight cruising with their uncle in a succession of borrowed boats was one of those things that he knew about his characters but hadn't told us.
I agree with Owen that the plot in B6 is unconvincing, which is a pity because many of the episodes in it are charming. I don't agree with him, however, on the specific point that the heroes to villains transition is improbable, this sort of flip-flop is all too frequent, and of course basic to many forms of story telling e.g. boy meets girl, boy looses girl, boy regains girl.