Wingrove recalled: "You would forget that it was there, then one day someone shouted 'Look out!' and we turned round to see this big crocodile walking across the stage – which cleared of people very quickly!" Both this episode and "The Cham-Cham", the next episode to enter production, exceeded their budgets. This led the writers to re-script the final episode of Thunderbirds Series One ("Security Hazard") as a clip show to reduce costs. Broadcast and reception Originally transmitted on 10 March 1966, "Attack of the Alligators!" had its first UK-wide network broadcast on 20 March 1992 on BBC2. During that channel's 2000-2001 Thunderbirds re-run, the episode became the eleventh to be repeated when it replaced "Brink of Disaster", which along with "The Perils of Penelope" had been postponed until the end of the run due to similarities between the story and real-world events (both episodes feature dangerous situations involving trains and 2000 had seen several major railway accidents, most notably the Hatfield rail crash). Critical response "Attack of the Alligators!" is a popular episode of Thunderbirds and is widely regarded as one of the series' best. It was well received by Sylvia Anderson, who described it as her favourite episode. Lew Grade, head of distributor ITC, expressed great satisfaction with the filming during a visit to APF Studios in 1965. Stephen La Rivière considers the story one of the most unusual of the series, while Peter Webber of DVD Monthly magazine calls the episode "just insane". In 2004, "Attack of the Alligators!" was re-issued on DVD in North America as part of A&E Video's The Best of Thunderbirds: The Favorite Episodes. Reviewing the release for the website DVD Verdict, David Gutierrez awarded "Attack of the Alligators!" a perfect score of 100, declaring it the best episode in the collection and praising its production values: "It's like a beautifully directed short film". He elaborated: "'Attack of the Alligators!' serves as a terrific example of how strong Thunderbirds can look. It's not Howdy Doody sporting a jetpack – it's an hour-long programme that feels like a motion picture." Susanna Lazarus of Radio Times suggests that the episode is memorable specifically for its crocodile footage. The techniques used to produce the footage have caused the episode to be described as "controversial" by some sources. Mark Pickavance of the website Den of Geek criticises the footage from a visual standpoint, arguing that the use