Thunderbirds Episode 23 Tele-Snaps

79 Tele-snaps for Episode 23 of Thunderbirds, "Attack of the Alligators!"

-SYNOPSIS-

"Blackmer visits Dr Orchard and his assistant, Hector McGill, at a lonely house on the Ambro River. In his laboratory, Orchard shows Blackmer the Sidonicus americanus, a rare plant that grows only in this part of the Ambro River. From it, Orchard has developed a food additive called theramine, which greatly increases the size of animals fed with it. This discovery obviously has great potential as a solution to the world food shortage, and even greater financial implications. These revelations are overheard by the boatman, Culp.

A violent storm has broken out on the river, so Blackmer and Culp must stay overnight with Orchard and McGill. Housekeeper Mrs Files locks the laboratory and retires for the night with the keys. Later, Culp steals into her room, picks up the keys and lets himself into the laboratory. He takes a sample of theramine in a phial, but in the process he accidentally tips some of the drug into the sink, washing it away into the river, where it affects the growth of three alligators. When Culp ferries Blackmer down the river the next morning, they are attacked by one of the alligators, now grown to an enormous size. The boat is overturned and the pair are thrown into the river. Blackmer is rescued by McGill in a motor boat, but there is no sign of Culp. A second alligator chases Orchard back to the house, which is soon surrounded by all three giant creatures, trapping everyone inside.

Mrs Files suggests that they call International Rescue and McGill sends out a plea for help. Thunderbirds 1 and 2 are soon on their way, Alan and Gordon accompanying Virgil in Thunderbird 2. Arriving first, Scott takes his hoverjet and fires missiles at the alligators to distract them while he climbs into the house through the lab window. Mrs Files tells Scott that the previous owner of the house, Lopez, had constructed a secret underground passageway from the house to a landing stage on the river, although the only person who knew its locatuon was the boatman, Culp. The alligators attack the house and the group barely escape from the laboratory as the walls and ceiling cave in. In the lounge, a bookshelf swings open and Culp emerges from the secret passageway, holding a gun.

Thunderbird 2 arrives and Virgil uses the veritcal jets to force the alligators back to the river. Alan and Gordon use tranquillizer darts to knock out two of the creatures, but the third is still menacing the house. Alan takes his hoverjet to try and draw the creature away, but his plan worked too well: he crashes and is knocked unconscious. The alligator closes in, but Gordon shoots it with a tranquillizer dart.

Culp intends to make a getaway with the phial of theramine, threatening to pour it into the swamp unless he is given clear passage. Gordon stands by in Thunderbird 4, diving into the river as Culp sets off in his boat. Suddenly, Gordon spots a fourth monster alligator, even bigger than the other three! It attacks Culp's boat and Culp is killed. The phial of theramine sinks to the bed of the river, but Godron manages to recover it intact.

Back on Tracy Island, Jeff tells the brothers that Blackmer and Orchard have announced that the theramine will go under international control. Tin-Tin has just returned from a shopping trip on the mainland and has missed all the action. However, she has bought Alan a present for his birthday which she shows him in the bathroom. It is just what he always wanted: a pygmy alligator!"


-NOTES-

This is easily the scariest episode of Thunderbirds. They used real baby crocodiles to represent the giant alligators. There was a story behind the scenes about the production of this episode that Gerry Anderson told us in 2011 at the National Space Centre that explained the mishaps of trying to get the crocodiles to move.

The story begins at 6:58 of this video, filmed by myself from that very event:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFcKVp…

The episode has its scary moments, as I said, but the most frightening moment of the episode comes at the villain's death. The alligators they show in that scene is MASSIVE, and Culp is thrown into the water, and we see this monstrous creature thrashing about in the water, clearly tearing the unfortunate guy apart. We've seen villains being blown up, shot, and smashed up in cars throughout the series, but never have we seen a villain in a kid's show being mauled by an alligator. Nasty stuff!

And for those reasons, this is one of my favourite episodes of the show.