graham kibble-white, writing for "doctor who magazine", said that the first episode falsely set the audience up for "three more weeks of high-concept plotting", when in fact the doctor dismissed the time travel problems and the rest was "dreary" except for some of hartnell's charm. dvd talk's john sinnott was more positive towards the story, writing, "there were a lot of great plot points that served to keep viewers guessing, and some subtle comedy that really added a lot to the whole show". he also complemented the light touches of humour. in 2010, io9's charlie jane anders listed the cliffhanger of the first episode as among the best in the programme.