this is one of the few dalek stories to incorporate humour, and is the only story to attempt comical performances from the daleks, including a dalek coughing as it emerges from the sand on aridius, a stammering dalek who cannot do simple mental arithmetic, three daleks using their eyestalks to nod in agreement, a dalek shouting 'yarrgh!' as it tumbles off the mary celeste, and a dalek getting annoyed with its subordinate. in 2009, "radio times" reviewer patrick mulkern described "the chase" as "unashamedly childish and comic-strip in tone and pace", finding that the various contents of the episode were a mixed bag. he praised the daleks and the first, second, and sixth episodes, but felt middle episodes were mixed, with "journey into terror" particularly disappointing. nick setchfield of "sfx" was critical of the serial, finding it better than "the space museum" "only because it's powered by a demented, ramshackle energy that never allows for boredom... or much in the way of logic or good taste". he acknowledged the "tacky entertainment" but wrote that "it's crushing to realise that this is the show that gave us the masterly "an unearthly child" a mere two years before. writing for "doctor who magazine", graham kibble-white disagreed with mulkern's opinion of the daleks, believing that the comedy undermined them. he also wrote that the serial "suffers from structural oddities", as well as the unconvincing double doctor. however, kibble-white praised the mechonoids and the tardis crew, feeling that ian and barbara's departure "positively "negates" the preceding six episodes of tom-guffery". both the premise of "journey into terror" and the doctor duplicate were listed in "sfx" "doctor who's 25 silliest moments".