IGN writer Robert Canning took no strong position on the episode, saying it had "jokes enough to make it funny, but nothing over the top to make it classic," rating the episode 8.2 out of 10.
Is that one joke really enough to make one of the show's main characters out to be a simpleton?
It turns out that the joke is enough to support not just a movie but an entire industry, because tired parents are everywhere now, and they've never been more anxious… or gullible.
DC Wendy Savage, who knew the Wests of old and had been investigating this disappearance with increasing suspicion, took the joke seriously enough to send in a team, with spades, that weekend.
Watching the Doctor pretending to be in awe of the Tardis's unique proportions (it's bigger on the inside!) was a treat, a joke broad enough to work for both Who-obsessives and families who only visit the Doctor once a year.
SpongeBob SquarePants was full of these jokes, visual enough to appeal to children but brainy enough to appeal to adults.
Elsewhere on the show, the rote delivery of blacks-and-Jews jokes is enough to make one miss even the most supercilious days of political correctness.
The flattest jokes are enough to get someone a reputation for wit and Rory is described as being 'ahead of his time' for liking baked beans with his egg and chips ('the waitress would kind of look at him').
It strings along its joke just long enough to keep from wearing out its welcome.
One result of this obstacle is a paucity of humorous cover art over PAW's 110 years; it's tough to find a joke both interesting enough to deserve the cover and universally appealing enough to keep the editor from being flogged on Cannon Green.
