 Michelle Erica Green of TrekNation praised the dialogue but felt the episode did not " hold up to a lot of logical analysis " . However , she also said it was a " fun " episode that " set the stage " for holodeck episodes featuring the sentient Professor Moriarty hologram in " Elementary , Dear Data " and " Ship in a Bottle " . Writing for The A.V. Club , Zack Handlen observed " a certain flatness " in parts of the episode and considered it " very silly " for the characters to slowly disintegrate after leaving the holodeck . Although he said the holodeck in " The Big Goodbye " was similar to " an Xbox that periodically eats your cat " , he gave the episode an overall grade of B- . 
