 " Dinosaurs on a Spaceship " received generally positive reviews from critics , with a few detractors . Dan Martin of The Guardian described it as " fun " , with praise to the expensive @-@ looking sets and dinosaurs , the usefulness of Amy and Rory , and the concept of the gang . While he admitted it was " flimsy " and " pretty much a story built around a title " , he thought it was " the finest episode two from Doctor Who in some time " . However , he was unsettled by the underscore of darkness that was " almost disturbing enough to ruin everything " . Similarly , Charlie Anders of io9 called it " the most fun I can remember Doctor Who being in years " , while also noting gradual distancing between the Doctor and the Ponds and identifying a recurrent theme in this season : the Doctor " not being recognized " . Radio Times reviewer Patrick Mulkern was pleased that the " flawlessly realised " CGI dinosaurs redeemed the ones seen in Invasion of the Dinosaurs . He also praised Bradley 's Solomon and the " fresh slant " of having the ark built by Silurians , rather than humans as previously seen in the programme . The A.V. Club 's Keith Phipps gave it a B , finding that it was formulaic but executed well . Unlike Martin , he enjoyed the dark turns . Will Barber – Taylor of The Consulting Detective , found the episode " A mixture between good CGI and a rather nicely paced story means that “ Dinosaurs on a Spaceship ” keeps you hooked to the end . " 
