The Ark in Space Salmon of "SFX" rated the serial four and a half out of five stars, calling it "brimming with confidence". Salmon wrote that the concept of the Wirrn were so terrifying that the poor effects did not matter. In an analysis of apocalyptic themes in "Doctor Who", academic Andrew Crome highlighted the explicit religious influences on the writing of "The Ark in Space". He considered the eponymous Ark to be an analogue of the Biblical story of Noah's Ark, the ancient flood myth related in the Book of Genesis, and that the naming of the Nerva Beacon commander as Noah was
Book of Enoch Nephilim that are created during the times described in The Book of Watchers, though this doesn't mean that the authors of both books are the same. Similar references exist in Jubilees 7:21–22. The book describes their release from the Ark along with three bulls – white, red, and black, which are Shem, Ham, and Japeth – in 90:9. It also covers the death of Noah, described as the white bull, and the creation of many nations: And they began to bring forth beasts of the field and birds, so that there arose different genera: lions, tigers, wolves, dogs, hyenas, wild