Anthony Clark of "sci-fi-online.com" comments that the pace of "Crater 101", like that of "Shadow of Fear" and "Dangerous Rendezvous", "could hardly be described as breakneck." However, he adds that the episode begins "an interesting story arch ." Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping praise "Crater 101" for its creativity in " the fight to the Moon", describing it as being among the "finest pieces in the Anderson canon". They list "Lunarville 7" and "Crater 101" as influences on the 1969 "Doctor Who" serial "The Seeds of Death".