[4] TV Zone magazine considered this episode the worst of the series, commenting that the story lacks tension and the downbeat ending is "hardly worth a 50-minute wait".
[5] John Kenneth Muir calls "Close Up" one of UFO's "most dated" episodes, partly because of its "sexist" portrayal of Lieutenant Gay Ellis.
Muir also criticises the ending, noting that it sees Neil Hallett's character, an expert on microphotography, "lecturing to Straker about the importance of 'inner space', and understanding distance and magnification in photographs.
"[6] Review website anorakzone.com ranks "Close Up" the fourth-worst UFO episode, stating that the plot is "thin [...] for a 50-minute show, and the basic point is hammered home repeatedly before the final credits roll."
Straker, ever stoic, seems oddly unconcerned by two of his underlings getting together to make him look an utter fool, or the fact that Gay's crotch looks like an alien planet when seen close-up.