Stephen La Rivière, author of Filmed in Supermarionation: A History of the Future, acknowledges Elliott's decision to use an original visual style but argues that the first half of the episode is "filmed as normal". La Rivière also comments on the editing, noting that the plot of the episode is effectively split into two parts (the explosion at the Hudson Building followed by Southern's infiltration of the Erdman Gang).La Rivière 2009, p. 129. He suggests that this makes "30 Minutes After Noon" similar to the earliest episodes of Thunderbirds, which were originally 25 minutes long and subsequently extended to 50 minutes through the addition of secondary rescues and character-based subplots.
