I can see why Carnival of Monsters has its fans, but I found it more tolerable than anything astounding. The effects are a little dated compared to other episodes of this era, and Vorg's costume is just ridiculous to me. I enjoyed the story and mystery around the SS Bernice, and it is always fun to just have the Third Doctor and Jo in any old adventure. Yet, the other side of this story with the Minorians and Vorg far less fun and endearing. Still the idea and dynamics around the Doctor and Jo being shrunken down in this machine were interesting, there are solid moments of callbacks to other monsters that I think shows good resourcefulness from the producers, and it is an easy enough story to get through. It's not bad, it was hardly a chore to watch, and I definitely think it manages to use its unique plot and setting effectively in a way that makes it very memorable and stick out a bit among Third Doctor stories in a positive way.

It also is a nice follow-up to the Three Doctors, paying off this idea that Jo and the Doctor no longer have to be Earthbound pretty well, and setting up a new series of stories a lot more free in their potential going forward. It wouldn't always pay off and there is a bit of a delay on the TARDIS being used effectively again, at least not fully in my opinion, but Carnival of Monsters felt like a good start and had me excited for the rest of the Third Doctor era.