Is this the legendary Who fan's 'if it's rubbish and on Who, it must be knowing parody' defense in action? :P

In all honesty I think some bits of Ye Olde Doctor Who need "excusing" to varying degrees. It's not a perfect show; just one where the good bits are worth persevering. :-)

In this case, though, I thought the Doctor's lovely remark about the retro air conditioning was a deliberate way of getting around the ridiculousness of the thing, by having the character explicitly draw attention to it.