Howling:51st century Earth

There are two episodes of the classic series that reveal significant information about developments on Earth in the early 51st century, "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" and "The Invisible Enemy." In "Talons", we're told that around 5000 AD, Magnus Greel led the Supreme Alliance and conquered the Icelandic Alliance, only to be defeated by the Fillipino Army. It does seem a little bit strange that Earth would still be divided up into different nation-states and alliances at this period in its history, when it should most likely be governed by a single planetary government. Is there any explanation for how this situation could occur? And according to "The Invisible Enemy", the year 5000 was also the time of the Great Breakout, when humanity spread out from Earth and began a large-scale exploration of outer space beyond the solar system....but all other stories indicate that humans had firmly established themselves across the galaxy and beyond thousands of years earlier (The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire ruled three galaxies in the 42nd century, as seen in "Planet of the Ood", and the Library was built in the 50th century, according to "Silence in the Library"). So, any reconciliation theories, anyone? EJA 21:22, April 9, 2011 (UTC)