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)
 * The real answer is that the show has just never been consistent with future history, and writers don't bother to go back and check every episode to see if their version of future history conflicts with past episodes. If you want an in-universe reason, then time is in flux, and different versions of history occur in different timelines.Icecreamdif 00:33, April 10, 2011 (UTC)
 * You don't even need to be that complex. 900 years is a long time, and the *Second* Great and Bountiful Empire (the Fourth would be much later) is long dead. It's not out of the question that the Second Empire collapsed between 42nd and 51st centuries (or perhaps even in fallout from the Ood situation) and by Captain Jack's time the once great capital planet of the Empire had degenerated back to the age of nation-states. Some of these new nation-states were probably more advanced than others and caused the Great Breakout and re-entered interstellar politics again, possibly leading to the Third Great and Bountiful Human Empire, or maybe just a mediocre Earth-based government.--75.49.218.60 01:33, April 10, 2011 (UTC)
 * Therw would have to have been someone with advanced interstellar capabilities by the 4900s, in order for the Library to fully function. Because if most planets had lost space travel tech, such a huge endeavor would be a bit useless. Oh, and thanks for correcting me on precisely which empire existed in the 42nd century. EJA 15:03, April 10, 2011 (UTC)
 * Therw would have to have been someone with advanced interstellar capabilities by the 4900s, in order for the Library to fully function. Because if most planets had lost space travel tech, such a huge endeavor would be a bit useless. Oh, and thanks for correcting me on precisely which empire existed in the 42nd century. EJA 15:03, April 10, 2011 (UTC)