Settings: Det-Sen (The Abominable Snowmen)

With The Abominable Snowmen, we have the first self-contained historical to feature a science fiction ‘monster’, rather than a rival time traveller. The historical elements are, however, relatively minor, due in part to the remote location, which means that the story could almost be contemporary. Traditionally regarded as a middling serial, younger fans have been more critical, although this may be less true now that an animation is available for the missing episodes. Either way, it is, perhaps, better remembered for introducing a threat that recurs in a more popular story later in the season than it is in its own right. Nonetheless, the setting is exotic and, for a historical, surprisingly adaptable to some SF settings, so let’s take a look.

Where & When

The story is set in the Himalayan Mountains of southern Tibet. No specific date is given in the serial, but The Web of Fear later states that it took place in 1935. The animation has plenty of snow on the ground, which may suggest either winter or spring, depending on the altitude.

Settings: Telos (Tomb of the Cybermen)

Season five kicks off with a Cyberman story, cementing the intention of using them as the main villains from here on, instead of the Daleks. It’s widely regarded as one of the better Second Doctor stories and perhaps the single best Cyberman story of the classic era, and it has the obvious advantage of being the earliest Troughton story fully available in its original form. For our purposes here, however, it’s worth noting that little of the appeal has to do with the setting. Having said which, the story does involve exploring and negotiating the traps and monsters in an underground tomb, something that’s not entirely foreign to certain RPGs…

Where & When

Although no specific date is given in the story, it’s stated to be set approximately five hundred years after the events of The Moonbase. Depending on whether Parry is rounding up or down, and how far we want to adjust for the known dates of future Cyberman stories, this places the story somewhere between the late 25th and mid-26th centuries, with most fan theories leaning towards the later date. This is probably shortly before the founding of the original Earth Empire.

It takes place on the planet Telos, a few weeks' travel from Earth. Given the date, this most likely places it in our own galaxy (although one of the audios will later contradict this), but in the relatively unexplored fringes beyond the edge of human colonisation, perhaps even on the opposite side of the galactic nucleus from Earth.