Settings: The United Zones (The Enemy of the World)

In a season known for consisting almost entirely of variations on the “base under siege” formula, The Enemy of the World stands out as the one exception. It used to have a relatively weak reputation among older fans, but modern viewers give it a much more positive reception, perhaps finding its different take refreshing, along with a plot that’s faster-moving than usual for the era. For our purposes, it’s significant in being a near-future story with a relatively detailed setting that uses a mix of fictional and real-world locations on two different sides of the globe, rather than being restricted to a single base.

Where & When

The story is mostly set in Australia, with a significant diversion in the middle that takes place in Hungary. As confirmed by the newspaper visible in one of the later episodes, it takes place in 2018… which would have been 50 years in the future at the time of broadcast.

Settings: Brittanicus Base (The Ice Warriors)

The next story takes us to a future Earth in the grip of the perils of climate change, if not quite the sort we might be concerned about today. It is, perhaps, most notable for introducing the most-used “monster” of the classic era after the Daleks and Cybermen. Taken on its own merits, it used to be thought of as a middling, if unexceptional, story, but has tended to become less popular with younger audiences, probably because not much happens for four out of the six episodes. For the purposes of this blog, however, it’s significant that the first episode consists largely of an exposition dump, which allows us to say a surprising amount about the setting.

Where & When

The story is set somewhere in Britain several centuries into the future, as a new Ice Age is starting. No date is given on screen; we’re told that “five thousand years” of history are at risk from the ice, but it’s unclear what this is counting from. Pre-publicity for the story suggested it took place around 3,000 AD, but more recent fan theories go for 5,000.