# How Old is Jack Bauer (no spoilers)



## JohnB1000 (Dec 6, 2004)

Loved this that I read on espn.com's Tuesday Morning Quarterback last week.

See if you cam guess before reading 



> I noted that on "24," Jack Bauer saves critical minutes by traveling during commercials. Kevin Woods of Santa Rosa, Calif., provides further details on time dilation in the series: "In the first season, in 2001, Jack was a highly successful federal agent with a 15-year-old daughter. Although Jack's age was never stated, he had to be at least 40. He was a college graduate who had received his master's in criminology, then joined the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of captain in the prestigious Delta Squad. After the Army, he worked for Los Angeles SWAT team, then joined the CIA in its clandestine wing. After this, he was recruited to the CTU, the mysterious agency where Jack toils when the series begins. Jack had to be 40 when the series began.
> 
> "Let's assume 43. Here is where the time line gets tough. Season 2 was 18 months after season 1, making Jack 44-45. Season 3 was three years after season 2, making Jack about 47-48. Season 4 was 18 months after season 3, making Jack about 50. Season 5 was 18 months after season 4, making Jack about 52. Season 6 was 20 months after season 5, making Jack about 54. 24-Redemption, a two-hour movie that supposedly tied things together, was four years after season 6, making Jack about 58. Season 7, happening shortly after Redemption, still has Jack at around 58. Season 8, looks to be two-three years after season 8, because Jack's grand-daughter is seen having conversations with him, *making Jack around 60 years [old]*. He's quite spry for 60! Also, add up the years and it is now 2014 in the series. Maybe that explains all the CTU super-technology that does not seem to exist in our reality."


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

haha that's great!


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

That's great. Thanks for sharing.

There's a minor typo in there. If Jack was 43 when the series started and is now 60, then that's 17 years. The series started in 2001, so that would make it now 2018 in 24 time, not 2014.


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## Doggie Bear (Jan 16, 2008)

I've wondered about this too, but I've usually started with Jack at 35 in season 1. That would mean that he was 20 when Kim was born, which is young but not unheard of for being a father. (It also synchs better with Kiefer Sutherland's real age.)

So that would lop 8 years off the estimate in the article, still putting him at 52 in season 8.


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## JohnB1000 (Dec 6, 2004)

Part of their argument is that he could not have been educated and achieved what he did by age 35


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## bruinfan (Jan 17, 2006)

DevdogAZ said:


> That's great. Thanks for sharing.
> 
> There's a minor typo in there. If Jack was 43 when the series started and is now 60, then that's 17 years. The series started in 2001, so that would make it now 2018 in 24 time, not 2014.


it says "around 60"


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## DreadPirateRob (Nov 12, 2002)

I'm not sure those calculations are entirely accurate.

Let's say he went to college on an ROTC scholarship, which requires at a minimum a 4-year commitment post-college. But he comes out of college as a Second Lieutenant, which is only 2 ranks below Captain. 4 years is about the time it would take him to get into Delta. Figure he serves 4 more years in Delta, and then leaves. That puts him at 30. He could have easily gotten his Master's degree in those 8 years through correspondence courses or whatnot. He also could have easily gotten married and fathered a child at some point along the way.

So he's now 30, and a highly-decorate Delta operator who would be in great demand with his unique skillset. Maybe he can't decide exactly what he wants to do next, so he joins LAPD SWAT while he waits. He does that for maybe 2 years, then joins the CIA, maybe he does that for 2 years, and then is recruited into CTU (which is after all, just another branch of the CIA), where you figure he's been for at least a year when S1 of 24 starts. IIRC, he was basically 2nd in command of the LA branch of CTU when S1 starts. That puts him at 35. 

If he's 35 when S1 started, that puts him at 52 now, which is on the outer edge of plausibility.

Incidentally, while researching how long various stages of his career might take, I found the 24 Wiki, which places Jack's age at 49 at the beginning of Day 7, which would make him 52ish right now, which is in line with my calculations.


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## Numb And Number2 (Jan 13, 2009)

Jack doesn't age.. time wisely keeps its distance.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

bruinfan said:


> it says "around 60"


Right, but that's based on the assumption that he was 43 when S1 started and the amount of time that takes place between each season. So they're basically saying that 17 years have passed between S1 and the S8. Since S1 took place in 2001, that would make S8 in 2018. It doesn't really matter how old Jack is, I'm simply stating that based on their own calculations, S8 is not in 2014, its in 2018.


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## bruinfan (Jan 17, 2006)

DreadPirateRob said:


> I'm not sure those calculations are entirely accurate.


not that you're wrong or right, but those calculations are accurate based on HIS assumptions. you made totally different assumptions.


DevdogAZ said:


> Right, but that's based on the assumption that he was 43 when S1 started and the amount of time that takes place between each season. So they're basically saying that 17 years have passed between S1 and the S8. Since S1 took place in 2001, that would make S8 in 2018. It doesn't really matter how old Jack is, I'm simply stating that based on their own calculations, S8 is not in 2014, its in 2018.


you are using his age assumptions to calculate the series timeline.

i think the author is positing that it's 2014 according to 24 time, so if he started at, say, 43, he's 'around 60' based on his career path, using the number '60' for effect.

and note, he makes the age calculation first, then says "also,add up the years and it's now 2014". like it was 2 different points, and he is just estimating the whole thing, again, using 60 for the effect.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

bruinfan said:


> you are using his age assumptions to calculate the series timeline.
> 
> i think the author is positing that it's 2014 according to 24 time, so if he started at, say, 43, he's 'around 60' based on his career path, using the number '60' for effect.
> 
> and note, he makes the age calculation first, then says "also,add up the years and it's now 2014". like it was 2 different points, and he is just estimating the whole thing, again, using 60 for the effect.


Once again, I think you're missing the point of my statement. I don't care about the age. Jack could be 25 or 75 for all I care. I'm simply pointing out that, using the same calculations made by the person quoted in the OP, 17 years have passed since the series premiere, thus the current timeline for S8 of 24 is not 2014, it's 2018.

Just to clarify, that's based on these calculations, made by the original author as quoted in the OP:
S1 - Fall 2001
S2 - Spring 2003 (18 months after S1)
S3 - Spring 2006 (3 years after S2)
S4 - Fall 2007 (18 months after S3)
S5 - Spring 2009 (18 months after S4)
S6 - Late Fall 2010 (20 months after S5)
Redemption and S7 - Winter/Spring 2015 (4 years after S6, certain parts of Redemption happened on Inauguration Day, S7 happened a few months later)
S8 - 2017-2018 (2-3 years after S7)

Once again, I'm not verifying that these intervals are correct. I'm simply going based on what was quoted in the OP (and a little of my own memory). And of course, this all assumes that S1 was supposed to be taking place in real time (Fall 2001) when it premiered. If the show was meant to take place sometime earlier, then adjust the years accordingly.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

bruinfan said:


> not that you're wrong or right, but those calculations are accurate based on HIS assumptions. you made totally different assumptions.
> 
> you are using his age assumptions to calculate the series timeline.
> 
> ...


I'm guessing that was a typo, because the math doesn't work. The year is much closer to 2018 (as DevdogAZ broke out quite well). If you look at 24's Wikipedia page (hardly the most reliable source, but it's not like there's money on it), the season breakdown indicates that season 1 took place in March 2002 (yes, there was a presidential primary, it's a fictional TV show). I believe this was deduced because somewhere along the line, Kim revealed her age and then at some point in the same season her driver's license was shown, showing her as having been born in 1987.

Also, Kiefer Sutherland was 35 in March 2002. That would put him at around 50 right now, as we're about 15 years into the show's timeline. So the author's point, while interesting in theory, is completely wrong.

Personally I find it interesting that they're on their 10th president. Hopefully by 2017 we'll only be working on our 3rd or 4th.


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## alpacaboy (Oct 29, 2004)

Maybe he's like Batman/Superman - every few years, they'll reset the age back again...


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## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

I think James Bond is probably about 90.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Time put its weapon down.


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## Bryanmc (Sep 5, 2000)

Numb And Number2 said:


> Jack doesn't age.. time wisely keeps its distance.


LOL.


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## DUDE_NJX (Feb 12, 2003)

I love when geeks fight. Lemme get some popcorn. Go on.


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## bruinfan (Jan 17, 2006)

DevdogAZ said:


> Once again, I think you're missing the point of my statement. I don't care about the age. Jack could be 25 or 75 for all I care. I'm simply pointing out that, using the same calculations made by the person quoted in the OP, 17 years have passed since the series premiere, thus the current timeline for S8 of 24 is not 2014, it's 2018.
> 
> Just to clarify, that's based on these calculations, made by the original author as quoted in the OP:
> S1 - Fall 2001
> ...


got it... i kinda took his 2014 at his word....


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## allan (Oct 14, 2002)

Jeeters said:


> I think James Bond is probably about 90.


That matches how Sean Connery looked last time I saw him.


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## That Don Guy (Mar 13, 2003)

alpacaboy said:


> Maybe he's like Batman/Superman - every few years, they'll reset the age back again...


This being Fox, he's more like Homer on _The Simpsons_ - he ages very, very slowly. (In 20 years, Homer has gone from 35 to 39, according to the few times they have shown his driver's license.)

-- Don


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## alpacaboy (Oct 29, 2004)

It would be funny if they would acknowledge the age thing. They had the opportunity this season and missed it.

Jack comes out of retirement to stop some threat.
Some gov't or agency official tries to stop him, questioning his abilities.
Have Jack retort, "Stop treating me like some 60 yr old. I can still ..."

Kind of like in the XMen movie - "What did you want? Yellow and blue spandex?"


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

That Don Guy said:


> This being Fox, he's more like Homer on _The Simpsons_ - he ages very, very slowly. (In 20 years, Homer has gone from 35 to 39, according to the few times they have shown his driver's license.)
> 
> -- Don


And yet Bart is still 10 and Lisa's still 8 (I always loved the chalkboard gag in their 11th season where Bart is writing, "I should not be 21 by now.")


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

cheesesteak said:


> Time put its weapon down.


Time is the only thing that doesn't escape the hard perimeter.


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## smark (Nov 20, 2002)

Numb And Number2 said:


> Jack doesn't age.. time wisely keeps its distance.


You are confusing him for Chuck Norris.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

smark said:


> You are confusing him for Chuck Norris.


Not so:

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Jack_Bauer_Facts



> Difference in fighting styles
> Chuck Norris uses the Round-house-kick, a branch of Kung Fu.
> Jack Bauer uses OVER-WHELMING BRUTE FORCE, a branch of Rocky Marciano.
> [edit]Primary differences
> ...


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## That Don Guy (Mar 13, 2003)

Sparty99 said:


> And yet Bart is still 10 and Lisa's still 8 (I always loved the chalkboard gag in their 11th season where Bart is writing, "I should not be 21 by now.")


You think that show was bad with aging? On _King of the Hill_, in its ten-or-so-year run, Luanne went from somewhere around 18 to 21 or 22 (there was an episode where she turned 21), yet Bobby and his friends got at most one year older.

-- Don


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## JohnB1000 (Dec 6, 2004)

Well Bobby didn't get any older but Jacob did, he went through puberty


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

Didn't Jack die and come back in season 3? So he's really only 15 years old now.


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## BriGuy20 (Aug 4, 2005)

> Time put its weapon down.
> 
> Jack doesn't age.. time wisely keeps its distance.


Jack interrogated Time so he could learn its secrets. He now has infiltrated the organization, and is a double agent versed in stopping and reversing time.


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## Hunter Green (Feb 22, 2002)

Wait until you guys try to figure out how old Charlie Brown is.


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## BriGuy20 (Aug 4, 2005)

That Don Guy said:


> You think that show was bad with aging? On _King of the Hill_, in its ten-or-so-year run, Luanne went from somewhere around 18 to 21 or 22 (there was an episode where she turned 21), yet Bobby and his friends got at most one year older.
> 
> -- Don


You could conceivably say that King of the Hill (The Simpsons as well) reflect a selection of days among those 2 or 3 years, given the number of episodes I can almost believe that it would be roughly reflective of that time frame (in-show time progression notwithstanding).


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

Hunter Green said:


> Wait until you guys try to figure out how old Charlie Brown is.


WAUGH!!!


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