Age[]
Where was his age explicitly stated to be 19-20? The only place his age was stated was in the episode where Jean-Luc said 23-24, which would make his birth year 2377-2378, not 2381-2382, and even then that's a contradiction since he was born after Nemesis (2379). Goweegie2 (talk) 02:46, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
- The contradiction + common sense = your answer, it would seem. –Gvsualan (talk) 12:07, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
But where does the specific date of 2381-82 come from? People are insisting it was explicitly stated somewhere even though it wasn't. Goweegie2 (talk) 21:10, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
- Indeed. He could very well have been born in 2380. Even 2379 is possible (if Nemesis takes place quite early in the year), but highly unlikely. But there is nothing to indicate that he was born specifically in '81 or '82, rather than '80. --TimPendragon (talk) 08:07, 26 April 2023 (UTC)
- Well, I think the two or three references to Dr. Crusher's absence for "twenty years" was sort of the strongest indicator of how old he was, which would either correspond with her pregnancy (most likely) or his birth. She stated in "Seventeen Seconds" that "When Jack was on his way, I was terrified", which would mean she was probably pregnant when she cut off ties with Picard, et al, because "all [she] knew was that if you're the son of Jean-Luc Picard, there's a target on your back." That being the case – and realistically people don't speak as precisely as we tend to interpret things, but I'm doing so for the sake of answering the question – early 2381 was probably when it was assumed she was pregnant, and therefore he could have been born anywhere from late 2381 to early 2382. But...
- Going beyond that rationale, there is an additional consideration of the fact that Picard said in "The Next Generation" that, "I haven't spoken with [Dr. Crusher] for over 20 years. And neither has any other member of the old crew. She just cut us off." I think it's safer to say she was pregnant when she cut off ties, as she seemed to later indicate, and he was conceived in late 2380 or early 2381.
- Personally, I think drawing our own conclusions with "space math" is a bit much, and the simplest answer should be to say that Jack is at most as old as the time Dr. Crusher has be "absent", or more simply "twenty years". Even Picard said, with regards of being cut out of his son's life as being a father: "I know now I would never have been my father. But I could have learned that 20 years before..." So I really think pegging his age at twenty(ish) = 2381, which a very safe assumption. –Gvsualan (talk) 12:27, 26 April 2023 (UTC)
- Yes, "Twenty years" does get thrown around a lot, and it is most likely used loosely in most of those cases. Those "over 20 year" references seem to be more specific, less "off the cuff". To say he was born in 2381 or 2382 assumes a wider gap of time between Nemesis and their last night on Casperia Prime, when she got pregnant. And while I'd like that to be true, it's simply not certain. Casperia Prime could have been immediately after Nemesis for all we know. We can safely assume about 9 months between Casperia Prime and Jack's birth, but that's about it. So rather than say "2381 or 2382", "circa 2380" seems more appropriate (it could be '79), or simply "early 2380s" until we know more. Putting something more specific than that seems to be trying to interpret something more definitive than we can and results in MA "dictating canon." --TimPendragon (talk) 15:54, 26 April 2023 (UTC)