Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark The Age of Wells

There is a fact about Wells that always confuses me. In most of the fanfics including Wells he is described as a "little, elderly man" or something like this. During the Episode Tempus, Anyone? it's revealed that the time-traveler was from 1899, which would make him 33 and only a few years older than Lois and Clark, or, alternatively, 1916, which would make him fifty. How fits this together? Any ideas?

Hi, Blind Passenger! Welcome to the boards!

I've always figured they were referring to the 1916 version. The average life expectancy for men in 1916 was 49.8 according to this chart from Univ. of Berkley. Today it's in the upper 70s. So, perhaps 50 was considered elderly in 1916.

Another possibility might be that the fanfic is referring to an even older version, since he died in 1946 about 5 weeks before his 80th birthday. And perhaps the author assumed he time traveled long past the age of 50. I don't recall any fics where this is explained, but it is an excellent question. Would enjoy hearing others' ideas.

Low average lifespans mean a lot of kids died before two not that adults died at 50.

People from that era always looked and carried themselves with greater maturity than they do today. We also have to remember at that time medicine is not as it is in the 21st century. A person aged 50 would probably look more like they were on their mid-sixties.

Excellent points! I agree, having seen pictures from that era of even much younger people who looked older than what we would consider age-appropriate. And I have talked to people who lived during that era. They often thought of people as elderly that we wouldn't. One in particular told me about helping the "old folks" who at the time were younger than her then 70-plus years.

Interestint thoughts, Cuidadora and Morgana. I hadn't thought about that.
I researched a bit. Perhaps it was just an kind of "Retcon" error.
Wehn "Tempus Fugitive" aired, Terry Kiser, the first Wells-actor, was 55. However, it was only said in this episode that wells died in 1946 (that's true) but nothing about his age /year of origin at that time.
When Tempus Anyone was filmed, they replaced Kiser with Hamilton Kemp. Perhaps Kiser wasn't available at that time. I assume that they made the 1899/1916 explanation to let the look-a-like difference make sense. Kemp was 62 at that time. With the things you two said, it makes sense that he would look like a man around 50 from that era (1916). However, the writers of that episode perhaps didn't remind the look/age of Terry Kiser in the first episode or the fact that Wells would be than only 33 at the time of his first visit. And no one from the show's team realized this "error" (Kemp was only 4 years older than Kiser). This could be an explanation, too.