When putting together the Grampa Timeline video last year, I felt like there was some unfinished business with the Mr. Burns angle. But, since his history intersects with Grampa's, I decided to put him on the backburner for a few months. Luckily, most of Mr. Burns' weird timeline stuff happens at the very beginning and the very end, so that ended up being the larger focus for this video. Enjoy! (Also Season 10 is finally up next.)

I think we have a different problem with Mr Burns Timeline, Abe Simpson is not reliable because he's senile, but Mr Burns is not reliable because he will lie to get what he wants, and that includes sympathy.

One day everyone is laughing at you because your pants fell down on-stage, the next you're blocking out the sun. It all makes sense to me.

Crippled Irishmen, Death by Potato, and this video came out on March 17th. I'm starting to sense a pattern.

My favourite Mr Burns quote. “...yes”.

It's not unreasonable for there to be a decade between the start of construction on a nuclear power plant and it being fully operational and licensed.

Burns after watching this Burns: “Have The Real Slim Shady Killed” Smithers: But Sir?

Burns at the mayo clinic "Cause of parents death; got in my way"

It could be possible that Burns' Grandpa passed away like you mentioned and upon returning to his family they became stricter and colder due to Monty's choice in leaving them. The death of the Grandpa would also explain how the family seemingly became rich through inheritance, compared to their previous financial situation.

I'm sad that Homer is a child of the 80s and 90s now. Homer and Marge at prom in the 70s was iconic

I never interpreted Simpsons Christmas Stories as canon. It seemed clear to me that it was a Christmas version of Treehouse of Horror. Don't let that Grampa/Burns/Santa flashback cause you too much trouble, Jims.

In regards to the opening of Rosebud it could be that he was asked to live with his grandfather, lived with him for a couple of years then his grandfather died and his parents inherited all the money.

In my head cannon, Burns actually has a soft spot for Homer that he doesn’t want to admit. Which is why he pretends not to remember him all the time. It explains a lot when you think about it.

"smithers, i'm beginning to think that therealjims was not the brilliant tactician i thought he was"

Simpsons mysteries idea: you should make a video about Springfield elementary school The school sometimes has a tower, sometimes not, has a ton of different rooms despite being a relatively small building, has secret corridors, a boiler room, unused class rooms, etc I think there's enough content to make a short video

Babe, wake up, new TheRealJims video

Maybe the ''four digit age'' could have zero as the first number, since it was a bank pin. Also, I think the reason Mr. Burns isn't as senile or more senile than Abe is because he can afford better health care. I think what may have happened with his parent's financial situation was that Monty's grandpa passed away, and his parents inherited his fortune, making them rich and forcing Monty to move back in with them.

Fun fact: Mr Burns has the middle name of Plantagenet, a royal house in England during the Middle Ages. The Wiki says it’s implied that Burns is a relative of King Richard III of England

This is how I rationalize Burn's childhood. Let's say Burn's parents are trying to get out from under the Old Man. But they are poor with lots of kids, and Grandpa offers to raise one of the kids (who shows promise) in return for some kind of financial assistance. The Parents leave it up to Burns, and he ditches them. He lives well with Grandpa for a few years, until the old man croaks. Burn's parents inherit, coming back in to the picture, along with Burn's siblings, who now threaten his inheritance. Burn's once put his parent's cause of death as "Got in my way." He gradually bumps off his siblings, and his parents get more distant as they realize the evil spawn they are dealing with. Eventually they send him off to boarding school, and he has them killed in order to inherit his fortune and destiny. His mother may have faked her death in order to escape his malice, returning only later when Burn's didn't fear her anymore, and he could let some kind of sentiment keep him from killing her. But she still loathes and resents him for what he did, so he hates dealing with her. I think Burns did want affection from his parents, but he was also like a lizard, making unsentimental choices to maximize his power and fortune. As he said, "Family, Religion, Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business." I think it makes sense that Burn is inherently evil, even if he does still have human emotions. It makes him tragic in a way, the same as a person who never bathes, stinks to high heaven, and drives off everyone around them. Destined to live in a desert of their own making.

Heres what im thinking. So Young Burns went off with the Millionaire (Possibly his grandfather) and when the Millionaire died he inherited the cash but his parents became he legal guardians again and took the money off of him and could have it when he was old enough or just took it off him. By having money his parents might of fell out of love with their son and with his brothers and sisters dying they switched off mentally and sent him to boarding school just cause they couldnt deal with him or care about him. Him also failing on the stage could just make them check out more and more His mother being alive later on in the earlier seasons really does throw a spanner in the works. Its possible that she could of faked her death before coming back later owing a reason to why Mr.Burns hates her and wishes she was dead even saying he should of pulled the plug. Its unlikely and outlandish but possible. Just what i was thinking

Y'all ever wonder who those two barflies who hang out at Moe's are? The one whose bald and the one with the hat.

I like how in all these episodes from his younger years his hair color and style just keeps changing randomly

My guess was his memories of Bobo were mixed up with Citizen Kane, like he literally watched that movie years ago and associated its plot with his own past because he related to the themes, with Bobo being his rosebud. I mean, that's what the writers wanted us to do, so why not just roll with that?

Given how one of Burn's middle names is Schicklgruber and that was the surname of Hitler's maternal grandmother Maria Schicklgruber and Burns was one of the first *SS* officers I think Burns was Adolf's american cousin

given Burns mentioning he was a survivor of the Titanic and the mentioning of a boating accident I believe all of Burns siblings perished in the sinking of the Titanic

Smithers, there's a new TheRealJims video up What, already? Yes

Something to bare in mind: Just about anyone in the 81-104 age bracket in real life would have very inconsistent memories of their childhood-early adult years. Perhaps the writers purposely incorporate inconsistent memories/flashbacks into the writing using the unreliable narrator technique to show that Burns' own memory and ability to recall his own timeline is so spotty.

Love how Burns Childhood involved a love of comic books, which didn't begin till the 1930s, while he was supposed to have graduated from Yale, in 1914

Brown, red, grey, blue... we need a history of Mr. Burns' hair colors

5:39 In Season 11 Episode 12 when burns visits the hospital he writes down on the 'cause of parents death' section that they "Got in my way" Now while it probably is a joke, especially with the other pieces of lore, it does show that burns is at the very least willing to joke about that about his parents, so it's not too far-fetched he feels the same way with his siblings.

That's some nice reckless timelining Mr. J.

Mr burns owned a teddy bear before they were first created! Amazing continuity

Interesting to note how when the show started they wanted to make Burns as evil as possible, so they made him the head of a nuclear power point. Over time its become more apparent that nuclear energy is actually some of the cleanest sources of energy, and the writers regret making that a thing, but they can't really change something that fundamental. And I know Simpsons did give a lot of people bad vibes about nuclear too

Gotta say the fact you brought up Crippler, my favorite hound, is just icing on this cake

6:28 I wouldn't call burns mom alive considering Mr burns doesn't even have a pulse

Having seen nothing past Season 13 or so, these Histories are so damn depressing...

My no-prize to solve the situation with his parents: The mysterious rich person who adopted him was his uncle, and he was also married, but childless. Burns would grow up to consider them his real mother and father, and they were the ones that died. His bio-dad eventually passed away, but his bio-mom is still alive in the present.

He really is the best secondary character...the writers really loved writing burns episodes.

despite the inconsistencies handed to us by the crew, the way you laid out his history makes it feel all really well connected! well made vid

The fact he fought in WW2 really throws off all the late 1800's stuff.

there's a particular Burns quote that always sticks in my head when the Burns Family comes to mind where he's answering questions for a medical form. "Cause of Parents Death: Got in my way."

I've always taken That Christmas episode to be non-canon since it plays out like a Halloween episode. Great break down of Burns!

I personally like the “Burns was born on Pangea” theory, he’s just doing some time altering shenanigans to make his life better, the young burnses we see are just his many failed attempts at redoing his life, and the present and future burnses are the successful ones where he lives for centuries and is incredibly wealthy. This is OBVIOUSLY what he’s doing and totally not just inconsistent writers. Just a funny idea I had lmao

Funny that one of Burns' names is "Schicklgruber" as seen at 2:43 - Hitler's father was actually named "Schicklgruber" but later changed his name to "Hitler" because of an inheritance that demanded this.

I really like the idea that it was in-fighting between Burns' siblings that caused their demise versus him being the sole perpetrator. Maybe he's slightly more sympathetic in the sense he was defending himself, or refused to participate. With The Flying Hellfish, wouldn't he have killed all his squad members sooner rather than later if that was the case? Yes he does try to kill Abe but by that point with what we know that the rivalry had been building between the two for decades and decades. My head canon is after Asa Phelps died, things got personal, and he was especially paranoid after what happened with his siblings.

Mr Burns would describe this video as "Excellent"

"Have Phantomstrider killed." "But Sir that's..." "Do as I say!" Seriously fab video as usual!

I didn’t think as much time had passed as this guy was old.

I've been waiting for this one since you started doing Simpsons Histories! I love the idea that Burns' parents sold him to his own grandfather! I would love to have seen how that shaped his young adulthood... but I guess all that has gone down the continuity-toilet nowadays. Anyways, great video! I love these!

I'm so upset I have not received any notifications about this video. I've really been wanting to Mr Burns timeline thank you so much The Real Jims

Days turned to weeks, weeks into months, months turned back into days. Even burns was starting to look good to me...

I love how baby Smithers wears glasses. And that Burns kinda watched over him thereafter losing Smithers Sr.

I would assume that burn's grandfather cut off his parents and financially kept them afloat after agreeing to give them his grandson as his heir

Theory: Mr Burns's parents were wealthy, but they chose to live a modest life.

He has one of the best villain songs I've ever heard, It's great to be loathed. You've know you've stolen the show, you know you'll live forever when everybody else wants you dead.

I was wondering, have you ever thought of making a mysteries on the Simpsons' cars? Homer's is so proeminent in some episodes, yet afaik we know next to nothing about it, and even less of Marge's. I think it's be cool a video on them. Also excellent video, as always.

"uploaded 29 minutes ago." I literally yelled with excitement.

It's so lovely seeing a new realjims episode. I've been watching for about 3years now man, keep it up

Honestly dude, whenever I find out you’ve uploaded it makes me really happy and your content is full information. It makes me want to re watch all the Simpsons, again. Thank you.

Ireland Simpsons Fans and TheRealJims return on the same day!? It's... beautiful

My 1974 theory for re-opening....They could have finished a second reactor. Three Mile Island did that. They built one reactor...and then finished the second while that one came online

Fantastic job on this discussion about Mr Burns. He is a fantastic amazing villain. He is definitely a great guy to call on for the more sinister and whacky plots of dark Simpsons stories. I’m not at all surprised that he never found true love. He always pushes people away, however he was sort of nice to Larry and he genuinely tried to rescue him when he thought he was kidnapped, I definitely respect that for sure!

I am so glad you are making videos like these, it just reaffirms my appreciation for the Simpsons and its incredible place in our society

I picture Burns childhood being a test. His parents raise him in a poor life, and when time come, does he choose a peaceful kind childhood or the cold buisness world? He choose buisness, which is the right answer. Gets taken by his grandfather to get properly prepaired while his parents return to their cold selves.

I saw from the one screen capture that you’ve already alluded to it, but last weekend showed Homer playing a parody of “Ice, Ice Baby” at his after school job while his boss, Gil, drank Crystal Pepsi. So the floating timeline has lapped itself. Homer was still a kid when _The Simpsons_ started.

I was just binge watching your old timeline videos then you upload this. By the title I can tell this is gonna be a really good one too!

I just finished a hard day at work and really needed a TheRealJims Simpsons videos. Your videos are fucking excellent every time my man.

Or is the real villain Simpsons' continuity? It's that. That one. We all know it.

According to the book: The Simpson Family album Burns is a distant cousin of Homer and Abe.

love your stuff man. Never change that intro

This channel is the best simpsons content, just second to the 90s seasons themselves. Keep the awesome work!

Ok, now i really want a season finale where you explain how Herbert Powell shot mister Burns

I'm going with the more dubious reason behind the Plant's sudden reopening because; 1:It's typical of Burns 2:It makes up for poor writing and continuity 3:I like the idea of Burns hiding out in Mexico as Senor Snrubs whilst he waits for the Feds to stop investigating Smithers Snr.'s death

omg finally! I've been waiting for someone to make a timeline on Mr burns thank you!

So happy you worked in a shot from this week's episode 😌

Woo, Something fun to watch on my birthday. Yay! Always love the videos.

It's the Mr. Burns of the world that made the 20th century the roller coaster ride that it was

I love your deadpan reading of random quotes and jokes, keep up the good work!

Great video as always, truly love your work!

Poison Potatoes sounds like a great name for an Irish punk metal band.

Always appreciate the analyses you do on these, so in-depth, and you're good at making little wry jokey comments punctuated by some apt graphic. Burns is a favorite character, able to fit a number of purposes from master villain to sometimes, just an observational role. He can go from "Have the Rolling Stones killed!" to "Is it about my cube?" He can be completely clueless or representing "us" when eyerolling some other character. Here's a thought for you, if it hasn't been tackled: One episode about the Simpsons' relations? Since so many are one-offs that could go from one to the next, maybe giving a little more focus on slightly more substantial ones like Unky Herb. Then you have so many who were on the lawn to meet Lisa, or you have the British woman who looks just like Homer; his sister no one mentions again. Maybe also ancestors we've met. Marge's mom, if you haven't done one episode about her? (or maybe a separate episode about Marge's own blood relations). And what of the little Chinese adopted girl who would be Bart/Lisa/Maggie's closest thing to a cousin? (Hey, just how does Homer have such an extended mass of cousins anyhow?)

Been looking forward to a new video. Thank you!

Just lovely work as always. Thank you

There was a Marge flashback where Mr Burns arrives in Springfield for the first time, there was a parade with elephants. She remembers it being so cool when he arrived

Congratulations u put more thought into this video than the entire writers of the Simpson

love these videos! Keep it up!

The amount of retcons this show has had is ridiculous! Also great video as usual :)

Just ignore everything past Season 9. There we go! Most major plot holes fixed!

20:55 “Smithers, have EmpLemon killed”

IV been waiting fpr this one thank you!

your channel is really unique. I love it!

That's right, Mr. Burns was actually shot by Mr. Burns.

Hell yes! New Simpsons mysteries to start off the day

I wanna see a Simpsons Histories on the Irishman though. How did his wee ones turn out with their father unable to provide for them, on account of being crippled?

Seeing a new RealJims video on St. Patrick’s Day just makes me happy. Thanks for the video, keep up the great work!

Always love when you upload!

i never made the connection between rosebud and wealth until now, the sims money cheat makes sense now

Great job there are two things I think you missed when he was asked at the mayo clinic for the cause of his parents death he says got in my way and he also says his social security number is 000-00-0002 and he's still mad at roosevelt for it.

Another amazing video ! Been a massive fan for years, ever planning on doing a video on the squeaky voiced teenager. He's in a lot of scenes but he's actually a big mystery.

Incredible work RealJims, I have spent far to long trying understand burns timeline from the SimpsonsWiki before going "Forget this... its floating timeline"