Burns' Heir
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Burns' Heir" | |
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| Episode no. | 99 |
| Prod. code | 1F16 |
| Orig. Airdate | April 14, 1994 |
| Show Runner(s) | David Mirkin |
| Written by | Jace Richdale |
| Directed by | Mark Kirkland |
| Chalkboard | "The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with 'Hail Satan'" |
| Couch gag | The family arrives rolled up in balls and unravel once they hit the couch. |
| DVD commentary by | Matt Groening David Mirkin Jace Richdale Mark Kirkland David Silverman |
| Season 5 September 30, 1993 – May 19, 1994 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Burns' Heir" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons' fifth season, first aired on April 14, 1994.
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[edit] Synopsis
While Homer is bored at work at the power plant, he suddenly wins the employee raffle. He is forced to be an industrial chimney sweep, where he is strung from a crane with batting wrapped around him and dipped into the industrial smokestacks. Even with all his misfortune, Homer is happy, saying that guys at the top work much harder than him. Meanwhile Burns is watching Homer while taking a bath and wearing a top hat, smoking a cigar and eating a bag of extra-fancy potato chips, with Smithers sitting beside him.
Smithers leaves Burns for a second to find a spherical sponge and places the one he had on Burns' top hat, causing him to sink and almost drown which triggers Burns' life to flash before his eyes. After Smithers rescues him, Burns realizes that no one would carry on his legacy when he died (Smithers could not do this, because he's been arranged to be buried alive with Burns when he dies). Because of this, he holds an audition to find a heir; all the boys in Springfield try out. Lisa attempts to reason with Burns to consider using girls as heirs, but Burns insists on boys, much to the dismay of Milhouse (who failed the audition earlier on the basis of being a geek and was about to try again disguised as a girl). Bart tries out but fails miserably because the lines that Homer gave him made him sound like a fool. Angry after the audition ends, Bart vandalizes Burns' house. Burns' watches Bart destroy his house and decides he wants him for his heir (as Burns approves of malevolence).
However, once Bart becomes Burns' heir, he abandons his family. The family becomes angry and wants Bart back, so they hire a lawyer, Lionel Hutz, to help them win Bart back. The case does not turn out in their favor. His family also tries to get the deprogrammers to kidnap Bart, but the deprogrammers make a mistake and take the old man Hans Moleman instead.
Meanwhile, Bart becomes lonely and wants to go back to his family. Burns does not want him to go and tries to trick him into thinking that his family hates him, using a falsified video with actors playing the Simpson family. Back at the Simpson house, as Marge remembers Bart as a baby, Lisa tries to fill the void left by Bart by ripping up the wallpaper and tripping up Homer. Burns then tries to break Bart's ties with his family by forcing him to fire Homer, but Bart "fires" Burns instead and drops him through a trap door. Back home, the family tells Bart about the fake family he saw on the video and that they really do love him. Homer then introduces the still-deprogrammed Hans to Bart as his new brother "Cowabunga, dudes", but Marge wants him out of the house.
[edit] Cultural references
- Hans being deprogrammed in Room 101 is similar to 1984.
- The beginning of the "Siskel and Ebert" movie parodies the THX sound Deep Note. In fact, this scene was made into an actual THX movie trailer, with the scene being redone for the widescreen aspect ratio. That trailer can be seen on Season 5 of The Simpsons DVD box set.
- The young boy saying, "The day, sir? Why, it's Christmas Day!" makes a reference to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
- The giant wall of TVs is a parody of Sliver. Burns even mentions enjoying the film in this episode, although in an earlier episode, he said it was horrible.
- Moe talking to himself in the mirror is similar to that from Taxi Driver.
- Bart's pulling up to Burns' mansion on his bicycle is a parody of E.T.
- Bart showing Milhouse the house full of toys may be a reference to the 1988 Tom Hanks movie Big or the 1980s sitcom Silver Spoons.
- Burns standing in a grassy field is a parody of the "Toys" trailer with Robin Williams.
- When Burns appears dead in the bathtub then attacks Smithers, the scene a reference to the popular climatic scene in Fatal Attraction (as opposed to the alternate ending where Alex (Glenn Close) commits suicide and makes it look like Dan (Michael Douglas) murdered her).
- Burns infiltrates a Greenpeace boat by disguising himself as Wavy Gravy.
- Martin's song at the audition is a reference to the song in Meet Me in St. Louis except with different lyrics.
- Milhouse's audition is similar to that from The Little Drummer Boy.
- The Krusty the Klown rerun mentions the Falkland Islands' invasion by Argentina on April 2, 1982. This helps to support Krusty's alibi that he is only playing a rerun and is indeed the real Krusty, who is delivering Bart a pizza.
- The actor that Burns hires to portray Homer is based on Michael Caine. According to the DVD episode commentary, the producers were hoping Caine himself would voice the role.
[edit] Deleted Scenes
[edit] Syndication cuts
Sometimes, during Bart's poor audition to Burns, Homer tries to correct Bart, thinking that "Mr. Burns" is actually "Mr. Kurns", until corrected by Marge.
After Bart has dinner with Mr. Burns, a scene is occasionally shown where Burns shows off his wall of TVs showing hidden security camera footage from all around Springfield. During this scene, Bart witnesses Moe impersonating Robert De Niro in front of his mirror and Homer eating off the tops of flowers in the bathroom. The latter is referenced in another scene cut from syndication, where Bart tells Homer to eat some flowers before storming off to live with Mr. Burns.
[edit] Robotic Richard Simmons
The Robotic Richard Simmons was a clip which included a humorous reference to the hit film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and was cut in production and later shown in the Simpsons clip show episode, "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular".
The episode had one part where Homer Simpson went to Mr Burns' house to retrieve his boy and is ignored by Burns and Bart. In the deleted scene, Mr. Burns released one of the many things at his disposal to rid of Homer. He released the Robotic Richard Simmons which indeed does scare Homer away from Burns' Mansion. It then goes out of control. After Waylon Smithers shoots the robot with a shotgun, its face turns to liquid metal and molds back into place (ala Terminator 2). The robot continues to sing and dance until it explodes at Burns' doorstep. In the aired episode, when told to do his worst, Burns instead slammed the door and locked it, with Homer subsequently trying to pull a doorbell prank on him.
According to the DVD commentary, the real Richard Simmons was going to lend his voice to the episode, until he read the script and declined to appear.
The DVD commentary track also explains that the scene was removed as the show's writers did not find it to be funny after it was animated, and test audiences never really liked the scene either. However, to their surprise, upon screening it at conventions or college presentations it would make the audience erupt with laughter. This scene is shown on the clip show episode, "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular".
[edit] External links
- "Burns' Heir" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
