Like any enormously successful TV show, The Simpsons has its share of far-fetched fan theories.

The mark of a great show is if its fan base incessantly searches for answers to even the smallest of questions.

From the blatantly untrue to the admittedly compelling, these fan theories might have you questioning your Simpsons knowledge.

1. The 2001 episode "New Kids On The Blecch" predicted the Syrian Civil War.

The Simpsons is thought to have "predicted" a lot of events, but none more absurd than the Syrian uprising and civil war. Strangely enough, that's what one Egyptian news anchor concluded earlier this year.

In "New Kids On The Blecch," Bart and friends join a boy band called Party Posse and record the single "Drop Da Bomb," a love song with heavy American militaristic overtones. That's, of course, part of the joke, and it later becomes clear that the song's chorus "Yvan eht nioj" is subliminal messaging that translates to "Join the navy".

It's the song's music video, however, that prompted theories regarding the Syrian Civil War. In the clip, Party Posse flies over a group of Middle Easterners standing near vehicles decorated with a flag that looks similar to the ones Syrian opposition used in 2011. A news anchor for Egyptian satellite TV channel al-Tahrir came to the very logical conclusion that this meant that the uprising was somehow premeditated.

Though The Simpsons deals with accusations of this kind on a regular basis, Asawin Suebsaeng of Mother Jones reached out to executive producer Al Jean for comment, to which he responded with a sarcastic, "Yes, we had the amazing foresight to predict conflict in the Middle East."

2. Springfield bends the limits of space and time.

If there's one question that's always eluded diehard fans, it's why no one ages in Springfield. While there are many different theories regarding this curious topic, the "Tesseract Theory" proposed by anonymous users on 4chan might be the most compelling.

The theory proposes that Springfield is trapped inside a space-warping tesseract. 4chan users suggest, "This allows it to be much bigger than the space it takes up...as well as shift its location as needed." Basically, as the world changes around Springfield, the city itself remains the same, albeit in different locations across the U.S., from the midwest to the northeast and places in between.

The users go on to point out that though time appears to stop in Springfield, its residents acknowledge the passing of time outside the city without questioning it. For example, in "The Italian Bob," the Simpsons family travels to Italy only to find that long-lost Sideshow Bob is now the mayor of a small village, and has a wife and child. Years pass for Bob, though the Simpsons family remains the same age. Perhaps this means that Springfield is caught in a time loop.

Or maybe it's just a cartoon, and aging the Simpsons naturally would put more pressure on writers to deal with more serious topics, like death and serious illness.

3. There's an early, unreleased episode in which Bart dies.

Diehard fans were shocked to hear one particular theory floating around the Internet that suggests that Matt Groening created an unaired episode titled "Dead Bart" in which Bart is sucked from airplane during a family trip.

The only evidence supporting this theory is a grainy, relatively incomprehensible video featuring supposed scenes from the episode.

While the video seems to paint a disturbing portrait of life in the Simpsons household after Bart's death, it's almost certainly a fake, and strung together from other episodes. The supposed story behind "Dead Bart" is a Creepypasta submission that, while disturbing, is also fictional. But if you're up for a sinister Simpsons thrill, you can read the entire, bleak story here.

4. Every member of the the Simpsons family is secretly a genius.

We know that Lisa is the straight-A golden child in the Simpsons family, but it's possible the rest of the family shares her intelligence, but chooses not to show it. Or at least that's what Reddit user KerbyKlok suggests.

According to this theory, every member of the Simpsons family has demonstrated his or her mental abilities at some point. Grandpa's flashbacks show him playing piano or flying fighter planes. Marge chose to stay at home, though she was an excellent student in school. And though Maggie is an infant, she's managed to save Homer, Bart and Lisa on separate occasions.

Homer also exhibits high intelligence in the 2001 episode "HOMR," in which he has a crayon from childhood removed from his brain. Instantly, he becomes a genius with the ability to disprove God's existence. Ultimately, he chooses to replace the crayon in order to go back to his happier, simpler life. The theory suggests that Bart sees how much happier his father is without intelligence, and chooses to live his life in the same way.

It's not too far-fetched to assume that all of the Simpsons are secret geniuses. After all, its writers are predominantly brilliant math geeks.

5. Smithers was originally meant to be African American.

It's a common theory that Mr. Burns' right-hand man was originally meant to be an African American character, but the idea was scrapped. According to director David Silverman, show runners decided it would be wrong to feature a "sub-servient black character."

But despite this claim, it turns out that Mr. Smithers was never meant to be a black character, though he's seen with darker skin in the episode "Homer's Odyssey." As it turns out, Gyorgi Peluci, the show's color stylist mistakenly gave Smithers blue hair and dark skin. According to Silverman, Smithers was always meant to be Mr. Burns' "white sycophant."