Simpsons Executive Producer and Writer Al Jean Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

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He goes on to insist that the movie will appeal to the diehards, but he is also very clear that it won't involve the kind of trivia knowledge one might expect from real life Comic Shop Guys all over the world.

"It's a self-contained story," he says. "It won't be like X-Files where you have to see the show and buy a book and take a course to understand it. If you've never seen the show you can still enjoy the movie. On the other hand, if you're a fan, there are some rewards for you, too. And none of it is going to affect any of the storylines for the next season."

However, Jean does let slip that there are several new, as yet-unnamed, characters being introduced in the movie, and those new faces may pop up in the show's mind-boggling 19th season.

"We're hoping if characters do well in the movie that we'll bring them back on the show. But I want to make clear, the movie has an ending. It doesn't require you to do anything more than see the movie," he says.

As for fan favorites such as Barney, Professor Frink, or Krusty the Clown, Jean assures us that every effort has been made to include everyone, but there's still no telling which jokes, and by extension which characters, will end up on the cutting room floor. ("What we found is that the jokes work if they're jokes that are just plain funny. It's not enough that [the audience] goes, 'Oh, there's the Comic Book Guy from the show!'") He's even more mum on the question of celebrity cameos. Jean will only admit that they're "hopeful."

In a theater landscape filled with a photo-realistic Paris in Ratatouille and three-dimensional surfing penguins, is The Simpsons's 2-D world going to look hopelessly outdated? The initial teaser trailers obviously poked fun at this very notion (Moe the bartender accidentally killing a 3-D rabbit), but do you need to rush out to a digital projection theater to see the same pastel-colored world you can see on TV?

Bart Simpson flies through the air in an epic skateboarding trip that was apparently clothing-optional. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

"One of the questions people ask the most is if the animation will be different," answers Jean. "Somewhat. But it will retain the feel of the show. Still, people expect a certain level of detail from an animated feature which I think they're going to get."

Early shots do reveal more depth, and more intricate shadowing — but it's not like people enjoy the Simpsons for their looks, anyway. Jean admits that being a movie does give the writers more leeway than they have on the show, but insists that the humor won't be pushed into R-rated territory just because it can.

But let's back up a second — Jean mentioned something about a 19th season? Hadn't Simpsons creator Matt Groening been rumored to say that the movie would effectively end the series? It would be the big, grand finale before finally laying Springfield to rest?

"We're recording season 19 now, which premieres in the fall," says Jean, putting that rumor to rest. "At that point the [cast's] contracts are up, but I'm hopeful we'll do more."

If that's the case, then even the notion of The Simpsons Movie 2: Everything's Coming Up Milhouse might not be that much of a stretch. "If it's a success," shrugs Jean. "Whenever a movie's a success, they always make more. Certainly, I'd love to do it again."