With less than three weeks to go until the first episode in Cartoon Network's new CLONE WARS series debuts, STAR WARS fans have been heading into overdrive trying to learn as much as they can about the show. Created by Gennedy Tartakovsky (SAMURAI JACK), the network and Lucasfilm are creating 20 shorts (clocking in at about three minutes each) that depict some of the intense battles waged during the time known as the Clone wars in the STAR WARS universe. Viewers will get to see Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and other Jedi Knights and Masters lead campaigns against Count Dooku and his Separtist forces trying to topple the Old Republic. Along the way new characters will be introduced (like the bounty hunter Durge or Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress), intense battles will be fought and the action will be hot and heavy.

The first chapter of CLONE WARS is scheduled to be available on the Web and broadcast on Cartoon Network on November 7, with new episodes available every weekday following. Lucasfilm and Cartoon Network have kept a media blackout on any information and imagery that's leaked out, asking fansites to remove such material when it goes online. Still, there's some good places on the Web to whet one's appetite for what's to come...

• Toonzone has a list of character breakdowns describing who the good and bad guys are in the series. They've also got an early review of the series' first five episodes and an interview with Tartakovsky.
• And of course, Cartoon Network 's official CLONE WARS website has some info as well as an interactive game you can now play.

CLONE WARS premieres at 8:00 PM ET/PT on Friday, November 7. The first ten episodes will also be played in chronological order on Friday, November 21. The next ten chapters will be broadcast in the spring of 2004.

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