MUMBAI: The latest in Cartoon Network's new slew of programme initiatives comes from Star Wars creator George Lucas. Star Wars: Clone Wars an epic micro-series consisting of 20 animated shorts, will air on the channel from 10 November. The first 10 chapters will debut weekdays at 5 pm. The next 10 episodes will next year.
 

The show continues from where the blockbuster film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones left off. At the beginning of the Clone Wars, an epic civil war pits the old Republic against a vast separatist movement led by the forces of evil.

Clone Wars is being produced at Cartoon Network Studios by a team led by Genndy Tartakovsky. He was the brains behind the popular Samurai Jack and Dexters Laboratory. Each episodic short will be approximately three-minutes in length.

Meanwhile on 15 November chapters 1-5 will be telecast in order, interspersed throughout that afternoons programming, from 12:50 pm. This will repeat on 16 November from 2 pm. As Clone Wars unfolds, the valiant Jedi Knights lead the Republics Clone Army against both familiar and new adversaries across the galaxy. These new characters, epic battles and intricate stories aim at adding a new dimension to the Star Wars saga.

Tartakovsky added, "It certainly fulfills one of my dreams to work on a project like Star Wars that is so thoroughly established it has become a part of our culture. It is an awesome assignment and Im really honoured to be a contributor to the Star Wars legacy."

Lucas Licensing president Howard Roffman said, "Genndy Tartakovsky and the team at Cartoon Network are tops in their field. Their work on Samurai Jack shows that they can tell an epic story in a unique way, lavishing equal attention on dramatic battle scenes as well as the dramatic development of the characters."