For the first times outside of the Star Wars Holiday Special, George Lucas is taking his big space franchise to television. This time it is in the form of a computer animated series that takes place between Episodes II and III of his movie series. The episodes tell the stories of a number of characters from the movie series, with many secondary characters taking the primary roles.

This film was originally meant to be a number of episodes to tell a single story. They fit together so nicely that the decision was made to put them on the big screen since that would give the usual epic feeling and do a good job of introducing the show.

Anakin Skywalker and Ben Kenobi are assigned by the Jedi Council to rescue the small child of Jabba the Hutt in the hopes. By doing so, there is a hope that the Hutt clans will allow the Republic forces to use their space lanes while continuing there major war against the Separatists, who seem to have a growing advantage. For help, the Jedi Council has sent Ahsoka Tano, a Padawan learner assigned to Anakin, to inform them of the assignment and to help out. She is pretty sassy and a perfect sidekick for the less-than-traditional Jedi Knight.

In the process of locating and rescuing the Huttling, Anakin and Ahsoka confront Asajj Ventriss, the apprentice to Count Dooku. Anakin and Asajj have a history that leaves no love lost between the two of them. As the fate of the war may lay in the results of this assignment, the two go at it, racing across the universe in the hopes of turning the tide of the war one way or the other with the fate of the baby.

The story, like those found in the regular series that airs on Friday nights on the Cartoon Network, is well drawn and up to the standards of the Star Wars franchise. It is filled with action and even some development. A lot of what happens in the movie carries forward as plots and subplots in later episodes.

My one disappointment was the level of the animation. Computer animation is not a new technology, and Industrial Light and Magic, which was founded by George Lucas is at the forefront of the technology. I know the characters were supposed to have a certain look, a touch of anime and ties to the earlier cartoon series. Unfortunately, the attempt at simplicity also leads to some images that are almost two basic. Other than that, the movie is actually really good.

You probably have to be steeped in the content of the earlier movies to understand half of what is going on, though.