This is news to me, but then again, I don’t really keep up with the Star Wars universe nearly as much as I should, because for me it’s kind of been played out, and I’m not really that interested in heading back to “a galaxy far, far away”. But according to this USA Today story, George Lucas isn’t just releasing “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” as a new TV series, but he’s also releasing it as a feature length movie.

More:

The feature film, chronicling the wartime adventures of a pre-Darth Vader Anakin Skywalker and mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, takes place immediately before the events in 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. It serves as a kickoff for the half-hour animated TV series planned for fall on Cartoon Network and TNT.

About the storyline:

In this film, Anakin and Obi-Wan are trying to hold together the galactic republic, split apart by war between a separatist robot army and the good-guy white-armored clones. (They later become the bad-guy Stormtroopers.)

Among revelations in the film: Anakin has a padawan (or Jedi apprentice) named Ahsoka, says Clone Wars director Dave Filoni, adding a new wrinkle to established lore.

“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” opens in theaters August 15, 2008.