Star Wars Clone Wars is set in the time period between Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. There are a lot of reasons to look past Clone Wars: it’s animated, and it’s separated into short bits, many as short as three and a half minutes. Don’t be fooled: this is a vital piece of the Star Wars saga.

Despite the animation, everything fits right into the Star Wars story. Anakin Skywalker, in desperate times, is promoted to Jedi Knight. General Grievous is trained by Count Dooku. And Chancellor Palpatine is kidnapped. Basically, everything sets the stage for what happens in Episode III. While at times the animation is a bit over the top, and there is far too much action compared to plot advancement, this “movie” was really worth watching.

Moreover, this is a great way to fill in the pieces between the real movies. For example, I am very interested in what happens between Episode III and Episode IV (A New Hope – the original Star Wars movie). Obviously, Darth Vader rises to power. That would be fun to see. Guess what? George Lucas is already working on that. And it won’t be animated, from the look of things. That’s interesting.

One of best things about the Star Wars movies is the continuity. You can follow Anakin from when he’s just a child, through his rise to become a galactic leader, and straight to his demise. It’s rare for a movie series to accomplish that. Even Rocky starts with a young adult (although we get to see plenty of his life). In fact, even a TV series, which has much more airtime, will usually struggle to get very far. The Simpsons, for example, have only covered one school year in nearly two decades.

Star Wars will be graced with a live action TV series, slated to air in 2008, and covering the period between Episodes 3 and 4, where Vader clearly embraces his new power and rises to prominence.

Most people know that Lucas has written all nine episodes of Star Wars already. In fact, I was able to find what one guy says are plots for Episode 7: The Fallen Hero, Episode 8: The Republic In Crisis and Episode 9: Victory of the Force. Even though the plots are quite fake, those will be blockbuster movies, and very interesting progression of the post-Vader era. I can’t wait to see them.

However, I am more interested in the beginning, before The Phantom Menace. Rumor has it that Darth Sideous (aka Palpatine/Emporer) manipulated midichlorians to create Anakin by “immaculate conception.” I would like to see how this played out. Let’s see a young Qui-Gon, a younger Yoda, and the parent(s) of Darth Vader. Mostly, I want to see the relationship between an apprentice Palpatine and his mentor, Darth Plagueis.

I’m sure most people reading this have little idea about what I just wrote. But remember, I didn’t get hooked on Star Wars until Episode II came out. That was the movie that tied everything together. Up until that point, I didn’t realize that Palpatine was the Emporer and other basic Star Wars truths. A movie about the early years, especially Palpatine’s apprenticeship, would certainly make fans out of quite a few who have seen the movies but didn’t really “get it.” Plus, there is some potential for a great movie here, with the standard themes you see in movies like this. The student becomes the master. There is a struggle between good and evil. And lots of battles, perhaps even with light sabers.

Say what you will about Youtube. Even Mark Cuban thinks there is a lot of garbage out there. And he’s right. But you know what? There is a lot of good stuff out there in the Long Tail.

The fine folks at Blame Society have created a new online video collection called Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager. In addition to being very well produced and very funny, this is also pretty large. This no 20 second clip of people being funny; there are five six-minute episodes, and a plot that can be followed. Clearly, this is no Star Wars or even the original South Park short that started it all. But it’s definitely watchable. Remember, 30 minutes spent watching Chad Vader’s adventures is 30 minutes spent not watching the latest prime time network hits, even on TiVo. In the last ten years, video production has become more and more accessible to the common man. But in the last two years, video distribution has followed suit. And a person’s time spent on entertainment can now be so diverse that the stand-out blockbuster successes are becoming more and more obscelete.

But meanwhile, you can relax: it’s just some people poking fun at Darth Vader.