Community Is Getting Animated for a Three-Part Web Series

I haaaaaave the powerrrrrrr!

Community is coming back on March 15, but it’s also sort of coming back on March 7. I’ll explain. At the comedy’s PaleyFest panel last night, the cast of Community announced that it will be starring in three animated shorts that will be available exclusively online.

Each short will be about two minutes long, and they’ll air on consecutive days starting next Wednesday on Hulu and NBC.com. Titled “Abed’s Master Key,” the series will reveal what happens when Dean Pelton makes Abed his assistant and gives him the Greendale Master Key. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Abed opens doors that he otherwise couldn’t.

“But how will it look?!” you just screamed. Well I’ll show you in this trailer that’s exclusive to everyone:

TV-based web series tend to be hit-or-miss, and misses are way more common, but if any show can do one right, it’s Community. Remember the awesome shorts they did for the Emmys? It’ll at least be a nice diversion while we tick off the days until March 15.

Community animated shorts: something to tide us over or the real deal? And what do you think about the animation?

Follow TV.com writer Tim Surette on Twitter: @TimAtTVDotCom