It's a trilogy within a trilogy?
could you explain that more?
Is the season split into three segments/story lines or are they releasing two more movies that will be part of the cartoon series?
the story clearly isn't over. Takes place between Episodes 2 and 3 and there has to be at least 1 more as Anakin's Padawan must die before episode 3.
or becomes a full jedi before 3 starts.
I believe the movie is the leader into the TV series.
The movie was originally supposed to be the pilot for the TV series. Lucas was reviewing the footage on a big screen, and decided to go for a theatrical release instead. That's also why this film got less attention. As for Anakin's Padawan dying. According to the Star Wars expanded universe, if a Jedi successfully trains a padawan to knighthood they automatically become a master. Anakin was not a master in episode 3 which is why DH believes that she will die. On the one hand, I wouldn't consider trading cards, comic books, and novels gospel especially since the film already seems to contradict them by having the council assign a padawan to a knight rather than the knight selecting his own apprentice, but on the other hand, Lucas maintains a tighter control over this than what we see with the Star Trek licensing, and he has stated that while the SWEU is not the final arbiter on what he puts in films, he has it condensed into an encyclopedia, and he does consult it so that he is less likely to conflict with it. However, even if they choose to go with the expanded universe rules, there could be other explanations for Anakin not being a master. Ie. She washes out, she is reassigned to a different master, she quits, she is still his padawan but not present for some reason. I think the film really could have done without the purple "cross-dressing" Hutt with a Truman Capote accent. It just looked too ridiculous.
anyone who hasn't seen the movie but wants to see a picture of what I'm talking about can click on this link.
http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/b/b8/Ziro.JPEG