DISNEY XD'S GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Disney XD has announced its rollout for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy animated series, including a multi-platform debut of the characters.

The series will premiere with a one-hour special of back-to-back episodes on Saturday, Sept. 26, following a sneak peek at the first episode on Saturday, September 5 (9 p.m., ET/PT). Disney XD will also telecast 10 two-minute shorts delving into the backstory of each of the five main characters throughout the month of August.

Here's how the series is described:

"Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy features themes of redemption and the importance of friendships and family told through a series of riveting sequential story arcs. The series follows the newly formed team that finds a strange artifact keyed only to the DNA of Peter Quill. Upon opening it, Quill unleashes a treasure map leading to a powerful weapon known as the Cosmic Seed, which is capable of giving birth to the next universe. It's up to the Guardians to find, protect and ultimately destroy the Cosmic Seed in order to keep it out of the hands of those who would abuse its power, from galactic big boss Thanos to the conniving brothers the Collector and the Grandmaster, to a resurrected Ronan, to the ultimate trickster, Loki, in order to save the universe."

The series stars Will Friedle as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Trevor Devall as Rocket Raccoon, Vanessa Marshall as Gamora, David Sobolov as Drax the Destroyer, Kevin Michael Richardson as Groot and James Arnold Taylor as Yondu and the telepathic dog, Cosmo.

The Guardians of the Galaxy's multi-platform schedule is:

AUGUST 1-29

Each Saturday throughout August, two new character shorts will telecast on Disney XD.

* August 1: Star-Lord -- Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (10:28 p.m., ET/PT)

* August 8: Groot -- Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (9:58 p.m., ET/PT)

August 15: Rocket Raccoon -- Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (9:58 p.m., ET/PT)

August 22: Drax -- Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (9:58 p.m., ET/PT)

* August 29: Gamora -- Part 1 (8:58 p.m., ET/PT) & Part 2 (9:58 p.m., ET/PT)

SATURDAY, SEPT. 5

A neak peek at first episode at 9 p.m., ET/PT

"Road to Knowhere" -- The newly christened Guardians of the Galaxy come into possession of a dangerous artifact that has Thanos' new lieutenant, Korath, after them.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 26

One-hour premiere, featuring back-to-back episodes on Disney XD (9:30 p.m. -- 10:30 p.m., ET/PT).

Encore presentation of "Road to Knowhere" followed by "Knowhere to Run." In "Knowhere to Run," the Guardians struggle to subdue the suddenly sprung-to-life Celestial head that is the Knowhere space colony, as well as storm Korath's ship to rescue Quill, Gamora and the mysterious CryptoCube that holds the Cosmic Seed.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 27

Available to WATCH Disney XD users on WATCHDisneyXD.com and the WATCH Disney XD app for smartphones, tablets and connected TVs.