On Monday we brought you the news that NBC would be producing a series of animated shorts to mark the return of Community from its mid-season hiatus.

The first of the shorts has premiered online today. You can watch “Abed’s Master Key Part 1” here below.

Featuring the voices of the Community cast, “Master Key” finds Abed (Danny Pudi) becoming Dean Pelton’s (Jim Rash) “depu-dean” and being given a master key to all of Greendale Community College, something the rest of the gang will likely attempt to exploit in the next two shorts.

Community returns on March 15, 2012. Parts two and three of “Abed’s Master Key” will premiere tomorrow and Friday respectively on NBC.Com, Hulu, and Hulu Plus.

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