It's been thirteen years since Sam & Max hit the road, but after a long and often agonizing route, the popular duo are finally returning. It's still a little more than a month away, but Telltale and GameTap have at last revealed the official release schedule for the pilot episode of Season One.

Entitled Culture Shock, the initial episode in the new series will first be released on October 17th exclusively on GameTap, the popular online entertainment network available to subscribers in the United States. For non-subscribers and the rest of the world, fortunately the wait isn't too much longer, as the game will be available for purchase on Telltale's website on November 1st. The season's remaining five episodes will share a similar pattern of fifteen day exclusivity for GameTap, followed by Telltale's retail offering.

Telltale has also revealed some additional information about the story in episode one. According to the latest developer blog:

Those little red-and-white clad guys who have been creeping into the new screenshots? They're the Soda Poppers — former child stars who have been out of the TV scene since the seventies, and in and out of trouble almost as long. They're on the loose in Sam & Max's neighborhood, and it's up to our unscrupulous crime-fighters to figure out why. And we do mean unscrupulous. To get to the bottom of the ever-thickening plot, you'll have to throw heavy objects, hit people over the head, shoot stuff (in point & click style, of course!), and drive around like a maniac. Oh, and don't forget about faking mental illness and outsmarting a deviously clever bell-bottom-wearing foe.