Here’s the opening of my Phantom Menace edit:
It includes:
An entirely new opening shot.
Early introduction of Amidala.
A short skirmish to protect Theed.
Nute and Rune’s new voices.
Very nice!
Indeed. The opening shot is very similar to what I suggested many moons ago. Though I would have the federation ships looming large in shot and have the Queen on Coruscant talking via hologram rather than Palpatine. That way the story is linear. She need to get home to save her people. Rather than darting back and forth.