Qui-Gon Jinn wasn’t necessary. All that was needed was Obi-wan and Anakin. The prequels could have begun with them already Master and apprentice, building their bond right from the beginning of Ep. 1 - instead of pissing away the first chapter on a little boy and his mom.

Obi-Wan should have been older, and already a Jedi Master in Ep. 1, and Anakin, a teenager not a small boy.

Lucas traveled too far back into Anakin’s past for the prequels. We could have been spared all the childish crap that swamped Ep. 1.