This thread came sooner than I expected! Excellent…

In response to your original post:

I don’t mind the 16 hour ticking clock. Like you said, it explains the hurry everyone seems to be in.
Removing lightspeed skipping seems like a difficult thing to pull off since there’s a whole exchange between Rey/Poe/Finn/Chewy/BB-8 where it is featured quite heavily. But removing it could possibly help with pacing.

I’ve had a chance to watch the movie three times now and have a few of my own thoughts:

Potentially remove Chewy receiving his medal from Maz
Remove Lando and Jannah’s useless interaction at the end of the film
John William’s cameo on Kijimi felt a little off - not sure if removing it would help with pacing
I wonder if it would be possible to postpone the reveal of Chewy actually being alive. We think he’s dead for like 3 seconds and seems kinda lame.
On that note, this movie is FULL of fake out deaths: Chewy, 3PO (kinda), Kylo, and finally Rey. I think showing Chewy being alive could be delayed a little and something could be done re: 3PO. You could absolutely remove the line about R2 backing up 3PO’s memory, but I also think that you could leave that line intact and instead remove the whole “taking one last look at my friends” line. It could turn into a whole Spanish Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3 situation where 3PO is reset and we have goofy interactions with him not knowing anything, but in the end we know that R2 will be able to fix everything.
The shot where Poe, Finn, and Chewy get captured on Kylo’s destroyer could be trimmed at the very end. When they’re being told to drop their weapons, it feels a little awkward.
When Rey and Kylo talk on Kylo’s destroyer, keep “you’re his granddaughter” but remove “you are a Palpatine”. Might make the moment feels a little less ridiculous.

And finally, a couple thoughts about how this could impact your edits of TFA and TLJ:

Bring back Han shooting without looking in TFA. Kylo does it against the KoR in ROS and is a cute father/son parallel
Include some porg sounds on Ach-To when Rey arrives in TFA (I know you didn’t like this the first time I suggested it but here’s one final attempt to change your mind)
In TLJ, Snoke says he bridged Kylo and Rey’s minds. Is this still the case? Or is their connection a result of the force dyad. Don’t know if changes could/should be made to clarify this.
Can’t remember if you’ve done this already, but removing Kylo’s line to Rey in TLJ about her parents selling her for drinking money. That’s very clearly not the case anymore.

Shit, this is getting long. Sorry! One last thought about Rey Palpatine: Her lineage doesn’t bother me. TLJ implies that where you come from doesn’t make you any more or less important and ROS kind of continues that thought process but just from a different perspective. Different side of the same coin kinda situation. You can be something if you come from nothing, and can be good despite coming from evil. It’s not amazing, but I think it is better to keep rather than mess too much with the narrative.