I always thought Darth Maul was just a good opportunity to create a kick ass villian, that was wasted. apart from the 'cool' fight at the end of the film Maul does nothing and adds nothing to the story of the film, he gets about 3 really lame lines in the film, and even they were dubbed. Maul may have looked scary and menacing, but it's all look and no substance, he should have inflicted a lot more damage in order to be a truly credible villain,

How much more powerful would the first film have been if Maul had been able to track Padme down to Anakin's Hovel and waited in ambush upon their return from the Pod-race, if he'd interrogated Schmi and killed her, it would have paralelled Luke's departure from tatooine in A new Hope and made Anakin's leaving Tatooine a lot more beleivable, instead of the half-assed way they killed off Schmi in the second film, They could have had Maul intimidating the Neimodians, maybe a 'force choke' or two on a few Naboo officials or Neimodians.

When I was seven Darth Vader frightened the crap out of me, I bet the only reaction Darth Maul could inspire in a seven year old would be 'He looks COOL!!!'