I’ll start with my general attitude toward editing the prequels and my thoughts on the beginning of TPM.

While I am inspired by and adopting edits others have made (and need to watch more of those listed above), my focus/inspiration is reordering and recontextualizing scenes. My thinking is informed by how ANH was “saved in the edit” as expressed in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk

I am leaving a lot intact (like R2 and a lot of Jar Jar and Gungans) and I hope the annoying parts will work better with changed context, in addition to toning down.

When I think about the prequels I try to keep my first impressions in mind. I was on the edge of my seat when the movie started. After the perplexing crawl, a lonely ship sailing through space toward a space station keeps me in suspense. And the first thing to happen is a bland conversation on a viewscreen. It deflates tension. Plus we are going to get that same information repeatedly and in better ways. Then they go to a conference room and talk. When we get to the action a moment later, the stakes and characters aren’t sufficiently established and I had a feeling of waiting for the movie to really begin.

The stakes should be better established at the outset. My approach is to start with the invasion in order to show the danger. The limited footage of the invasion doesn’t allow for a terribly flashy start (and is a little short for proper opening shots) but it’s more active and conveys more information more quickly. It is more of an ESB than ROTJ way of opening. I’ve considered whether new CGI shot(s) of the invasion could make for a stronger opening, not that I have the skills to do so, but also seems like a lot of work for relatively benefit.

The crawl is one way to give the viewer better context but it doesn’t remedy the impact of the first several minutes. Another approach is cutting a lot of the clutter to get to the action more quickly.