Ha, I’m always just as surprised when anyone reads things in this part of the forum 😉
This was just a thing knocking around in my brain one night and wouldn’t leave until it was written, so it ended up as a very stream-of-consciousness thing. You may have noticed that Nev just sort of forgot about Krennick.
But yeah, I would in no way try to replicate this in an actual edit, other than your suggestions. I actually like the big space battle in RO in isolation, it just feels too big compared to the stakes of ANH. The original trilogy was very simple and organic in how it built the Rebellion through the trilogy, starting with small stunt fighters and adding a few support craft in ESB, only bringing in capital ships in ROTJ. I think a RO with just a single capital ship and perhaps some support craft would have worked better in this regard, or just having the ships we see in ANH.
I know a lot of people like the Vader hallway scene, and absent Vader in a TIE it makes sense to have that scene. A prior thought I had for that handoff was to imply that the plans were automatically downloaded onto a disc after being received. Just cut the shot of the plans being downloaded onto the disc and repurpose that shot at the end of the hallway scene as one where the Rebels needed to get the data from the receiving station to the long range transmitter, then cut to a shot of the Tantive IV already in deep space or on the other side of the planet.
But that’s a film edit idea.
Rewriting this ending as a smaller conflict is sort of a microcosm of how I would have approached the prequel trilogy in general. For example, in stories small elements build on themselves to create bigger elements in sequels, so a prequel would need to reverse-engineer the smaller elements in order for the story to appear organic. So if Luke begins ANH as a decent mechanic and a good pilot, and Rey begins TFA as a good mechanic, a great pilot, and emergently Force sensitive, then Anakin in a prequel would need to be just a pilot or just a mechanic in the beginning of the story. Since Obi-wan says that Anakin was a great pilot when he met the man, that would mean that Anakin would have to learn how to interact with machines through his adventures, which makes sense in a story that heavily features droid battles.
Similarly, since Force abilities tend to be added with each new installment, the first prequel would need to backtrack and make the discovery of the Force by Anakin a monumental event in itself. It is a time where everything is fresh and new, and everything that is gained is treasured. This works with Obi-wan’s abilities as established in ANH since they are quite low-key. He creates sounds, uses mental manipulation, distraction, and so forth. In fact, he’s more like a heightened samurai than a space wizard. So when Anakin meets this man he may think that Obi-wan merely has a high skill with a blade and the ability to charm people with his cleverness and wit. It is only after beginning his adventure that he begins to suspect that the Jedi are more than merely martial artists with a flair for the dramatic. And so he begins to delve into this ability, and perhaps it is he who comes up with the mind trick on his own, a trick which Obi-wan learns from Anakin since it is tinged with darkness.
Anyway, you see where this is going. Someday I might actually write the entire reverse-engineered trilogy down somewhere.