What is lost in my edit of the intro (above) is scenes of the Jedi being diplomatic- both with their intentions with the Neimoidians and their interactions with Boss Nass.

I suppose that raises the question of how important seeing them in that role is, balanced against the value gain of (IMO) a better paced and flowing opening to the saga.

Their main goal is still protection of the Queen, arguably the most political of their onscreen actions, and they still demonstrate a key role as defenders of the Republic. We do see them interact diplomatically during other scenes in this movie (with Watto, on Coruscant, and with Boss Nass later), plus in future movies, so I don’t think too much is lost by trimming it as I have.

Compare again to ANH, where the Jedi aren’t explained until we meet Obi-Wan, and we don’t develop his force abilities until the mind trick later.

We also lose a little of their force sense by dropping the “something elsewhere, elusive” conversation, but again, that’s demonstrated elsewhere, through Qui-Gon’s dialogue when they rescue the Queen (“there’s someone else behind this”) and I’ve nudged it a little more by mentioning the Jedi Order’s foresight in my crawl.

But still. All for discussion.