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Trooperman: [re: cutting Sidious from Ep. I] "Maybe we could still have Sidious in Episode I, but to a much lesser extent? Relegating him to one or two scenes? I’ll have to think about this one, but the good news is that I think I’m pretty much going to do the same thing with the scene in Ep. II either way, so that I don’t have to make a decision right away."
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I understand the reluctance people have to taking Sidious out of Episode I-- he was the one character from the OT that showed up for TPM acting in character, doing cool stuff, and maybe even coming off even better than he did before. That was a relief from the off-model droids, goofy Skywalker, Jar Jar, poop jokes, etc. etc.
But I am dead serious when I say I believe cutting every frame of Sidious is the only way to possibly make Episode I as great as it should have been.
Consider it only in this light, (before I go any furhter): Episode I should play like the first movie of the Star Wars Saga.
The only way Sidious' appearance makes sense is in the context it was released -- as Sequel #4. If TPM comes after ROTJ, then yeah, let's see Sidious. But if TPM is the first movie of an OT style 6 movie SAGA-- what sense does it make to undercut all the subtlety and expose Sidious right off the bat?
I say cut him and strengthen what's left. In the absence of Sidious, the Trade Federation has to be built into a worthy badguy. MagFan already started down that road with the addition of slave-trading. I have more ideas to take this much, much further until Gunray is a blood-thirsty ass-kicker -- not a coward.
One idea involves manipulating footage to get him off Naboo during the climax and back onto the droid control ship. This loses the Padme-capturing-Gunray thread, streamlining the end and dropping a lot of its lamest sequences. But most of all, it shapes the story climax around Anakin-- it loads meaning into the Anakin story.
Consider if Anakin's connection to Qui Gon didn't drop when he flew off into battle-- what if Qui-Gon were mentally communicating with Anakin? What if Anakin felt Qui-Gon's death? What if he cut loose the torpedoes in anger? And what if it blew up the ship and stopped the droids and got Gunray at the same time? -- Much more satisfying.
One objection may be that we lose Gunray from Episode II-- but that can be covered a number of ways. In short, the Trade Federation can go on without him.
I've been going over the footage to construct this ending, and it's quite do-able. Making this a movie about defeating the Trade Federation straightens out so many complications that bog the story down.
If you were to only cut Sidious' presence down, what scenes would you keep? The balcony scene with Maul is the only one that can't be covered another way. But it stands out like a sore thumb, slowing down the narrative and introducing a plot of "revenge" that I still don't quite understand. Cut all Sidious, I say. Let his presence be felt by the Jedi, let his mystery grow until his appearance in Episode II when we realize just how complicated things are going to get. Keep Episode I simple-- like ANH. It should do its best to stand completely on its own.
An aspect of this strategy involves shaping Anakin.
He needs to have a special ability to communicate through the Force, to living people, without speaking. If he's going to have a link with Qui-Gon, it'll be a little different than Vader reading Luke's emotions in the OT. But being the "chosen one" makes this leap do-able; and it leads to many advantages.
-- like helping with Anakin's performance.
One big fix: when Padme first meets Anakin, the boy's acting is bad enough to make even MagFan's edit of the scene hard to take. But there's a way to make the scene feel more special. Remember: this is our first look at Anakin. What if this introduction can make him seem powerful, almost dangerous, yet still child-like and all here in his first scene? Great. But how?
Make him communicate to Padme without speaking. Cherry pick the good Anakin shots and drop all the bad ones. Let this be a scene filled with mystery as the boy reveals great power.
Padme's reactions are already in line with this. The astonishment in her expression can be combined with the addition of proper music-- the Force theme or something equally haunting. Suddenly we don't know what to expect from this kid. We see that he and Padme have a special link -- something that's sorely missing in the whole PT right now. Suddenly, we're past that awkward scene in a way that builds momentum instead of cutting it by half. Yippee! There are many places to take advantage of this -- building up Anakin's power and cutting down on his awkward performance.
That represents an edit well on its way to making Episode I a straight-forward and complete story. It's the story of some Jedi who help defeat an invasion on Naboo with the invaluable help of a powerful boy they discover on Tatooine. No Sidious stuff to worry about, no mystery surrounding Darth Maul; minimize all the meetings and Senate hearings; just stay on target in the battle to defeat the crazed and dangerous Trade Federation.
Sorry this is so frickin' long. I hope it makes sense.
EDITED TO ADD:
Just a couple new thoughts--
First, when Anakin destroys the droid ship and Qui Gon dies in Obi-Wan's arms-- the movie quickly rushes into beureaucratic stuff on Naboo and never gets back to the most important beat of all; namely: What does Anakin think about having lost Qui Gon? The answer is The Qui Gon Tone Poem: played over footage of Anakin flying the Naboo fighter after destroying the droid ship leading into a montage of quieter images-- Qui Gon's words about the hardships of the path before Anakin provide the important thematic that the whole movie is lacking. I always got a bigger charge out of the marketing of the PT than I did out of the movies. Here's the perfect place to combine them (I know Trooperman also wants to use the tone poems in Episode II -- I don't think repeating them is really a bad idea if we must. I know the Qui Gon tone poem fits most perfectly here, at the end of Episode I where the emotion over QG's death is highest.)
Second-- Undercutting my own point -- I believe there might be a perfect place to put a bit of Sidious in this movie: on the droid ship with Gunray contacting Sidious briefly before being destroyed. It should come in a brief enough window to seem inconsequential at first-- just the kind of loose end that you don't realize is important until we see this Sidious guy turn up again in Episode II. But I'm still not sure this is even a good idea because ANH works much better without these kinds of loose ends and that's supposed to be Episode IV. Episode I should have at least as solid an ending as Episode IV, imho.