WOW. This is incredibly important stuff we're discussing here. What happens here will affect the entire saga, obviously. So before you make any monumental decisions, I'd like to post my take on the situation. As usual, I don't have time now; however, I can throw out a couple thoughts off the top of my head.
1. Whatever we do, I don't want it to be of a cut-and-paste nature; the ultimate goal is to make it seem as though it was always this way. It was released this way.
2. I agree that we need some kind of explanation for Maul=Grievous. It's just far too much of a stretch for me otherwise. I DO like the idea of Palpatine being able to bring people back from the dead as mechanical zombies; that's very intriguing. But someone made a VERY good point; the confrontation between Obi-Wan and Grievous is not at all appropriate for Obi-Wan facing the man that killed his master. He makes cocky, "funny" comments, like "hello there", "you're move", and "So uncivilized." Remember how furious he was in Episode I? I loved that, and we didn't get that rage or emotion in Episode III. Instead we got Obi-Wan riding around on a lizard and Grievous riding around in whatever that weird vehicle was. I don't know how to address this for my Ep. III.
3. I actually don't have a German copy of Episode I yet.
4. If I'm understanding correctly, there was an idea to turn Sidious in Episode I to Count Dooku? If so, that's a VERY interesting idea because all the mystery would be there and the scenes containing Sidious wouldn't have to be scrapped. We still want this movie to be feature length
Also, it would make Dooku a permanent character throughout all three prequels, which is good. Episode I would be the set-up, and he would come out into the open in Episode II. And as it was brought up, it's a revelation to the audience when Dooku shows up at Sidious' place at the end of Episode II. Dooku isn't the head honcho. Of course, this would mean that Palpatine had trained two Sith at once....Am I understanding this correctly?
5. I don't know about the dream for Anakin. It sounds good at first, but now I'm thinking it might take away from the surprise value of the one in Episode II. Is there any info the audience has to gain through a dream from the 9-year old Anakin?
6. I've had really bad luck downloading the new InfoDroid clips. RapidShare tells me I'm unauthorized, I have a bad password, or something like that. But I'd love to see them- is there another way to post?
7. As a closing note (for now), Episode I is the first film in the 6-movie saga. It should be filled with great, adventurous music, panoramic shots of the worlds, an attitude as though everything that happens is novel and has never been done before (like lightsabers, blasters, etc.) Unfortunately, the original movie has this feeling instead of Episode I (and understandably so).
More later! Thanks for reading,
-TM