The “Obi-Wan” line is a pretty cool idea. Sowing any more seeds of division between Anakin and Padme before the big turn would help a lot.
Also, as long as discussion is back on for prequel edits, I’d like to bring back this comment from last year to possibly add to the Episode I changelist:
Neerb said:
I have a suggestion for that opening fight if you ever go back to edit it again. When the doors to the conference room open and the Battle Droids look at each other in anticipation of the Jedi, I think it might be good to add a more audible mechanical whirring sound (like when droids move their limbs) when the captain droid and his subordinate nod to each other. The reason is that without the droid dialog in its current state, it seems a bit too quiet and either makes the CGI characters feel like they aren’t really there or draws attention to the fact that audio has been cut.
Additionally, I think as soon as the lightsabers light up in the smoke, there should be much quicker cut to the droids firing, because at the moment there’s about a full second (in the 6:03-6:05 timestamp range) where the droids just stand there doing nothing awkwardly (because originally they were waiting for the captain to give orders), which kills a bit of the tension and excitement of the action and again makes the cut audio too noticeable.
Anyway, these “maximalist” ideas for the edits sound like they’ll be fun. I could personally live without Yoda’s fights (and I still don’t think the Obi-Wan show necessitates the youngling stuff), but I know I’d have a much better chance of convincing a buddy of mine to watch these if that stuff was back. Sometimes it’s nice just to throw people a bone on flashing lights and action for action’s sake. Also, a shorter version of the underwater stuff in TPM being restored might actually improve that film; in the current state of the edit it is kinda weird how quickly the Jedi move from the forest to the not-forest-adjacent capital, and it’s also kinda weird why Jar Jar sticks around (though he does conveniently leave out Otoh Gunga in his recap to Padme anyway).
I do prefer Padme living regardless of whether Yoda fights, but I understand if that goes against the point of having a more conservative edit.