Due to various constraints, we've had to cut a couple of plot points we were hoping to change: Qui-Gon talking to Anakin through the Force, and Nute going back to the control ship and dying in the explosion. There are simply no quiet shots of Anakin in the cockpit which could be used for him listening to Qui-Gon. He's always talking or looking around very fast. A "flying back to Naboo" shot also proved nearly impossible to create, and that would also be necessary for the Force-talk. Maybe in the inevitable Special Edition we can work out a way to accomplish that, but for nw unfortunately it's a no-go. Also, the killing of Nute required a couple of SFX shots that could have been completed, but we could never resolve Padme's plot line to our satisfaction. Ideally there would be a shot of her and her group entering an empty throne room and a line "We're too late. They're gone," but it just doesn't exist. Without some kind of major reworking of the Padme/Nute throneroom scene, which is beyond our ability, this would end Padme's plotline at "Put down your weapons. They win this round." That's just not a satisfactory conclusion. So Nute will live an be captured as per the original version (which will make subtle things in II and III work much better).
Going back to the alien dialogue, InfoDroid had planned to use voice actors. I suppose we could still go this route, but personally I think we'd be much safer using a foriegn language track. Japanese would be the preferable language, as it's almost unrecognizeable. That would work for the Nemoidians anyway. The Gungans are a huge dilemma, any thoughts on them would be welcome. The idea behind using a foriegn language track and not dialogue from say, "The Passion of the Christ" (which I thought worked great in the clips ID posted), is that we could use proper nouns like "Jedi," "Sith," "Amidala," etc. This is also possible of course with voice actors, but again, I'm hesitant to use fan voices. Grievous/Maul being the only exception, and yes, that IS happening in this edit. He has only two lines in this Episode I, both coming in the hologram report scene.
As for special effects shots that are necessary:
-Possible new opening shot, something other than a pan down to the Republic cruiser (suggestions welcome).
-Grievous's Shuttle from Episode III, serving as Nute's shuttle here, approaching Theed. This will serve as a transition to Nute and Rune departing the shuttle (which has been moved to later in the movie).
-I'd LOVE to have to shot of the Royal Starship IN hyperspace. I'm not sure if this can be accomplished (suggestions welcome).
-The Royal Starship approaching Tatooine. An example of this shot can be seen in a screenshot posted by TJ. This utilizes the first shot of ANH flipped upside down, though I think it best if the moons were painted out so it's not instantly recognizeable as been cut-and-paste from ANH.
-Grievous/Maul talking to the Nemoidians via hologram. G/M would be sitting in the chair, matted over Sidious, with his original hologram painted out. TJ completed an early test of this which looked promising and was very effective.
With the removal of the two most complicated plot points requiring a lot of special effects, that's about it. Not too much, but what's there certainly isn't easy