Deathcrow- Please take no offense to any of the following. I am just trying to explain my thought process in regards to your post:
The Jedi shouldnt be portrayed as some new-age hippies! Yes, of course, they are spiritual and all of that, but they do kill, if its necessary, etc... They are "Jedi Knights", we should remember this and maybe even find some more analogies to medieval knights. That way Obi-Wan could easily become the Knight of the Organas and thus he becomes a General.
BUT the force has always been a "new-age" kind of thing where strength comes from being calm, at peace, and stretching out with your feelings . I've tried to explain me views on the Jedi before, I guess I'll try one more time. When I was growing up, there was all the talk about nine chapters to Star Wars and the first three being about the Clone Wars. Even back then, I thought, "Man, those will be dull! Good Jedi are boring because they can't do anything cool." If you listen to both Obiwan and Yoda in the OT you see that the force should only be used for knowledge and defense and that aggression leads to the dark side and that the force comes from ALL living things. These statements make Jedi action heroes kind of inappropriate. As I've said before, Luke was a cool Jedi to watch because he was so close to falling to the darkside (doing things that went AGAINST his teachings). IF your power comes from ALL LIVING THINGS then wouldn't killing deplete or harm your own power source?
I think we are also looking at knights from different directions too. I'm going for an Authurian concept. The old republic was like Camelot where Right Makes Might, where it's a golden age and defending the republic would not be about war. Now I'm using the Clone Wars to lead us to the Empire, where Might Makes Right! Simply put, Jedi philosophy doesn't work well against this and leads to their downfall, just like the fall of Camelot. The Jedi are unable to adapt to the world around them so they fail. LUKE is the one who FINALLY adapts with the balance of the dark and light sides of the force, and he is victorious.
I dont think Obi-Wan should ever leave the Jedi Knight. I don't even think we should approach the Jedi Order as some sort of organization that you can leave or get into. Its more about the formal training and calling of the force.
There is a reason for this. It has to do with character development. It's when people doubt their faith. Both Anakin and Obiwan leave the Jedi because they need to adapt to this new world. In the end, Anakin falls to the darkside and when Obiwan fails, he retreats back to his original role as so many others do when they fail.
I really love most of the ideas posted by Blackhawk and Chainsaw, so many of my thoughts build up upon them:
Blackhawk was talking about an invasion of Alderaan. Now, what do we do with that? I think the planet could be taken "hostage". The republic should be built upon trade, so the invaders would blockade the planet, threaten to destroy industry or as a last measure kill off population or the royal family.
The republic senate could deicde to give military aide to Alderaan, because they won't let themselves be blackmailed. Since this could lead to the death of millions Obi-Wan tries to prevent a massacre through diplomacy and travels to Alderaan. Thats when the prince of Alderaan, Bail Organa, flees from his responsibilities and Obi Wan now has to track him down, because the royal house has to stand together as one to make a treaty.
My biggest problem with this approach is that it sounds a bit too similar to the beginning of TPM. Especially the first part with the occupation.
Way back after I first posted my Ep1 synopsis, I joked that if you break it down to just concepts it did run similar to the original Ep1. BUT the story is very different. Actually, I was trying to structure it (in terms of story flow) like ANH. You made it more like Ep1 when you brought up trade disputes, blockades, Obiwan the diplomat, and Bail fleeing. In my synopsis, the invasion was about wounded pride and revenge. They offer the republic clones as a limitless workforce, but when they are denied, they turn that workforce into a limitless ARMY. If the Mandalorians would not be accepted into the republic, they would see it fall. These stories can't get bogged down in politics. Motivations can be very simple. We build on and flesh them out as the story goes.
Someone made an important observation in this thread, that we should try to do things as different as possible, in comparison to how GL did them in the PT. So the conflict around Alderaan should be very different. No Droids. No big invasion.
It is different. The invasion of Alderaan is NOT the whole first act like in TPM. Instead, it is the thrill that kicks off the events and sets our characters in motion, like the beginning of ANH. There are no battle droids, because we have Mandalorian clones. And it is NOT just the invasion of Alderaan, but several worlds. We just focus on Alderaan because that is what our characters are fighting for.
Maybe go more with the clone concept and have infiltration? Replacing people in key positions, slowly hiding a military force on the planet, etc. But: We dont need to see this, this sould happen before NPT, and could be told to the viewer through dialogue (for example Obi-Wan explaining the situation to Anakin, who has no idea what he has gotten himself into...). Important for us is not the conflict itself, but the characters, obi-wan, bail, anakin and how the eventual resolution of this first Clone War begins to corrupt the Republic and shows signs of its possible demise.
If you read my Ep2 synopsis, the infiltration idea kicks into high gear there. When the idea of invasion proved unsuccessful, a more subtle plan is needed...FEAR. My goal is to have the audience ROOT for the SITH, support Palpatine in doing what is necessary, AND THEN feel guilty when they realize what is happening. Ep3 SHOULD almost feel like a good ending (to the clone wars) until you realize that the Might Makes Right mentality brings an end to peace and justice AND the republic. I hope you will understand when I post my synopsis of Ep3.
We all agree that Episode I should stand on its own, right? So what we really need is an adventure that MUST be fleshed out. Whats the story we want to tell? In ANH its "Rise of a hero and victory in an important battle against the Evil Empire". We already have the "Rise of a hero" part and i can imagine most of it just fine, but we need real conflict, loss, drama, not just some obscure or far away Clone War (in ANH lukes next of kin are killed, so the empire is a real threat). ANH has all those little scenes that establish scenario and characters (like the cantina, garbage smasher, etc)... there's so much happening, its exciting to watch.
Yes, I agree that Ep1 should stand alone, and I feel that my synopsis was fairly fleshed out (not down to scene and dialogue, but it was only a SYNOPSIS). Even more so now, with the addition of the "crazy jedi clone" arc. I don't want this war to be far away or obscure. Its right there in our face. Bail's father is asassinated 3 minutes in. We see the rise of two heroes that find they can learn from each other and that this friendship makes them them stronger than they were. (This is why I am trying so hard to keep them separated in Ep2).
I hope this helps you understand where I am coming from here. This whole project, to me, is just a challenge to see if it CAN be done in a way that is faithful to the OT, keeps its secrets, and lets us look at IV-VI in a new light.