Yes, and let me tell you why I think this is a good idea...
As posted at FE.org:
I also really like JasonN's idea of Dooku not being associated with the Sith whatsoever. Granted, Christopher Lee makes a great Sith Lord...and it has been argued that making this change would diminish the extent to which Palpatine has manipulated things, BUT...I think MORE importantly, having Dooku as an enemy, seeing what "a Jedi" is capable of, it causes Anakin (and the audience) to get more comfortable with seeing a Jedi as the bad guy. And it plays right into Palpatine's hand. Especially in ROTS. After the duel, Anakin hasn't beheaded a Sith...he's killed a Jedi. This Jedi was the enemy. And later, when Mace stands in the way of Anakin's needs to save his wife, it's much easier for Anakin to make the mental transition that Mace - a Jedi - is now his enemy too. If Dooku could plot to overthrow the Republic, then certainly Mace or Yoda are capable of that as well.
Anakin doesn't live in the same black-and-white, good-and-evil world Luke was born into. Anakin exists in much more of a gray area, where people aren't necessarily what they portray themselves to be. Making Dooku a "good" Jedi who feels he's doing the right thing but still happens to be an antagonist to our heroes, is much more interesting than this Sith nonsense. Lucas' idea of "twists and turns" are much more akin to the scripts of professional wrestling, where a good guy will turn sides and go bad just for the shock of it all. A month later, he recants and gains the love of the crowd again. But it doesn't work in a movie like this. Not when you're trying to portray realistic characters in an unrealistic world, at its core I think that's what Star Wars (at its best) has always been about.
The viewer's mindset should always be the same as the main character's. Like Anakin himself, we shouldn't know who to trust...the galaxy should be off-balance in a way...and the only character who we should trust implicitly and feel 100% comfortable with is Palpatine...at least we know HE'S a good guy. (and here's where your improvements in securing "Sidious' secret identity" will come in handy) Good thing he's in charge. Too bad the Jedi are trying to buck him at every turn. Why don't they like him? We do. The only thing made to feel appealing should be his singular vision of "peace". Until we find out in Episode III that Palpatine has been the villain all along, but by the time we realize it, it's too late to stop it. We have to witness and participate in the fall.
If this is the way you've approached it then I think your sensibilities on this are well-founded, JasonN. It will definitely be an improvement to the credibility of the storyline.
Addtionally, on the subject of the purple lightsaber:
Color has always been important in the Star Wars Saga. I always thought that it would make more sense to give Dooku the purple blade to signal that he's a turn-coat. I mean, if blue = good and red = bad and you're not sure if Dooku is good or bad, then purple makes perfect sense for his character. Additionally, purple has always been associated with royalty, and Dooku IS royalty.
I remember there being a lot of speculation after AOTC came out on whether or not Mace would turn bad, suggesting the purple saber was a hint to the audience that he would enact some kind of betrayal in episode III... But like so many other things in the Prequels, Mace's saber color was actually void of any meaning at all.
Anyway, unlike some of the other attempts to re-color Dooku's saber, MagnoliaFan's in particular, your version has no hint of red bleeding through. It looks really good. You should be proud. Up to this point you've made a lot of really good changes. And I'm actually glad there's so many different edits of these movies, because I think the community keeps building and improving on what has come before. It seems to be a collective experience.
I'm waiting for the DVD's. :)
--ID