Orinoco_Womble said:
I would also like to have seen the young Anikin use the force and cheat to win the pod race. This would have given us an inkling into a flaw in his character right from the start. That flaw could grow as he got older and ultimately be exploited by Palpatine. I just didn't buy the utterly nicey nicey Anikin character being manipulated so easily and suddenly turning into the complete b*stard that he became in the later movies.

Oh, yes. I forgot about that. I don't know if I would have needed to see Anakin cheat to win the race, but it would have been nice to see at least something of Anakin using the force in Episode 1. He wins the podrace through skill and destroys the Trade Federation ship through dumb luck. So much potential wasted.

The first we see of Anakin using the force is in Episode 2 when he is showing off while complaining about how Obi-wan would be grumpy.