even if they kept maul in TPM Dooku should of been on the council and had a few lines. Then when he shows up in ep2 it would of had a lot more effect, and there is certainly no need for grievous at this late stage.

The main problem with Dooku is that he had such a complicated set up that was handled all offscreen and then there is no real pay off to it.

What could of worked well while maintaining the basic structure of the prequels is to have Obi-wan be the one who wants to train Anakin and Qui-gon the pessimist. Then when Obi-wan is hanging on the thing in the reactor shaft Quigon emerges and takes out Maul. Qui-gon is badly wounded but will recover (got love sci-fi medcare) but as a result he has seen the power of the darkside and is dienfranchised with the republic.

then in Ep2 it would be really powerful to have Qui-gon be the one leading the seperatist.

Just a random idea