Thanks for the comments guys...
mrbenja0618: I tried fiddling around with the lightsaber reveal footage a bit but it definately still needs work - I tried cutting before he turns around but thought it then went by to quickly, but leaving in the head doesn't seem right either... have to try working with it more. The lightsaber reveal shot needs to be colour corrected as well, not to mention something would need to be done with the back of the old lady's head in the side of the shot.
Silverwook: What Bingowings said, basically :D It seems an interesting way to get the story going more quickly, plus there is a certain iconic-ness to it - or at least the idea of it - that seems appealing. Qui-Gon is like a gunslinger wandering into a small frontier town and breaking up a fight between the local boys, briefly flashing his piece so one of them recognises what he is... it also immediately presents a relationship between Qui-Gon and Anakin.
But I think it needs to be seen in the context of other scenes as well though, to really see how it holds up. I really like the idea of using some 'hey wait up' dialogue - would help explain why Anakin is following along so closely behind Qui-Gon at the end - although I still think that maybe the Sebulba/Jar-Jar scene might still need to be there, or some dialogue and footage cribbed from it to further help sell the intro...
Bingowings: Spot on - but this was inspired by an earlier post of yours after all, so yeah - I always love reading the more radical ideas you put forward, they can be very inspiring
DF Shadow/Angel: Thanks - there are few audio problems and the lighsaber footage still needs to be worked on, but that's what these rough mock-ups are for, right, to get the ideas out there and see how they work :)
BarBar Jinks: Yeah conveying the idea that they don't have anything to trade with is something I was thinking about with this edit - if you go straight from them entering Mos Espa to them meeting Anakin to them going to his house, it doesn't seem like they have done any 'shopping around' to find out about the scrap merchants being greedy... although I think that might also be one of those points that the new faster pace would help gloss over