thunderclap said:

Wow. What a terrific review. Thank you for your thoughts Hal.

I want to only address one comment you made as I think your review speaks for itself.

Hal 9000 said:
My only other complaint, and unfortunately both HD sets of prequel trilogy fan edits retain these, surrounds the bound up issues of Anakin's virgin birth and the chosen one prophecy. I don't really need to say much about these.

I'm in the minority, I know, but I love the conversation and insinuation between Palpatine and Anakin during the opera scene. The idea that Darth Plagous (sic?) or Palpatine himself "created" Anakin works for me, and makes him much more manipulative and a much greater threat than anyone guessed. I knew I wanted this conversation left untouched in edit, so that is why I left the "virgin birth" alone in Ep 1.

I haven't watched your edit yet but I'm glad you feel that way about that issue. Palpatine's my favourite character and the implication that he and Plagueis created Anakin is just awesome to me.

BTW if anyone else is a big Palpatine fan, the book Darth Plagueis is a good read.