I do agree that the edited version is much improved over the original. Pretty much right after I saw Episode I, I knew I could never watch it again without editing out Jar Jar. So, I set out and did just that long before I ever heard anyone else on the internet had done the same thing. Anyways, my version was cut by about 15 minutes as well. (Can you believe there is that much of Jar Jar??? He's practically in every freakin' scene!)

Another thing that always bugged me was the movie has this great looking villain named Darth Maul, then they give him nothing interesting to say. (Unless you count "Yes, my master." as interesting.) So I decided to remove all his lines. I decided that by making him a completely silent character, it added to his mystique. I also removed that scene where he is walking alongside the leaders of the Trade Federation and they are two feet taller than him. I felt that made him look a little silly.

Quote
Originally posted by: hypersonic5The rest of the cuts(and there are quite a bit of
them) come during the battle sequences. I changed
it around a bit to make anikan less annoying and
lucky. In my version there is no autopilot. He is
flying the ship by himself and doing all this stuff
to help out.

I was watching this the other night, and it did occur to me that scene with Anakin piloting the ship was annoying and just plain stupid. It was then I realized I was going to have to go back and reedit this. I was thinking about cutting the entire scene all together. When you think about it, it really serves no purpose. Sure the Trade Federation's droid army shuts down as a result, but who cares? You can show the Gungans surrounded by the droids, then Amidala reclaims her throne and says, "Now Viceroy, we'll discuss a new treaty." That's really all that matters. The Trade Federation's leaders are captured, so that's the end of it.

But to be honest, I like your idea of there being no autopilot. Although for me, the most obvious contrived plot device was this: Qui-Gon has Anakin come along with him INTO BATTLE so he can be safe! (Huh? Why not just stay in the forest with the rest of the female gungans or something??) Then - he tells him to hide, and where do you suppose he hides? INSIDE THE COCKPIT OF A STAR FIGHTER! And then R2 is somehow snatched up and placed inside the EXACT SAME star fighter! At this point, the coincidences and plot holes are too much for me to bear. I also have a hard time believing he is such a good pilot at such a young age (no matter what Obi-Wan told Luke in episode IV) and the whole thing suddenly comes across as something I would expect to see in "Spy Kids" or something.

So hypersonic5 - any suggestions on how I could eliminate all these contrived plot devices that annoy me to no end just so we can have a rather dull space battle to mirror the end of Episode IV (which doesn't even come close to equalling one in any prior Star Wars film)? Maybe with a little thought, I could keep it after all.