Here's an expansion pack on my Gungans as Clones idea.
TPM has many narrative problems.
There are plenty of references to a treaty the Queen must or must not sign but no real specifics.
The Naboo conflict has to fit in a larger galactic canvas and yet none of the major political players are too concerned.
The Chancellor wants to help but his hands are tied, the Senate are prepared to play to the Federation's tune for a while and the Jedi seem more interested in the chosen one and the return of the Sith.
Meanwhile (because of the limits of CGI technology back at the turn of the century) the Gungans look almost the same, no females in the films and seem to have an uneasy relationship with the Naboo.
Scientifically speaking (even space fantasy science) cloning alone is not complicated enough for a galactic republic capable of FTL. There has to be more to it or everyone would have a clone army in much the same way that secretly the Federation have a droid one.
Making the Gungans a clone race could be the Rosetta stone this narrative sorely needs.
Imagine a race of humanoid amphibians that have a natural lifespan of about 20 years.
They could have the capacity for a degree of civilisation but not progress much. There wouldn't be the time to pass on enough knowledge.
If they were discovered by an advanced race that gifted them with the knowledge to not only reproduce via cloning but also the maturation and programmed learning techniques it would cut years of growing and learning out of a Gungan's life. Allowing them to have a full 20 years as an educated adult. They could build cities under the sea and they would venerate their alien benefactors as Gods. Conventional reproduction may be considered taboo and they may banish any hatchling to the surface where they would be denied programmed learning.
The Naboo have for centuries guarded the planet's secret with a small military force so as to not draw too much attention to their role. The Chancellor knows but can't make too much of a noise should the galaxy go into a clone arms race. Some of the Jedi see Naboo as a potential flashpoint and may have access to some of the history of the world and it's alien visitors. But with so much of what the Jedi do and did shrouded in myth not everyone on the council believes the stories. Master Dooku does and when his former pupil is killed he leaves to seek his own answers.
The Gungans are resentful of the Naboo because they feel the Naboo are outsiders keeping them from making colonies on other watery worlds. Even though doing so would make their secret obvious.
The Sith know something of the history of the place too, they place one of their number on Naboo and he elevates himself to the role of Senator for that sector of space. A full on armed attack would proliferate the technology too widely. The chaos would bring down the Republic but building the Empire would be more difficult.
The treaty would transfer guardianship of the planet and allow the holder rights to study Gungan society and learn how they pass on knowledge so quickly. Something Palpatine/Sidious wants for one side of his manufactured Galactic conflict.
He knows if the Feds win he gets the treaty, if the Feds lose the grateful Gungans will give him the technology. This is how the Sith work by engineering situations where they can not lose (until they do).
So TPM would become a war on a planetary scale but of Galactic significance enough to be remembered as the first Clone War.
With the Gungans assistance the Republic make the Clone Armies that will go to war again.
Ergo Obi-Wan and Anakin both fought in The Clone Wars and TPM gets a richer backstory.
Thankfully we have points where this sort of slant on what is seen onscreen can be tweaked.
The crawl can be re-written, the Gungans and the Feds mouths don't sync too much to be a problem with when replacing dialogue. The droids have no mouths. Senators and Jedi could be added to scenes and drop small nuggets of exposition around the PT.
It might work.
As always this is a free idea that anyone can play with adapt or ignore as they like.
