EDITED to be more constructive.
After watching Harmy's new version of Star Wars, followed by the first versions of ESB and ROTJ, my wife insisted we watch the prequels too. I protested, but gave in. I glanced to see which fan edits of the prequel trilogy were rated highly. I had seen L8wrtr's edit of TPM in the past, so I decided to give yours a try.
I've only seen TPM so far, though I briefly scanned II and III and will watch them in full next. While I don't think it's perfect, I can honestly say I had never had such a painless viewing of TPM before. The film blew past quickly, with everything critical to episodes II and III remaining. I do support the idea of removing R2-D2 and C-3PO from the prequels as much as possible, if not totally. 3PO has no business on Tatooine prior to ANH, IMHO. I understand recoloring R2 is impractical, though I believe it would have to be done to really sell the concept that this is a different droid. Threepio could be redubbed, when he appears in II and III. He could still be personably similar to the 3PO we know from the OT (given his onscreen mannerisms and body language), yet different enough to distinguish him. He could even identify himself with a new name, and identify R2 with a new name too.
I second the opinion that removing Anakin's involvement in the final battle seems strange. Anakin is painted as being the [Plinkett Voice] protagonist [/Plinkett Voice] and it seems strange to have him be next to the Jedi in the midst of danger one moment, and be absent the next. (Did he die?) I'd suggest either including Anakin in the film's climax, or downplay him as a main character until Episode II. If I could make another suggestion, showing some close-ups of R2 during the final battle would help prevent it from looking like a "mystery pilot" that never gets revealed later.
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.
You did well to make Obi-Wan seem more jealous of Anakin, and to take him as an apprentice himself. It makes him more responsible for his fall later, which is something Obi-Wan seems remorseful about in ROTJ. It also gives us less reason to view Obi-Wan as annoyed at Anakin in AOTC, since he's not a horrible kid that he was obliged to train.
That being said, I really did enjoy the film. The pacing and focus makes this film much more... enjoyable. There are very few things about it that I would change. If I can, I should like to finally find a decent program and gain the skill needed to edit from this HD source and merely make a few small changes to your edit so that I could have a version I could really be happy about.
Tremendous job! It's really a tough call between your edit and L8wrtr's. Yours is bolder, though I think his sits more securely by being more conservative.
I wonder if you could be even more bolder by combining the Fall of the Jedi trilogy into a 2-hour Fall of the Jedi standalone film. I'd also think you'd do a masterful job at a more rigorous ROTJ edit.
I shall report back once I've seen episodes II and III, but know that I enjoyed this one very much.
It's frustrating to want to mix and match preferred prequel fan edits, since most have minor changes that conflict with one another.
