Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) vs Episode I: The Phantom Menace

The opening sequence happened in space. However what was obviously significantly missing was a galaxy far, far away mentioned in the title screen. We did not really get an immersion to an entire different galaxy. Just a couple of capital cities. We did not get that the Empire was a consisted of a horribly militant group. We did however get the feeling that the Naboo was a small group of townspeople, thanks to the human element of the actors and actresses.

Something familiar in the film could have stated the prequel trilogy a la intercepting a droid transmission, introducing new robots a la WALL-E? Jedi Knights could be used to protect the droids from the Empire. The discussion the Jedi have with the reveal that the Empire has achieved a Star Destroyer perhaps that can severely cripple the flying inept Jedi? R2-D2 was important because he had the Death Star plans. C-3PO was important, because he translated R2-D2. From that you got a mindset of how the engineers and more importantly, how the people in the world of Star Wars thought.

What did Jar Jar do most of the movie? Trip a lot. Ruin an offensive. Interrogations.

In Episode IV, Obi-Wan became a hermit after suffering a great loss in Episode III, or before or possibly even Episode 3.5. Finding Luke Skywalker in Episode IV again, he found a purpose in life introducing Luke to the ways of the Force, like introducing the man-ape to the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Liam Neeson does what he can with his limited performance, but lacks character development, taking away his chances at an Academy Award for his role as Qui Gon Jinn. He chances are gone as he gets stabbed in the stomach by Darth Maul.

What was Darth Vader's origin? There actually was an interesting idea done with Anakin. Sure, he was a little kid, but he was a young person in Tatooine. What I would have done similarly would have been keeping Anakin in the Luke Skywalker role, (probably keeping him at the same age as Luke in A New Hope or Episode IV or Star Wars, or whatever you would like to call it). I probably would not have had Darth actually put himself on Tatooine, (too literal of a parallel I say,) but rather another planet, then voyaging to a city or even a different planet.

What George Lucas does well with Obi-Wan is put him in Luke Skywalker's shoes, keeping him in the norm accepting what the Jedi counsel say about not letting Anakin be a Jedi, till Obi Wan dies, and then changes his mind. (Side note: I sort of wish Mark Hamill did a better job showing his emotions on screen. Maybe MacGregor did a better job)

What if Anakin did not destroy something at the end of Episode I? Maybe that is why he wanted to join the Dark Side, because it (or he percieved it as) more powerful, having to do what he had to do to survive.

What was interesting about the Emperor? Where are the clues that imply he is the Emperor outside of the Expanded Universe? Make the prequels a bit more about him. He enjoys regality and culture as noted in Episode III. A little more of that in this episode would have been good.