I forgot to mention that Bob, a coworker and fellow member of NOVA, lent me a copy of Episode 1.1: The Phantom Edit. This is a re-edit of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace by an anonymous editor, attempting to improve the original film by tightening the storyline and removing extraneous scenes. As the source material for this edit was the released VHS video tape, of course the mysterious editor could not add scenes, so the film has been shortened by twenty minutes:
Twenty minutes have been cut from the original 133, and as a result the film is tighter and faster. Jar-Jar, who has been demoted to an almost silent supporting role, is actually enjoyable.
As I've paid in the theatres twice to see the movie, I didn't feel too guilty about watching this alternative cut. I already deleted it from my hard drive, since it's hardly pivotal work. I agree that the movie is tighter, and that Jar-Jar is almost tolerable now. Kelly watched the second half with me, and seemed to like it. When we went ot see Ice Age there was a trailer for Episode II, and Kelly said "we've seen that already." 
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