He wouldn't need to reveal that he's a senator to show he has pull in the Senate. Part of the reason Palpatine got elected was because he showed how Valorum was influenced by the "bureaucrats," which was not some big secret. Palpatine was shown to have been a master of deception and intrigue, so you think it's above him to work out a method to influence the Trade Federation to do his bidding?

There is no galactic conflict, that doesn't mean there is no conflict in the galaxy. I can think of plenty of reasons for the manufacture of battle capable droids, along with plenty of people who might purchase them. I agree showing them suffering lends more weight to the problem, but I feel the need to point out that your video example is flawed. The Mandalorian Blockade blocked ALL of the core worlds of ALL raw materials, including food. One would think a planet would be inclined to riot if they are getting no food, but they may not be rioting if the blockade only prevents the import of the Star Wars equivalent of an iPad 2 and Droid Razors. Naboo is a fertile planet so food may not be a problem, but industry would suffer if they can't trade off world, leading the "riots" to be nothing but grumpy people sitting at home that they have nothing to do. They are doing it to protest taxes on trade routes, as said in the beginning of the film. Sidious could have convinced them that doing this to Naboo would help their position. We generally only see the palace around Theed, where the general population may not be allowed. When we are in the main parts of the city it's either for a battle, or the parade at the end (and the parade is packed with people). So you're ok with making the assumption that the Trade Federation knows nothing about Palpatine/Sidious but not ok with assuming that Palpatine/Sidious could have shown them evidence that he has pull in the Senate? The invasion is because the Blockade is not legal, so by having the Treaty signed it would legalize the whole issue, saving them from any issues with the Republic. Making your own logic jumps within a story isn't evidence of bad story telling. Bad story telling is when the writer must spell every tiny detail out for you concerning everything. While PM didn't have great story telling (or even good story telling) most of the issues within the story can be worked out if you think about them. Now if PM came out first, as opposed to a New Hope, I would have a vastly different thoughts about it. As a stand alone movie (not part of a series where we know what happened) it's bad but it's not a stand alone movie.

All of this falls under "means to tell a story," just like you chalk up the formation/existence of the Empire to in Episode 4. Who cares "why" the Trade Federation has an army, I'm sure that as a trade federation, they have a company (or companies) that produce battle droids. The resources Naboo needs could be any number of things as we don't know what gets produced on Naboo, they could be like the US in that they grow a lot of food but need manufactured goods brought in or vise versa. And what effects should we have seen? Should people have been starving in the streets or running around naked? At the end of the day it doesn't matter because the blockade is only there to create a point of conflict. From the original trilogy there are under 10 planets in the entire Galaxy, and one of them got blown up. We never see Coruscant, hell we never see a very populated city. The only 2 cities we see are Mos Eisley and Cloud City, and Cloud City looks to have more security personal then actual people. If you didn't need to explain the formation or existence of the Empire there is no reason to explain the formation or existence of the Trade Federation. Because an open arms rebellion doesn't have anything to do with "space politics?" Oh yeah, it doesn't because we don't know where the Empire or the Rebellion came from. We are made to assume the Rebellion is the "good guys" while the Empire is the "bad guys," yet we have 0 information as to why the rebels rebelled. It's almost like they are hating because they are haters So in episode 4-6 you were able to make conclusions concerning the goals and actions of both the Rebellion and the Empire but you couldn't do the same with the Trade Federation and Naboo? You couldn't pull information from the movies themselves and your own intelligence to fill in gaps that may need filling? This doesn't sound like Lucas' failing as much as your own.

If we must hold games to a 2011 Standard then TOR is not only finished it should be Game of the Year. Skyrim is so full of bugs over just about everything in the game it's insane, but people looked past it to name it Game of the Year. So lets hold TOR to the standards of today's best game. That being bug ridden isn't a problem, and all issues will (maybe) be fixed down the road at the developers discretion.