((In Stage 2 of my purging of The Holiday Special from my system, this though sprang up while watching Episode II.))
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No not Count Dooku, he was completely necessary as a leader to the separatists controlled by Darth Sidious.

Why did he have to be a Sith though?
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Mace Windu: You realize County Dooku was once a Jedi...
Ki-Adi Mundi: He's a political idealist, not a murderer.
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So where in there did he have to be a Sith? Couldn't he have been a more unique character as simply a fallen Jedi? A true idealist.

The easiest way to imagine how this would be for many people is imagining Dooku with a orange or yellow lightsaber. A middle-ground between red and the lighter colors, similar to Windu but a bit closer to red. As a side note this turns Dooku's saber into something unique two times over, a unique color and the unique curved handle (one could even argue that the curved blade is what gives off the unique orange color from a red crystal)

Suddenly Dooku's asking for Obi-Wan's help turns less from Sith treachery to true idealism, trying to defeat the Sith and reform the galaxy.

Rather than worrying about his own power in that moment, Dooku worries about why he fell from the Jedi in the first place, he feels the Republic and the Jedi Order are falling apart and losing their way. Thus he starts the war to try to right these wrongs, allying with Sidious who has revealed to him that he is a Sith Lord and leader of the Republic! This reinforces Dooku's conviction that the Republic is a stagnant beast that can't recover and the Jedi have been blinded by the Dark Side. He does not believe he can defeat Palpatine alone, but thinks he now is one step ahead of Palpatine and can use this to his advantage.

As a true idealist Dooku referencing sadly to Qui-Gon joining him takes on more significance because it's not unlikely Qui-Gon would have joined him trying to reform the Jedi Order that Qui-Gon so openly defied. Though it's unlikely Qui-Gon would join the Sith Lord Tyranus.

Dooku using distinctly Sith Lightning could be confusing, so either this would be changed into a very powerful Force Push disabling Anakin in the same fashion (Obi-Wan and Yoda would resist it by "Pushing back" as Obi-Wan and Anakin do in Episode III), or leaving it the same and assuming Dooku has accepted "A wider view of the force". Either way the only line you really need to change in Episode II is Yoda's "Fought well you have my old padawan, the Dark Side I sense in you" deleting the reference to the Dark Side and possibly adding in some reference to Dooku being a fallen Jedi.

In Episode III you would unfortunately need to change the "Sith Lords are our specialty." line, either changing the exchange to somehow base around "He's the leader of the droid army" or simply "He's too powerful".

Dooku would feel the same shock from Palpatine tell Anakin to kill him because Dooku has always felt he was one step ahead of Sidious, he thought he was using the leader of the Republic to create his perfect galaxy. He thought he would eventually be the one to destroy the Sith, restore the Republic and revitalize the Jedi Order, but all that has come crashing down around him.

At this point we would feel sympathy for Dooku moreso than his current incarnation in the films, so Anakin's killing him becomes much more wrong than killing Darth Tyranus. Dooku was only doing what he felt was best for the galaxy.

So with the removal or editing of 2 lines not only do we have a more unique and sympathetic Dooku, but we also have a more unique character than our 4th Sith Lord. The eloquent, orange saber wielding, true idealist.
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