The traditional "Phantom Edit" (which looks to have the quality of a VHS tape recovered from the 1920s) simply cuts and swipes to cut out annoying or pointless contect.
But Blance of the Force not only removes, it changes and even adds as well. I like how he modified Neimendions (however you spell) dialogue to suggest further brutallity towards the Naboo people. And THANK YOU for making the Gunguns bearable. I can hardly beleive it... JAR JAR DOESN'T SUCK IN THIS VERSION!! Hehe.
I'm not really sure if the podrace was *improved* or not, but it was different. I think the added shots form the deleted scene was a good idea. By the way, does anyone know where the new podrace musical score came from?
I like how he didn't cut the *entire* 'planet core' sequence, as most do. But simply cutting the last part, once it starts to get pointless. And nice inclusion of the waterfall scene from Disc 2.
The only thing I find "non-SW-ish" about it is the excessive cursing.
No Star Wars film cursed that much. And I would've kept it to "hell" and "damn". "bastard" and "shit" don't really seem Star Wars-ish to be yelling in one. But overall, 'Balance of the Force' is much better than 'The Phantom Menace'.
(And I'm glad this Phantom Edit had a decent opening crawl. I didn't like the original edit b/c it spent the valuable introduction time in BSing about how they made their edit)