Get yourself a copy of the Glitterato plugin and make a new background. Also, use something like Axion for some engine glows and suns (this does cost money, though I'm willing to bet that there are some similar free ones around). Thunder has a nice tutorial for this on SOT. Beam weapons can be done with white lines and the drop shadow thing, though this does take practice, and I have no idea how to do primary weapons fire - I really do want to know how, so if you know (and I know you do) please tell me! I've got one of my own PSP made images floating around - check that out and you'll see what all these plug ins and things can do to your image.
