At the moment I'm rendering the ship passing by. I rendered the background separately as one single large image, and everything will be comped together when the ship's animation is done.
Like that I have a better quality for the stars especially, and I can use the large backdrop even for the initial vertical pan from above down to the planet before the ship appears like in the original ILM sequence. Tested it, and I'm happy with it.
But maybe it's
too good. Using a single image as backdrop may look artificial if there is absolutely no movement or other "artifacts". Maybe I'll have to add some very subtle things to make it look like a regular shot. Anyway, it's always fun to make something that has already worked out look a bit crappier.