Shot 1 Animation of Alien Abduction [playblast]

I'm currently nearing the end of Project 2, Alien Abduction, from the fantastic DVD training materials provided by Buzz3D. This is certainly the most complex piece of animation, texturing, rigging, lighting, etc. I have delved into. In this shot, the alien comes into camera and spots our home planet and plots some sort of scheme [you'll see when I post more films].

In this shot I'm primarily concerned with:
* how to get the ship to fly in without seeming to stop too suddenly defying some sort of physics out in space
* figure out with the simple rig how to convincingly get out alien to move around, look back at the earth with a moment of shock and then turn back to the camera and indicate his plotting scheme [rubbing his tentacles together]
* I also added a little wave as he blasts towards earth

There are plenty of things I could work on I am sure, but sometimes you gotta take your limited knowledge and move on to the next thing for more insight.