Not to happy with this at the moment, but thought I'd post it anyway.
This is mainly done using a swirl texture imprinted on an object, but somehow it still looks a bit 'flat' to me. But maybe it'll come to some use, somehow.
Had an idea the other day for a scene where a weapon rips through planets like butter - here is my first test (Click to enlarge):
For now it uses 3D Studio max's standard earth texture, but I'll improve it as I go along. I also haven't worried too much about the actual beam effect for now, either.