Tebop, I'd urge you to do a little more research into Flash like Mamba-Negra suggested.
You don't need the full version of Flash to make something like this - a third party app that outputs Flash would be just as good, probably better. (Check out the $60 Incrediflash to start with.)
Some good things about Flash:
- You can get many of your iMovie type effects (pans, zooms, wipes, etc.) but they are faster to create and don't gobble disk space. Instead of, say 300 frames of rendered video for a 10-second pan, you are only storing one large still (the scene across which the pan is happening) and the instruction to move the "camera" across the scene. It winds up being A LOT less storage space, and therefore more content that you can fit on your disk. And of course it renders hundreds of times faster.
- If there's something that absolutely requires the odd iMovie effect (rain for example) you can render just that segment as a video and embed the video in your flash movie.
- Music and sound effects can be handled very efficiently and seamlessly in Flash, and you can also save on disk space through creative use of sound loops.
Flash will play back on nearly any system, although not a DVD player, of course. 
