They even had Roger joke about how everyone is just raping his wallet this season.

Betty is trying to take advantage of the Electra complex between Sally and Don by giving her something to go after Megan with.

That's kind of how I took it. It had three harpoons sticking out of it. Maybe those were the 3 kids?

I'm not sure about where they were (if near a Brooklyn train, on the south end) or about getting around in Manhattan, but was going to Central Park an option for them? They kept making it seem like they were trying to walk around near their party space.

I kind of loved the way Don and Megan handled Betty's latest attempt at being a total bitch. First with Megan refusing to let Don yell at Betty because she knows all she wants is attention, and then Don (after a classic dressing down of Pete) setting Sally straight so elegantly that Sally's reporting it back to Betty…

Didn't Betty put in a brief appearance at the end of that ep where Sally was sleeping under the chair?

Why doesn't Betty like Bobby? He invented the Twitter fail whale.

Clay didn't want to paint it. And I think they said the Twisted Sister stuff wasn't appropriate for the theme of the event.

From a purely video standpoint, they possibly could use the first part with Magic actually facing the camera, and then fade to a Magic VO over B-roll footage from the Foundation, if they had any.

The epic failure of this episode was a lack of Celebrity Jeopardy.

I think they were trying to be somewhat authentic. Why else use those funny looking Russian helmets? It looks like it's having a weird magnification effect on Michael Massimino's head

Yes

It's not a shuttle. It's a Russian-made Soyuz rocket. Hence the Russian crewmember and Russian spacesuits.

I actually thought The Alternate was the worst episode of the show until Profit and Lace in season 6, which is only a relative comparison since as a DS9 episode it still has strengths that give it an advantage against almost anything Voyager, Enterprise or a lot of TNG would do.

I guess it's just the old trope about any sufficiently advanced technology might seem like magic to some people. Which is always the trick with sci-fi, isn't it, in dealing with what are supposed to be alien life forms or technology.

Martus: "I still have my dignity."
Quark: "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack. Rule of acquisition number 109."

"It’s a fine line, but as silly as all those tech-babble explanations
are, they help create the illusion that everything in the show exists in
a certain kind of universe. Trying to cheat that by throwing in ghosts
or cursed objects is only going upset everyone, even when the episode
tries to come up with some…

Gee, ya think?

Whedon IS a BSG fan, and that's why he put him in Dollhouse.

They may have talked about it earlier this season to explain what Chase was doing while House was in prison.