There can be only two...

[Desdichado]

You have to remember something - the Sith are not driven by cool logic. They are driven by emotion. Anger and hatred seem to be their favorites, so their need for revenge upon the Jedi is strong. Emotionally driven people will occasionally do things against their own best interests.

Palpatine never demonstrates that. I have a real problem with EU things that are taken as gospel, but which have no basis in the films.

 

[Desdichado]

And back off from my Ewoks. I loved those little guys beating the out of the Imperials.

Used to be my favorite part of the movie too! It doesn't seem to have aged well, though...

 

[Umbran]

Palpatine never demonstrates that. I have a real problem with EU things that are taken as gospel, but which have no basis in the films.

No basis in the films? What about Yoda and Obi-Wan going on about how fear and hate are the way to the Dark Side? Remember a little test of Luke, in a little hole in the ground on Dagobah?

Palpatine never demonstrates it? Yeah, he's being friendly as he frys Luke with lightning, goading Luke to embrace his hate. And Anakin/Darth Vader are just filled with calm and contentment in all the movies...

 

[Desdichado]

Palpatine is calm and meticulous. He's incredibly logical and patient. He's not a hot-headed fellow.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Palpatine never demonstrates it? Yeah, he's being friendly as he frys Luke with lightning, goading Luke to embrace his hate. And Anakin/Darth Vader are just filled with calm and contentment in all the movies...

He's a bit of a (insert epithet of choice here) in Return of the Jedi, but then, he has what he wants, which is power, and can afford to indulge himself a bit. In the other movies, he's very cold and calculating. He treats his apprentices (all of them) as tools whereby he can acheive greater power. He found himself a nice little obsessive in Darth Maul. "At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we shall have revenge." But how does Palpy respond to that? If he was all hopped up on emotion and revenge, he could have said something like, "Yes, my apprentice, soon they all shall pay" or something equally "villainous." Instead, he very calmly observes, "You have been well-trained, my apprentice. They will be no match for you." Very cool. Very calm. The Jedi are nothing more than another obstacle to his power, and Maul is nothing more than a tool used to eliminate that obstacle.