Bingowings said:

SilverWook said:

Tyrphanax said:

Here's a fun theory:

Since the whole Endor bit was a set-up, what better trap than to present the attackers with something they'd defeated before?

Not to mention deliberately make it look unfinished and vulnerable. That was a touch of evil genius.

Making it actually unfinished and vulnerable (unable to jump into hyperspace when things get too bad, unable to generate it's own shield and playing host to the real Emperor and his 'second in command" and not fakers) was a bit dumb.

Palpatine is overconfident in his old age. And who among his underlings is going to dare say his plan has holes in it? He probably Force chokes people when his soup is too hot.

Where in the film is it implied the DS can't flee? Palpy said it was fully operational.

I do like the idea of Palpatine and Vader having doubles to thwart assassination attempts. That might have been a real issue in the early days of the Empire. Maybe one of the spinoff films will show that.