(Copied and pasted from the Alien message board on IMDB)

Hints of Ash being a robot

by DudeNogum, Friday, January 6, 2017 IMDb member since March 2015

Ash does some strange things in the beginning of the film. Notably, a couple of things he does at the breakfast table:

A. His mumbling to himself as though he lacks any real social skills and is merely "mimicking" the others behavior.

B. Reaching across the table for the milk instead of asking Dallas or Lambert to please pass it down.

Also, his rapid running in place when Dallas, Lambert and Kane are off the Nostromo and on their way to the derelict ship always struck me as odd, even though it does simply appear as a quick way to warm up his body. Yet, he's a robot, why would he need to do this?

Anyone else notice any "quirks" about Ash that hints at him not being human?

RESPONSES

by Picnic10, January 7, 2017 IMDb member since September 2008

I don't have a copy of the movie and none found online for free to come up with more examples but when Ash says "We're still collating" (not long before Ripley finds out the directive to find and bring alien , crew expendable), the way he says it , instead of 'I'm still collating' or 'Mother is still collating', already suggests he's robot / computer, one and same as Mother in fundamental ways.

In addition : Yet Alien is such a classic that it still leaves us with mystery - when we can see that Ash is synthetic juices (another sexual or at least biological theme in Alien surely -it looks like human ejaculate), he says "I admire its purity".

Technically, a machine can't have true feelings, true admiration, although it can be programmed to express feelings that it can't truly have. This expression, whilst false, might sometimes coincide with real electronic impulses within Ash , either responding to a fundamental design philosophy built within Ash eg 'No matter what external input is, actions must not be done by yourself or others if they harm value X in practice, regardless of what you express' (I assume that Ash is very complexly programmed) or responding to external stimuli eg 'If external input = A, express X'.

Ash's programming consistent with the robot equivalent of admiration must logically be fundamental design philosophy because there's no advantage in expressing it. The implication is that , by malfunctioning and having his head whacked off, this has destroyed some inhibitors in his expression of his fundamental design philosophy. It mustn't be forgotten that Ash is not truly capable of admiration, just in computing and acting as if 'he' does. So "You have my sympathies" also has all the cliched insincerity of a mass-delivered condolences card. Furthermore , sympathy is different from empathy. Ash, for all 'his' well elocuted accent, will never feel the biological and existentialist pain that they do. In cinematic terms he's now like a dying gangster spilling the beans about a Godfather. However , unlike a gangster , his expression of "I admire its purity" is delivered beyond a sense of brainwashing. It's as if Ash really is an aloof human, perhaps a nihilistic philosopher. We can never forgive Ash, then, for exhibiting human-like hubris and, in his final words, a human-like sense of insincerity. And isn't that a theme that Prometheus has ran with - most humans are inescapably alien from classic Platonic virtues themselves. Money, vanity, intellectual arrogance in curiosity for curiosity's sake at the expense of pawns in the game. The Queen nearly always takes pawn, no matter how many there are. Curiosity kills mostly everyone but the cat.

by SCY385-1, January 7, 2017 IMDb member since November 2004

I think that one of the biggest giveaways is Ash's lack of emotion during some very emotional moments. During the scene when the Alien is bursting out of Kane look at Ash's face and look at the rest of the crew's faces. Something is off right there. The scene where Dallas is taken in the air shaft look at Ash's face. He's too calm. Even the scenes where he is attacking Ripley are "off". When you find out he is a droid it makes sense. But if you've never seen the movie before he comes off as being very, very odd.

by AardvarkRatnik, January 7, 2017 IMDb member since December 2006

In fairness I've met many people who've done things like Ash did, the rest of the crew probably had down as "a cold fish."

by sumbitch212, January 7, 2017 IMDb member since March 2006

Yes, the collating comments. His intelligence, like he's always on adderral (I wish I was that smart). The clues are the way he observes and protects he alien. His lack of fear too. Incredible acting in this film by everyone

by internetnicknamehere-178-30027, January 8, 2017 IMDb member since October 2011

Also, his rapid running in place when Dallas, Lambert and Kane are off the Nostromo and on their way to the derelict ship always struck me as odd, even though it does simply appear as a quick way to warm up his body. Yet, he's a robot, why would he need to do this?

This is what Ridley Scott says during this scene on the film's audio commentary:

"That funny little jog is a clue. Maybe all robots get stiff? So whilst he's not a robot, he's a kind of humanoid biomechanoid. He's a replicant basically. Half human, two thirds human."

by space_wombat, January 9, 2017 IMDb member since December 2004

There's also an odd moment when Ash "pushes" a non-existent button in mid-air. It happens during the meeting when Dallas decides to go into the air ducts. Here's an animated GIF of it: https://www.4shared.com/photo/j44jPC_0/ash.html

by Kojiro_Vance, January, 9, 2017 IMDb member since November 2015

Or the strange moment when he's waving at Dallas, Kane and Lambert 

by Picnic10, January 9, 2017 IMDb member since September 2008

Maybe 'Ash' could be reminiscent of, although not actually standing for, 'Artificial Synthetic Human' always please feel free to quietly throw my idea in the trash in your mind, given that the first 2 words mean the same thing. And Ash is turned to ash by being incinerated of course. The 'Ash'es are the prize given the winner of a game of cricket, a typically British game, as is the nationality of Ash's accent. This could suggest that Ash is designed to be a winner.

Anyone got any more straws I can grasp at? :)

Posts about his behaviour are interesting. I'll watch it again.

by CGSailor, January 12, 2017 IMDb member since March 2006

The fact of the matter is that there are NO hints.

None.

Everything mentioned, either by you, or anyone else is explainable without "Ash is an android" being the explanation.

His running in place... while seemingly odd, is not superhuman. The sequence was not artificially sped up to be superhuman, it was Ian Holm himself doing that, unscripted actually. It is not an indication of his being a robot.

Mumbling to himself? How does that indicate being an android? You'd think an android would be LESS LIKELY to verbally mumble to himself and if anything, would indicate his humanity. Since he is a robot, the mumbling was probably deliberate camouflage. Regardless, it does not hint that he is an android.

"We are still collating"?

First, the use of "we" proves nothing. It is a false assumption to presume that by we, he considers himself an android, rather than he was referring to we as himself, the science officer, and the ships AI, MUTHR. Nor is using big words like collating, indicative of his being a computer brain. He's the Science Officer, Highly educated, probably a bit nerdy. definitely more highbrow than the rest of the blue collar "Space Truckers".

Everything people are claiming are hints of his "androidness" if you will, is nothing of the sort. Simply hindsight reading into things, and reaching on the part of the viewer.

The first real hint, was when he started leaking that milky white internal lubricant, "android blood".

Nothing else.

by Picnic10, January 12, 2017 IMDb member since September 2008

It wasn't the use of 'big' words like 'collating' that was the clue, it was the use of the word 'we're'. Ripley even questions this turn of phrase by wearily, slightly sarcastically, repeating it. There's no team of people collating. It's Ash using Mother and speaking of both as if birds of a feather.

The topic was 'hints' of it. Not proof of it. The hints are supposed to be very subtle and would arguably seem like Easter eggs designed to enjoy looking for them, for those who wish, on SECOND viewing.

No-one's suggesting that any of them were designed to be 'proof' of androidness before the reveal. Up until the reveal , he just seems like a 'cold fish' as AardvarkRatnik said. And Ash seems meant to because most people are too busy concentrating on other actors, what's being said, to the cinematic first of a chestburster still in the mind, to necessarily pay much attention to an utterly inhuman (for a sane, not joking, working man) action of pressing an imaginary button midair. But, in retrospect , some other actions that some people could do are a small 'clue' , a clue for a treasure trail that the first viewing meant we weren't primed to possibly want to look for.