Kallie Buhle

Professor Stacy
Eng. 112 T/TH
15 November 2018
Title
There is an unfailing preconceived notion towards the psychological intents and overall

motivation of aliens. Society automatically assumes they are evil creatures and sworn enemies

towards humanity. But what is the motivation and psychological intent of an android (also

known as a robot or artificial intelligence)? People are so quick to form the conclusion that they

would only be helpful and gentle. Almost instantaneously it is assumed that one is referring to

R2D2 or C3PO from “Star Wars.” While, it would be nice to think they all would be kind and

benign to our communities, that thought is foolish and simpleminded. The android Ash from the

movie “Alien,” shows that a robot can be cancerous based on its personality/traits, motives, and

its relationship with others.

The motion picture “Alien” was directed by Ridley Scott and released on May 25, 1979.

In the movie, a crew is on a starship called the Nostromo and they are in space for a mining

mission. The crew is awakened when the ship obtains a weird signal from a close-by alien planet.

They decide to land, gaining contact with a nest of alien eggs, and bring one onto the ship after it

has attacked a crewmember. Throughout the movie, the alien spends its time trying to kill off the

crew and the crew spends their time trying to get rid of it. Ripley, the third commander, manages

to escape in a shuttle but is startled when she realizes the alien snuck into it. In the end, she

wakes up the alien who is sleeping, pushes him out of the shuttle, and survives to tell her story.

Overall, the alien kills off everyone except Ash (the scientist/android), Ripley, and Jones (a

crewmember’s cat).
 The character Ash is portrayed by the actor Ian Holm and proves to be a dynamic

character in his physical appearance throughout the movie “Alien” and the franchise that follows.

In the first film, Ash is a shorter gentleman with darker hair, green eyes and appears to be in his

early fifties. He is a scientist who is seen as being stiff/robotic, calm, and monotoned. Ash was

designed by “Hyperdyne systems” and is eventually defined by Bishop (another android) in the

movie “Aliens” as the specific model “120-A/2” (Cameron). In the middle of the movie, the

viewer finally sees Ash for what he really is, which is an android, and this allows for his

appearance to make more sense. Aside from his human characteristics, on the inside he is made

of tubes, interesting colored juices and is hard wired for someone else’s benefits.

Throughout the film, there is a clear awkwardness about Ash, his aura, and why he is the

way he is. He is seen being emotionless towards what is happening on the ship, selfish regarding

the safety of others. Even though one would think he would follow scientific protocol (regarding

finding the foreign species), he is on his own agenda and doesn’t really care about others. So

much so that he even says, “Ripley, for God's sake, this is the first time that we've encountered a

species like this. It has to go back. All sorts of tests have to be made” (Scott). He is so curious

and far more interested in what the creature is than what it could potentially do.
 Works Cited

Alien. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Ian Holm, et al. Prods. Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill. 20th
Century Fox, 1979.

Aliens. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Sigourney Weaver, et al. Prod. Gale Ann Hurd. 1986.