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Ash was a Hyperdyne Systems model 120-A/2 synthetic that was created for Weyland-Yutani in the early part of the 22nd century. Ash was later switched in to the Nostromo's roster by the company to oversee a specific retrieval mission, thereby replacing another science officer from that roster two days before the Nostromo departed from Thedus.
History[]
The Nostromo Incident[]
In 2122, the Nostromo's onboard computer, "MU-TH-UR" (pronounced "Mother") intercepted a distress beacon originating from the planetoid LV-426 within close proximity to the ship. The crew members are awakened prematurely from their hypersleep. Ash was able to convince the crew to investigate the mysterious signal emanating from LV-426 by using Weyland-Yutani's company protocol as an excuse. Ripley became suspicious of him when he broke quarantine protocol by allowing Kane, Dallas, and Lambert to re-enter the Nostromo while the facehugger was attached to Kane.
Ash and Captain Dallas attempted to pull the facehugger from Kane's face, but the creature tightened its grip around his neck. Ash later tried with a laser scalpel to remove one of the "digits" of the creature, but this caused it to bleed acid that ate through several floors in the ship. He later called Dallas down to the infirmary to inform him that the creature released itself from Kane's face and disappeared. Dallas, along with Ripley and Ash looked for the creature around the infirmary. The dead creature suddenly dropped on Ripley from the overhead lighting fixtures. When Ripley demanded the dead facehugger be removed from the ship, Ash again defended keeping it for study. While dissecting the creature, he was was interrupted by Ripley, who grilled his countermanding of her order for quarantine. Ash quickly grew annoyed by her questions.
Ash later notified Captain Dallas that Kane's condition changed and that he was now conscious. After Kane was visited by the crew, Dallas told the crew that they would enjoy a last meal before going back to hypersleep. Ash joined the crew for the last meal and was present when Kane went into convulsions and helped restrain him. As Ash and the others restrained Kane, a creature ripped out of his chest killing him. As Parker was going to kill the creature, Ash quickly stopped him. Before the crew could catch it, the creature escaped into the ship.
After the crew came up with a plan to capture the creature, Ash developed a motion tracker to find it more easily. The crew split up in to two teams with Ash joining Dallas and Lambert. Ash later heard that the creature grew to at least the size of a man and that it attacked Brett and took him into the vents.
Ash was later paired up with Ripley when Dallas volunteered to go into the ducts to flush the creature out, force it into an airlock and eject it into space. As Dallas made his way through the ducts, a signal came up on the tracker and Lambert pleaded with Dallas to retreat through the ducts as the signal was moving towards him. Unfortunately, the creature captured Dallas in the airducts and all Parker found was his incinerator.
Truth[]
Ash taunting the survivors.
After the Alien killed Dallas, Ripley, next in command after Dallas and Kane, had direct access to MOTHER. She discovered that Ash has been given special orders by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to insure the return of the Alien to the company's laboratories, even at the expense of the crew's lives. When confronted by Ripley, Ash attacked and tried to kill her. He was hit in the head by Parker, the force almost completely severing his head. It was at this point that Ash was revealed to be an android. After suggesting that the crew would not survive the Alien's attacks and giving them his sympathies, Ash was destroyed by Parker using a flamethrower.
Legacy[]
Due to his betrayal of the crew, Ripley harbored a deep distrust and hatred for androids that would stay with her decades later. She would later take the hatred she had for Ash out on another synthetic: Bishop. Ash's situation was not unique; other ships reported androids that were known to explode like Ash did on the Nostromo. By 2179 synthoids were now equipped with inhibitors to keep from "malfunctioning", harming humans or doing anything that would endanger a human's life. Ash's picture was displayed during a debriefing about the Nostromo on Gateway Station on the fate of the ship and her crew. The events on the Nostromo also left a distrust towards the Weyland-Yutani Company for putting the lives of others aside to study and harness the potential the xenomorphs had. This also shaped Ripley's decision-making skills during her future encounters with the creatures.
Trivia[]
- Dan O'Bannon's original script treatment for Alien did not include Ash. Producers Walter Hill and Ronald Shusett felt that the film needed a secondary story element, so they added the sub-plot of Ash, the android spy who ultimately betrays the crew. O'Bannon was displeased with this, feeling that it was a cheap gag and disingenuous to his original vision. He referred to the new material as suffering from "Russian Spy" syndrome.
- On the director's commentary for the Alien special edition DVD, Ridley Scott attempts to rationalize the scene where Ash tries to kill Ripley. Scott ascribes a Freudian sexual conflict to the character of Ash, noting that as an android, Ash is not anatomically complete, and he vents his sexual frustration upon Ripley when he tries to force a rolled-up pornographic magazine (hint: phallic symbol) down her throat.
- Like most synthetics that appeared in the films, Ash follows an alphabetical name pattern with regard to the film release dates: Ash, Bishop, Call, David. This pattern was broken with the release of Alien: Covenant, with the title ship being run by a synthetic named Walter.
- Ash's blood is colored water. Milk was not used as it would have gotten very smelly very quickly under the hot studio lights. Milk was used though for the close-up of his innards, along with pasta and glass marbles.
- According to Ian Holm, Ash's head contained spaghetti, cheap caviar and onion rings.