Ash the Robot

Leading from: AlienIan Holm as Ash the robotHaving the android ideaa) Giler and Hill conceive the idea, b) Ron's approval, c) Dan's disapproval The Russian Spy Idea Development of Ash via Six Million Dollar ManUnleashing Human Disguised Androidsi). The Future Eve, ii). Metropolis, iii). Westworld, iv). The Six Million Dollar Man: Day Of The Robot, v). The Million Dollar Man: The Return Of The Robot, vi). The Stepford Wives,...

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Having the android idea

Leading from Ash the Robota. Giler and Hill conceive the ideaHill and Giler introduced into the story of alien a character who was an android named Ash. They don't actually remember which of them had come up with the idea but it came as a joint decision and a cheap idea.  However as Giler remembered it, Walter Hill said, "I have what I think is a dreadful idea or a really good one. What do you think of this? Suppose , in this part, whack!...

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Development of Ash via Six Million Dollar Man

leading from Ash the RobotAs it goes the idea was semi fresh. No one said anything about it but it was basically a reused idea from the Six Million Dollar Man TV series from an episode in 1976 called "The Return of the Robot Maker". Dr Chester Dolenz has created a new robot more advanced than the previous, and this one has been created to look like Oscar Goldman, we see the entity without its face but with exposed circuitry before the face...

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Unleashing human disguised androids

Leading from Ash the Robot a) The Future EveStarting off with in 1886, the term android was made popular by the French novelist Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam in his book, "The Future Eve" or "L'Ève Future" (1886) about a female android that is created to replace a man's fiancée who although had a bothersome personality. b) MetropolisThe idea was brought into cinema in 1927 through the movie Metropolis, a robot was created and soon she would...

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Self Awareness

leading from: Ash the Robot Ridley Scott gave a fictitious background for the character Ash as if he thought he was a human being with. They wondered whether they should let Ash know whether he was a robot or have him programmed to think that he was a human. If they had kept it from him, there were all kinds of things that they could have done from programming him to know at a certain point, like an emergency, or even putting a complete memory tape in him that would give him a complete background , background involving where he was born...

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Industrial Paranoia

leading fromAsh the RobotMother's RevelationThe corporation in the film is revealed to be even more than the alien, the villain of the film, It's top priority becomes the alien and it couldn't care less about the danger that this causes the crew. The mother computer shows itself to be very unhelpful towards the Captain Dallas and then Lt. Ripley when they ask it questions, and it eventually informs Ripley that the Nostromo has been "rerouted to new...

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The unravelling of Ash

i. ConvulsionGordon Carroll didn't seem to quite answer the question he was asked but here at least gave an answer that was near enough correct. But it is first here that something about Ash seems strange in his response to being thrown against the wall by Ripley.Fantastic Films: Why does Ash go into convulsions after Sigourney slaps him. Does she loosen his circuits of something?Gordon Carroll. He started to spin out. He started to go crazy (Fantastic...

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The Russian Spy Idea

Leading from Ash the RobotDonald Pleasence as the Russian spy in Fantastic VoyageDan O'Bannon: It annoyed me when they did it because it was what I called The Russian Spy. It was a tendency in certain types of thrillers, when people are on an interesting mission to stick in a Russian spy. One of them is a spy and they don't know which one, he's trying to screw up the mission, Fantastic Voyage had that. When I saw Fantastic Voyage, I thought...

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The robot head speaks

  The robot's head speaksa.) An article in the Alien laserdisc showed parts of certain rewrites of the Alien script displaying the changes in the dialogue dealing with the bodiless head of Ash the android now forced to speak. Here in various versions he has talked briefly about his enigmatic discoveries or perspectives about the alien life form that were sometimes interesting but could be viewed as too much information for the audience when...

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