At the outset of Alien, the crew members of the Nostromo have no roles within the story - there is no protagonist, no clear backstory to anyone. They are all simply workers on a routine assignment. The same is true for Ash, their curiously distant and cold tech officer. As the film progresses, it becomes clear that Ash is holding to the commands of the Weyland Corporation far more strictly than reasonable, and it is revealed that he is an Android sent by the company to ensure the secret directive of the company is accomplished. Not only is Ash a well-written and excellently performed character, but his design was a truly unique one at the time of the films release - a normal human on the outside, but all synthetic tubes and white liquid on the inside (made with milk, caviar, pasta, and marbles). Conceptually, Ash takes the Hal 9000 archetype to the next level, a mechanical being that prioritises its mission over the human lives involved, but this time one that has a physical presence on board the ship. The fight between Ash and Ripley remains one of the most intense sequences in science fiction filmmaking, and the casual dialogue from Ian Holm as his severed head lies on a table defines the atmosphere of the film quite eerily.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
