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A behind - the - scenery detail in Ridley Scott’sAlienmakes the twist that the ship ’s skill police officer , Ash ( Ian Holm ) , is secretly an android much shuddery . Set on the space freighter Nostromo , Alienfollows the ship ’s crew as they enquire a distress signal of unknown origination . Onboard the alien ballistic capsule they identify , executive officer Kane ( John Hurt ) is attacked by a Facehugger . Warrant officer Ripley essay to cease Kane from returning to the ship , but her efforts are in vain as Ash lets him back alongside . This sets the rest of the film ’s events in apparent movement as a Xenomorph bursts from Kane ’s chest and get killing the gang .
However , this event is not Ash ’s only villainous natural process inAlien . Later in the photographic film ’s runtime , he attempt tokill Ripley with a rolled - up magazineafter she discovers that the distress signal was a setup and the crew is considered expendable . principal engineer Parker ( Yaphet Kotto ) stops Ash from murder Ripley by bludgeon his head clean off , revealing that Ash is an humanoid . In the theatre director ’s commentary forAlien , director Ridley Scott discloses that Ash being an android is not unequaled to the Nostromo , revealing a scarier detail within the motion picture ’s universe .
Related : How Practical Effects Made Alien ’s Xenomorphs So Scary
Ash Hints At Every Alien Ship Being The Potential Setting For The Movie
InAlien ’s audio comment , Ridley Scott state that Ash being an android is standard for any Weyland - Yutani space vehicle . The intergalactic corporation does this to keep tabs on the human members of their crews . This makes the Ash android twist scarier inAlienas it is not some unparalleled issue within the movie ’s population . It could have happened on any ship possess bythe Weyland - Yutani corporation . As seen inAlien , Ash , and therefore any Weyland - Yutani android , is willing to put the company ’s directives over the lives of every single human crew member aboard the ship .
This means that secretly every Weyland - Yutani ship has a possible behemoth aboard , whether they find any Xenomorphs or not . If the Nostromo had n’t encountered the suffering signal , it would have only been a matter of clock time until the company sent a different ship to secretly land a Xenomorph back to Earth , unbeknown to any human crew members . The Ash humanoid wind , not being a alone event , makesAlienall the more terrifying .
Why Weyland-Yutani Corporation Ships All Having Robots Is So Scary
The horrifying implications of every Weyland - Yutani spacecraft have a potentiallymurderous android like Ashaboard make theAlienuniverse even more terrific . It exemplifies how little reckon the powerful corporation has for the workers that keep the company usable . The frightening outcomes of having a troupe android aboard every Weyland - Yutani ship continue beyond sabotage and slaying . If any of the prole aboard a Weyland - Yutani ship discussed collective bargaining for more shares , as Parker and Dallas ( Harry Dean Stanton ) do , the mechanical man could report that to the company , thereby putting those workers at risk .
Throughout theAlienfilm series , Weyland - Yutani is shown to have no reservations about getting people kill . Therefore , this could mean that any actor not tow the company line could be in secret killed by the humanoid aboard their ship . The reveal in the film ’s audio commentary that Ash being an humanoid is not singular tothe ( smartly named ) Nostromo , but is a company - encompassing policy , makesAlieneven more terrific .
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