Hints of Ash being a robot.

I don't have a copy of the movie and none found online for free to come up with more examples but when Ash says "We're still collating" (not long before Ripley finds out the directive to find and bring alien , crew expendable), the way he says it , instead of 'I'm still collating' or 'Mother is still collating', already suggests he's robot / computer, one and same as Mother in fundamental ways.

In addition :
Yet Alien is such a classic that it still leaves us with mystery - when we can see that Ash is synthetic juices (another sexual or at least biological theme in Alien surely -it looks like human ejaculate), he says "I admire its purity".

Technically, a machine can't have true feelings, true admiration, although it can be programmed to express feelings that it can't truly have. This expression, whilst false, might sometimes coincide with real electronic impulses within Ash , either responding to a fundamental design philosophy built within Ash eg 'No matter what external input is, actions must not be done by yourself or others if they harm value X in practice, regardless of what you express' (I assume that Ash is very complexly programmed) or responding to external stimuli eg 'If external input = A, express X'.

Ash's programming consistent with the robot equivalent of admiration must logically be fundamental design philosophy because there's no advantage in expressing it. The implication is that , by malfunctioning and having his head whacked off, this has destroyed some inhibitors in his expression of his fundamental design philosophy. It mustn't be forgotten that Ash is not truly capable of admiration, just in computing and acting as if 'he' does. So "You have my sympathies" also has all the cliched insincerity of a mass-delivered condolences card. Furthermore , sympathy is different from empathy. Ash, for all 'his' well elocuted accent, will never feel the biological and existentialist pain that they do. In cinematic terms he's now like a dying gangster spilling the beans about a Godfather. However , unlike a gangster , his expression of "I admire its purity" is delivered beyond a sense of brainwashing. It's as if Ash really is an aloof human, perhaps a nihilistic philosopher. We can never forgive Ash, then, for exhibiting human-like hubris and, in his final words, a human-like sense of insincerity. And isn't that a theme that Prometheus has ran with - most humans are inescapably alien from classic Platonic virtues themselves. Money, vanity, intellectual arrogance in curiousity for curiousity's sake at the expense of pawns in the game. The Queen nearly always takes pawn, no matter how many there are. Curiousity kills mostly everyone but the cat.

I think that one of the biggest giveaways is Ash's lack of emotion during some very emotional moments. During the scene when the Alien is bursting out of Kane look at Ash's face and look at the rest of the crew's faces. Something is off right there. The scene where Dallas is taken in the air shaft look at Ash's face. He's too calm. Even the scenes where he is attacking Ripley are "off". When you find out he is a droid it makes sense. But if you've never seen the movie before he comes off as being very, very odd.

In fairness I've met many people who've done things like Ash did, the rest of the crew probably had down as "a cold fish."

yes, the collating comments. His intelligence, like he's always on adderral (i wish i was that smart). The clues are the way he observes and protects he alien. His lack of fear too. Incredible acting in this film by everyone

Also, his rapid running in place when Dallas, Lambert and Kane are off the Nostromo and on their way to the derelict ship always struck me as odd, even though it does simply appear as a quick way to warm up his body. Yet, he's a robot, why would he need to do this?

There's also an odd moment when Ash "pushes" a non-existent button in mid-air. It happens during the meeting when Dallas decides to go into the air ducts. Here's an animated GIF of it:
https://www.4shared.com/photo/j44jPC_0/ash.html

Or the strange moment when he's waving at Dallas, Kane and Lambert 

I'm just on my way up to Clavius.

The fact of the matter is that there are NO hints.

None.


Everything mentioned, either by you, or anyone else is explainable without "Ash is an android" being the explaination.

His running in place... while seemingly odd, is not superhuman. The sequence was not artificially sped up to be superhuman, it was Ian Holm himself doing that, unscripted actually. It is not an indication of his being a robot.

Mumbling to himself? How does that indicate being an android? You'd think an android would be LESS LIKELY to verbally mumble to himself and if anything, would indicate his humanity. Since he is a robot, the mumbling was probably deliberate camouflage. Regardless, it does not hint that he is an android.

"We are still collating"?

First, the use of "we" proves nothing. It is a false assumption to presume that by we, he considers himself an android, rather than he was refering to we as himself, the science officer, and the ships AI, MUTHR.
Nor is using big words like collating, indicative of his being a computer brain. He's the Science Officer, Highly educated, probably a bit nerdy. definitely more highbrow than the rest of the blue collar "Space Truckers".

Everything people are claiming are hints of his "androidness" if you will, is nothing of the sort. Simply hindsight reading into things, and reaching on the part of the viewer.

The first real hint, was when he started leaking that milky white internal lubricant, "android blood".
Nothing else.


I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!