Daily Dialogue — May 5, 2013

Ripley: Ash, can you hear me? Ash?
Ash: Yes, I can hear you.
Ripley: What was your special order?
Ash: You read it. I thought it was clear.
Ripley: What was it?
Ash: Bring back life form. Priority One. All other priorities rescinded.
Parker: The damn company. What about our lives, you son of a bitch?
Ash: I repeat, all other priorities are rescinded.
Ripley: How do we kill it Ash? There’s gotta be a way of killing it. How? How do we do it?
Ash: You can’t.
Parker: That’s bullshit.
Ash: You still don’t understand what you’re dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
Lambert: You admire it.
Ash: I admire its purity. A survivor… unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.
Parker: Look, I am… I’ve heard enough of this, and I’m asking you to pull the plug.
Ash: [Ripley goes to disconnect Ash, who interrupts] Last word.
Ripley: What?
Ash: I can’t lie to you about your chances, but… you have my sympathies.

— Alien (1979), screenplay by Dan O’Bannon, story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett

You can hear the audio of the scene here.

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is: I’m not who you think I am, suggested by Mark Twain. Today’s suggestion by Mark Walker.

Trivia: To get Jones the cat react fearfully to the descending Alien, a German Shepherd was placed in front of him with a screen between the two, so the cat wouldn’t see it at first, and came over. The screen was then suddenly removed to make Jones stop, and start hissing.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Mark: “Ash turns out to be an android in Alien….a real WTF!? momemnt. As Parker says, “Ash is a god damn robot!” The first time I saw it, I was blown away and was not expecting it one little bit…really didn’t know what the hell was going on. There isn’t anything before that to suggest robots walk among us….yes, Ash is portrayed as a little shady, but we are not prepared for this.

The sequels dilute the impact a little by all using similar tricks at one point or another, but Alien is the grandaddy, and the scene is stunning.

I didn’t post the fight with Ripley as it doesn’t have much dialogue, and I wanted to post the aftermath, where there is dialogue, and some real, hard-hitting realisations….this is a real turning point in the film as the crew hear what they have all been thinking but had not confirmed….”All other priorities rescinded”…oooooooh shit!”