Ash attempting to impregnate Ripley

Sounds like a bit of a stretch 

yeah...that's a bit much...

So he just went suddenly wacky and rolled up a mag and began spewing milk for no apparent reason? I dunno which is more of a stretch.

Welcome!

I thought I read it was more about Ash trying to imitate the facehgger sincehe admired it. Like he wanted to kill Ripley Facehugger style.

He was just trying to strangle her.

Weather that is true or not, that would be very cool in an alien movie.

I see it as some kind of sexual element in the movie and of course there is a lot of sexual elements in Giger's work. Most of it is very disturbing and adds to the strength of the Alien legacy.

And as it was said before the intent was to strangle.

First of all, welcome. That idea never struck me, and while I think it is a bit of a stretch since there's no real context to anything in the scene (like attempting to use embryos), it's absolutely brilliant and goes hand in hand with Ash' evil plan with Weyland Corp and his fascination with the xenomorph that borders on obsession.

Ash did experiment with the facehugger, and with this idea in mind and in retrospect they could've added a scene where Ash extracts embryos and puts them in a vial.

Later, when he puts the rolled up magazine in Ridley's mouth, he could attempt to pour the embryos in her throat.

Maybe this could turn out wrong when executing but the idea itself is great imo.

I also think there are more suitable ways for Ash to try to kill her rather than forcing a rolled magazine in her mouth (which harms her how exactly? She can still breathe I guess.)

Welcome aboard Dirtymeat!

The attack takes place in the snug area where the crew have attached suggestive/lurid pics to the wall and there's a pile of porno mags.

Any way you look at it, there is no denying the sexual undertone. Ash was simulating fellatio in trying to choke Ripley to death with that rolled up porno mag. The 'milk' is sexually suggestive too. 

I think Ripley blew a few of his circuits when she backed him against the wall!

Fascinating, Lone 

Fascinating 

my take on this is ash had followed his programming and managed to keep his participation hidden from the crew till now. he is now in conflict of his basic programming not to harm any humans which may explain the white blood, maybe his systems r shutting down due to his attempt to kill ripley? the magazine is used to try and suffocate her, rolled up so he can force it down her throat and cut off oxygen. in the scene, before he reaches for the magazine, he is calm, but his hand starts to shake. when he starts forcing the magazine down his facial expression changes aswell. this may be the effects of him battling his own conflicting programings. he has been programmed not to harm humans but also has been told to help the xeno and make sure it lives and now, because ripley has figured it out, these orders r in conflict with each other as he knows he cant help the xeno when ripley tells the rest of the crew what hes done. if he kills her, he can move the body, let the xeno dispose of the body perhaps, and make up any story he likes

Dirtymeat

That may just be the dumbest, yet coolest suggestion I've ever heard about this scene. :p

I never thought about it like that before, so let's play with this idea.

I always thought Ash suddenly sweating android blood was odd and didn't have an explanation. The idea that this happens because he was trying to force his inner liquids out of his body to transfer a hidden embryo is devilishly dark. I love it.

The part that doesn't add up is the idea that an embryo could be preserved inside of him (though it's not impossible, it requires a stretch of the imagination as has been indicated by others).

That being said I could totally get down with a combination of your theory and the comments of dk, shoulders of neptune, Neomorph, Lone, and ali81.

This idea might even be more out there than your original post, but hey. Let's have some fun with our imaginations. The idea would basically go as follows.

Ash malfunctions when his directives conflict, his CPU starts overloading, and he snaps. In seconds he is suddenly delusionaly identifying as the alien. He sees the pornographic images and snaps further into identifying as the Alien sexually. He begins forcing inner pressure on himself the way that people do when they forcibly make their face turn red. He's doing this to try to produce semen. With the magazine he's trying to mimic the facehugger's actions. He's exerting unrelenting physical effort the way the facehugger does. He isn't even processing that he has no embryo to implant (a true indication of how delusional the malfunction has made him). Perhaps in a way he's even indicating that he wishes it had been Ripley who had gotten the facehugger. He may have favored Kane, as Kane would likely not have gone snooping for answers as Ripley did when Dallas was taken. He is enacting the mechanism of Kane's death on Ripley and taking on those "perfect" hostile qualities of the alien.

Ridley may very well never have intended to convey any of this (and no doubt, the theory I just constructed obviously has holes.) On the flip side, it would have been pretty awesome to see these ideas explicitly implied somehow in the film in a more coherent manner.

Fun post Dirtymeat

Certainly, I think it would do the scene more justice.

Thanks everyone for the Welcome and discussion. @QueenElizabethShaw I like that..never thought about it as Ash just psychologically emulating the Alien. It was love at first sight after all. I still wonder why the sudden "malfunction". Likely a conflict of programming? A synthetic person is programmed to never harm a human being but then gets an order of "crew expendable". (shades of Hal9000)  My gut feeling however is that the embryo he was carrying was wrecking havoc on his "nervous" system and he needed to get it out in a hurry.

Yeah the sudden malfunction wasn't explicitly explained, but his interest in the xeno could very likely have something to do with it.

Just flipping out without an explanation doesn't serve much purpose other than obviously revealing that he is an android. Nothing wrong with that (fantastic twist) but I also remember wondering back in my first viewing why he would use that magazine instead of easily bashing her around. 

I think as far as it goes is that he was emulating a facehugger. I don't think he was carrying an embryo as there is literally no evidence to support that 

Other than attacking Ripley, there isn't much evidence to support anything in that scene at all tbh, hence all the theories.

yeah he admired it, its purity. the magazine symbolised the huggers apendage that went down kanes throat so he was trying to emulate it. maybe part of this method would serve him if the crew found her body, he could claim a hugger had got aboard and killed her, thus leaving himself free to hide among them and continue helping the xeno but if she was bashed and bruised, it may raise unwanted questions regarding the manner of her death

my my my...this thread is quite a naughty little indulgence of the imagination. looks like we have some eager minds hungry to read meaning into simple things. the answer?

Bishop
Well, that explains it. The A/2's were always a bit twitchy.

ash malfunctioned like a hard drive that spun too fast and spun itself apart. the magazine was for dramatic effect

I haven't seen many films where a villain tries to kill people by shoving a rolled up magazine in their throats.

Let's also take the intentional or unintentional sexual symbolism in Alien into consideration. 

Or it's just like you say; a simple act of malfunctioning. (The magazine does stick out though, like the porn mags in plain view. Ok sorry :) 

Id- it is naughty. After all, HR Giger's concepts were that among other things.

There's also an element of Ripley being up in Ash's grill all the time and a desire to shut her up (along with killing her).

He didn't have conflicting priorities however, as he didn't have behavioural inhibitors.