The Voyage of the Space Beagle
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The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1951) is a classic novel of science fiction by A. E. van Vogt in the space opera mode.
An exploratory space journey on a scientific mission encounters several, largely hostile, aliens and alien civilisations. Meanwhile on board, revolutions, both political and scientific, take place.
The book was translated in several languages and, as is the case for most of van Vogt's work, was very popular in France. In Japan it is noted that the character who explains the demise of the first monster is Japanese, and presented without racist slights. In turn, that monster—a sentient panther named Coeurl, with psi capabilities and tentacles coming out of its shoulders—was adapted as the character Mugi, or "Mughi," in the anime Dirty Pair.
It is reasonable to assume that the book was an influence on both Star Trek and Alien (for the latter, one section of the book is particularly resonant). It is also reasonable to assume the book was derived in part, if by title only, from Charles Darwin's five year voyage around the world on The Voyage of the Beagle. And thus one may assume that both Charles Darwin and A. E. van Vogt were at least indirectly a part of the inspiration of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek.Template:Sf-book-stub