History Literature / TheVoyageOfTheSpaceBeagle

Although obscure today, the stories were enormously influential; to the point that some of the creatures van Vogt invented have been openly imitated, most notably the telepathic, cat-like Coeurl (which became a recurring monster in the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, as well as the inspiration for the Displacer Beasts from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'') and even the xenomorphs from ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' might have been based on van Vogt's work (he certainly believed so).

** The Ixtl itself, the last survivor from a dead universe, comes across the Space Beagle after ''quadrillions'' of years floating aimlessly through space. [[spoiler: And it's subjected to this fate once more at the end of the story.]]

* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: For some background, everyone on the expedition (except the crew) was a scientist, all from different schools of thought. Grosvenor, the main POV character, studies "nexialism", which is a vague generalist overview of all the sciences (as opposed to specializing in one). His view is presented as the superior, and only, way to study science (i.e., specialists are always wrong and narrow-minded, generalist views are best). Nobody listens to his warnings of danger, and nobody signs on to Nexialism, so eventually he hypnotizes the entire crew through the ship's PA system to force them to turn to Nexialism. It works, and by the end of the book all the ship's scientists become Nexialists and learn from him. In fairness, the issues are a bit more serious than people not being Nexialists. The Space Beagle's crew are splitting up into competing factions, endangering the long-term safety of the ship, and in the last story an EldritchAbomination is threatening all life in the universe.

** Ixtl, an UltimateLifeForm that can survive for millennia in outer space and may have survived the destruction of its own universe in a Big Bang-type event. It can adjust its own atomic structure and is impervious to anything short of an atomic DisintegratorRay.

* MeaningfulName: The title is an obvious reference to the HMS ''Beagle'', the ship whose voyage of exploration included UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin, as the story has a similar discovery-of-new-species theme.

* PunyEarthlings: Because it doesn't feel threatened Ixtl makes the mistake of abducting humans for reproduction instead of concentrating its efforts to KillAllHumans that it doesn't need for this purpose. It realises too late that HumansAreWarriors.

* EnergyWeapon: The radiation emitted by the vibration pistols and crew-served atomic disintegrators is invisible, so a 'tracer beam' is used for aiming. There's also reference to the smell of ozone and the potentially lethal effects of secondary radiation from a near miss by a disintegrator beam.

* BewareTheMindReader: Riim society is stagnant because everyone can read everyone else's mind. As a result they can't cope with change well, like the existence of extraterrestrial life.
* BewareTheQuietOnes: Dr Grosvenor has no men under him, and is in charge of a branch of science that no-one takes seriously, yet it's pointed out that he's probably the most dangerous person on the ship. This is shown when he decides to take over ''Space Beagle'' single-handedly, against a thousand men who have already defeated the Coeurl and Ixtl.
* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: For some background, everyone on the expedition (except the crew) was a scientist, all from different schools of thought. Grosvenor, the main POV character, studies "nexialism", which is a vague generalist overview of all the sciences (as opposed to specializing in one). His view is presented as the superior, and only, way to study science (i.e. specialists are always wrong and narrow-minded, generalist views are best). Nobody listens to his warnings of danger, and nobody signs on to Nexialism, so eventually he hypnotizes the entire crew through the ship's PA system to force them to turn to Nexialism. It works, and by the end of the book all the ship's scientists become Nexialists and learn from him. In fairness, the issues are a bit more serious than people not being Nexialists. The Space Beagle's crew are splitting up into competing factions, endangering the long-term safety of the ship, and in the last story an EldritchAbomination is threatening all life in the universe.
* TheCaptain: Downplayed; while he's in charge of operating the ''Space Beagle'', Captain Leeth is not in charge of the expedition itself, so doesn't take the foreground as [[Franchise/StarTrek later spaceship captains would]].

* EmotionsVsStoicism: Grosvenor and Kent have something of a TheSpock vs. TheMcCoy vibe going on. Grosvenor once asks what Kent's appeal is to everyone, and is told that his flaws make him seem more human, so people can identify more with that than Grosvenor's detached professionalism.

** Ixtl, an UltimateLifeForm that can survive for millennia in outer space and may have survived the destruction of its own universe in a Big Bang-type event. It can adjust its own atomic structure, and is impervious to anything short of an atomic DisintegratorRay.
** Anabis, a galaxy-sized EnergyBeing that feeds on the death of living beings—in other words, a will o’ the wisp the size of the Andromeda Galaxy.

* AndIMustScream: Ixtl's human victims are paralyzed with its eggs inside them, waiting for the hatchlings to eat their way out. [[spoiler:The doctor extracts the eggs in time and the paralysis wears off.]]

* FrickinLaserBeams: The radiation emitted by the vibration pistols and crew-served atomic disintegrators is invisible, so a 'tracer beam' is used for aiming. There's also reference to the smell of ozone and the potentially lethal effects of secondary radiation from a near miss by a disintegrator beam.

Although obscure today, the stories were enormously influential; to the point that some of the creatures van Vogt invented have been openly imitated, most notably the telepathic, cat-like Coeurl (which became a recurring monster in the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series) and even the xenomorphs from ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' might have been based on van Vogt's work (he certainly believed so).

** Anabis, a galaxy-sized EnergyBeing that feeds on the death of living beings.

* ItCanThink: The crew bring the Coeurl on board the ''Beagle'' in the belief that it's a dumb animal, or at most an intelligent species that's reverted to a primitive state. Unfortunately it's as intelligent as they are. It only went on board the spacecraft because it's hunted all the prey in its area to extinction.

* WeaponisedTeleportation: Anabis teleports wild beasts onto the control room of the ''Space Beagle'', and terraforms planets by teleporting large parts of the landscape from one planet to another.