The Voyage of the Space Beagle

     The Golden Age of Science Fiction began in July 1939 when the story "The Black Destroyer" by A.E. van Vogt was published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. This story later became part of a fix up novel published in 1950, The Voyage of the Space Beagle. 

    

    The Voyage of the Space Beagle follows a crew of 1000 chemically castrated men, on the starship Space Beagle on their five-year mission in inter-galactic space to seek out new life and explore new worlds. It is a reference to Charles Darwin's five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle. The story centers on the scientist, Dr. Elliott Grosvenor and his new science of Nexialism, a multidisciplinary approach to knowledge. 

    The Space Beagle meets up with four different alien species. The first one is a cat-like alien called the Coeurl that sucks the potassium out of its victims. The second is a bird-like species called the Riim with telepathic powers that trick the men into hallucinations and into fighting with one another. The third is the red alien Ixtl that can dissolve through walls and captures men to insert its eggs into their bellies. The fourth is the galaxy spanning called Anabis that may try to threaten the Milky Way Galaxy. 

    Between these encounters, the crew run into internal conflict, as the ship operates under a democratic system. Factions form pitting soldiers against scientists and the Nexialist Grosvenor vs the traditional scientists.  While most of their conflicts were passive aggressive, like stealing office space from a rival, some became physical, particularly under the Riim's telepathic influence. 

    The novel's pulp fiction prose was thrilling and engaging.  The story occasionally shifts to the point of view of the aliens revealing their desire for survival. The Coeurl and Anabis were hungry, Ixtl was desperate to continue his species and the Riim were resistant to change. The crew debated how to defeat the aliens, sometimes with fierce disagreements with Dr. Grosvenor at one point hypnotizing the crew into agreeing with him. 

   

     The Voyage of the Space Beagle inspired science fiction, TV Shows, and film. The encounter with Ixtl resembles the encounter of the crew of the Nostromo with the Xenomorph from the movie Alien. Couerl is like the Salt Vampire and the Riim are similar to the Catspaw aliens of Star Trek.  Grosvenor's logic and analytical demeaner reminded me of Spock. Grosvenor also used telepathic powers to clear up a misunderstanding between the men and an alien race. The stories of the novel pioneered the subgenre of space exploration with alien encounters, exploring the conflict between military caution and scientific curiosity, which sometimes put the crew in danger, reminding me of Star Trek:The Next Generation, where Worf's militarism clashes with the more science-oriented Picard and Beverly Crusher.

    The only issues I have with it is that it is dated in places. The crew rely heavily on the historical theories of Oswald Spengler, using his theories to explain the peculiarities of the different aliens. Hypnotizing crew members was not disparaged and was excused as necessary to spread Nexialism, the future of science! However, the annoying parts did not drag down the book and the datedness felt more vintage than old fashioned. 

    If you are looking for a fun, action packed story without heavy philosophy, I highly recommend The Voyage of the Space Beagle, a very influential book in the science fiction genre.  Allow this novel to take you into the mysteries of intergalactic space. I give it a B for great!