A.E. van Vogt

Alfred Elton van Vogt was a Canadian science fiction writer. He wrote several undeveloped story outlines for, including one entitled "Machines Are Better".

van Vogt was a loud supporter of Star Trek during its original television run, and one of the organizers of "The Commitee", a group of science fiction writers campaigning against the series' cancellation during the first season. As a reward for this, Gene Roddenberry offered him the chance to pitch several stories for the show. Although van Vogt was very enthusiastic and highly prolific, all of his story outlines turned out to be unsuitable for the screen and rejected by the producers. This didn't make the writer give up, and (with Roddenberry's approval) he submitted a bunch of ideas each year, most of them soon landing in the trash bin. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

van Vogt is perhaps best known for his science fiction novels, including Voyage of the Space Beagle, published in 1950. The novel depicts a ship with many similarities with the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and was the subject of a plagiarism lawsuit van Vogt brought against the filmmakers of Ridley Scott's Alien.