William Shatner's '70s Sci-Fi TV Movie Featured A Guest-Star From A Notorious Star Trek Episode

In 1972, Francis Ford Coppola served as the executive producer for John Korty's TV movie "The People," based largely on the story "Pottage" by celebrated sci-fi author Zenna Henderson. "The People" stars Kim Darby as a schoolteacher named Malodye, who travels out to a very, very remote community to teach the local children. The community is very Amish-like in their customs and very eerie. The children, for instance, are forbidden from doing any of the fun things that Melodye suggests during class. Indeed, the very concept of "fun" seems to be banned. 

The sci-fi twist is that all the members of this community are actually extraterrestrials who emigrated to Earth when they lost their home planet to environmental disasters. The aliens have been on Earth since the late 19th century, but have long been attacked and pilloried for their mild alien superpowers. The overall film is super-mellow, with William Shatner playing a character named Dr. Curtis. Coppola's father, Carmine, wrote the score. The movie is pastoral and calm and doesn't really seem to feature much in the way of actual drama. 

"Star Trek" fans will immediately note that "The People" stars two "Star Trek" veterans. There's Shatner, of course, who played Captain Kirk, but many may grok that Kim Darby played the title character in the episode "Miri," one of the most controversial episodes of the series. "Miri" was the episode wherein the crew of the Enterprise beams down to a planet populated by a gang of centuries-old children. The adults on their planet were wiped out by a plague, and they have remained prepubescent for over 300 years. "Miri" is notorious, as it features a scene wherein Shatner tells the 12-year-old Miri that girl, you'll be a woman soon. It's a liiiiiittle icky. 

To give a brief rundown on "Miri," it's set mostly on a planet that, by complete coincidence, resembles Earth in the 1960s. As mentioned, a plague wiped out the planet's adult inhabitants several centuries before, and the kids have been trapped in immaturity ever since. They refer to grown-ups as "grups," and themselves as "onlies," in that they are the "only" ones left. The kids view the visiting Enterprise crew with utter suspicion. Naturally, when the Enterprise crew members beam down, they immediately catch the virus, which manifests as gross blue bruises. The virus won't just kill them, but will make them slowly go insane first. 

To win over the trust of the children, Kirk spots the young Miri, who is on the cusp of puberty. He convinces her that growing up and being a woman will be a grand adventure, and it's implied that Miri is won over because she is sexually attracted to Kirk. Kim Darby was about 19 at the time, but her character is presented as maybe 12 or 13, so the episode feels a little unsavory. The leader of the kids is a character named Jahn, played by Michael J. Pollard, who was actually about 27. Almost none of the dialogue in "Miri" was in the original script. 

Prior to "Star Trek," Kim Darby had appeared in the 1965 drama "Bus Riley's Back in Town" with Ann-Margaret and Michael Parks. She also played a background teen in the 1964 version of "Bye Bye Birdie." She was also in episodes of hit shows like "Wagon Train," "Dr. Kildare," and "The Fugitive," so for her, "Star Trek" was just another gig. Plus, she got to play the title character, which must have been exciting for a rising actress. 

In between her episode of "Star Trek" and 1972's "The People," Kim Darby just kept on working. In 1969, she landed what might be her most famous role, playing the young, feisty Mattie Ross in the John Wayne vehicle "True Grit." She was in little-remembered films like "The Strawberry Statement," "The Grissom Gang," and "Red Sky at Morning" in the late '60s and early '70s. Her TV career was more impressive, as Darby landed guest spots in hit shows like "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke," and the "Ironside" pilot, all in the year 1967. The same year as "The People," Darby also appeared in the pilot for "The Streets of San Francisco." 

Kim Darby is now 79 years old, and continued to rack up credits through the late 2010s. After "The People," Darby turned up on shows like "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," "The Facts of Life," and "Murder, She Wrote." She was even in an episode of "The X-Files."

Darby's film career covers some pretty fun titles as well. In 1985, she had a small role in the excellent comedy "Better Off Dead," a coming-of-age movie nobody talks about anymore, playing the clueless mother of the John Cusack character. In 1987, she played a professor in "Teen Wolf Too." Fast-forward to 1995, and she played Debra Strode, the adoptive aunt of franchise protagonist Laurie Strode in "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers." Her most recent TV role was a 2014 episode of "Perception." Her most recent film was 2017's "The Evil Within." I haven't been able to find any word that she has officially retired, but if she has, she has earned it.