THE PEOPLE
CREATED BY:
Zenna Henderson
PORTRAYED BY:
Dan O'Herlihy (Sol Diemus)
Diane Varsi (Valancy Carmody)
Laurie Walters (Karen Diemus)
Chris Valentine (Clement Francher)
Anne Walters (Obla)
Among many others......
TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time
STATUS:
Based in Bendo, Arizona
From Wikipedia:
"The People" is a 1972 television film, broadcast as an ABC Movie of
the Week on January 22, 1972. It is mostly based on a novella by Zenna
Henderson, "Pottage", but also contains elements from her stories "Ararat",
"Gilead", and "Captivity".
This science fiction film tells the story of
Melodye Amerson (Kim Darby), a young teacher who goes to a remote area to work
with a group of individuals who have isolated themselves from civilization and
maintained an independent community, vaguely similar to the Amish or a religious
commune. Melodye is unnerved by the secretive behavior of her students, and the
fact that all fun, games and activities she proposes are forbidden to them.
Valancy (Diane Varsi), an elder in the community, advises Melodye to stay,
because she senses that things are about to change in the valley, and Melodye
herself is a part of that change.
Melodye soon discovers that the secluded
and "backwards" residents are actually aliens with mild paranormal powers. A
natural disaster destroyed their planet, and they are hoping to establish a life
on Earth. Landing in the late 1800s, initially they shared their secret with
local residents, but found themselves condemned as witches. Many were killed,
and the survivors forbade their children ever to use their abilities, even with
extreme discretion. Young adults like Valancy (and even some of the older
people) have been pushing for an end to these restrictions.
"The People", a
fictional creation of science-fiction writer Zenna Henderson, are a group of
humanoid extraterrestrials who fled their planet's destruction, with many of
them marooned on Earth in the American southwest since the late 19th century.
They differ from humans mostly in their pacifism and paranormal abilities. They
appear in a number of stories which are usually referred to as "the People
stories of Zenna Henderson".
The People, as portrayed by author Zenna
Henderson, lived a happy pastoral life on their homeworld, Home, in harmony with
the seasons. They have little apparent technology, and do not much need it.
Their history includes an unpleasant period called the 'Days of Difference",
presumably including nuclear war, ending with "The Peace." Their faith is their
reality; all are telepathic and telekinetic, within limits, and can generate a
personal shield which can defend them from the elements even as they fly. Yet
they live much as did the people of Earth, residing in houses, sleeping in beds.
In essence, they are human beings. They make and use tools, but have no
machines, having renounced those following the Peace. In several stories,
Henderson makes clear that the People do not know how to accomplish even the
simplest household or farming tasks by hand, without telekinesis.
Their
planet, the Home, shows evidence of being on a clear path to destruction. The
elders delve deep into their collective and ancestral memories and regain the
skills of their ancestors, who had been extremely advanced in technology before
the spiritual awakening which is associated with their paranormal abilities. The
People race to build starships and to select destinations which they recall from
ancestral memory as being sufficiently Homelike.
As the planet convulses in
its final spasms, the ships depart, but not all to the same destinations. One
boy, gifted as a prophet, resets the guidance system of one of the ships even as
it leaves the Home. He has sent this ship of the People to our homeworld,
Earth.
The guidance is not perfect. The ships burn up on re-entry, but a
large number of the People bail out and reach the surface in small personal
craft or "life slips", scattered mostly across the American southwest. Some
survive unscathed and others survive with terrible wounds. Some are able to find
others of their kind, while others go to their graves alone among humans, or
even intermarried with them.
A fairly large community forms somewhere in a
remote canyonlands region, apparently in Arizona. (This would be the village of
Bendo.)
BCnU!
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