Wah Chang

Who was Wah Chang?

Wah Ming Chang was a Chinese-American designer, sculptor, and artist. He is known primarily for his sculpture and the props he designed for Star Trek, including the tricorder, and communicator.

For Star Trek, Chang built costumes for the salt vampire, the Gorn and Balok's false image. He created tribbles by using artificial fur stuffed with foam, the Neanderthals in "The Galileo Seven", and the Romulan Bird of Prey, and the Vulcan harp first seen in "Charlie X" and later seen in "The Conscience of the King", "Amok Time", "The Way to Eden"; and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

Chang's communicator design has been credited as an inspiration for modern flip-type cell phones. His Balok effigy was used in "The Corbomite Maneuver" Star Trek episode — and at at the conclusion of many closing credits sequences of the series.

His other film credits include sculpting the maquette of Pinocchio which was used as the reference for the animators of the classic Walt Disney feature, and articulated deer models for Bambi. He designed the spectacular headdress worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the feature film Cleopatra. Other work included building the title object from 1960's movie The Time Machine. Chang's firm, Project Unlimited, Inc., would win Academy Award recognition for its special effects, but Chang was not listed on the award, due to the way the credits were submitted to the Academy. Film historian Bob Burns reported that Chang didn't object to this. "He was the most humble, gentle man I've ever known in my life," Burns said. "He never boasted about anything he did, and he just did remarkable stuff."