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BiographyWah Ming Chang (鄭華明 August 2, 1917–December 22, 2003) was a Chinese-American designer, sculptor, and artist. He is known primarily for his sculpture and the props he designed for Star Trek (the original series), including the tricorder and communicator. (While he is mistakenly credited with having created the phaser, it was actually designed by the Art Director of the original series, Matt Jefferies. Jefferies' phaser was not accepted, and Chang redesigned it for him.)
For Star Trek, Chang built costumes for the salt vampire ("The Man Trap"), the Gorn ("Arena") and Balok's false image ("The Corbomite Maneuver"). He created tribbles by using artificial fur stuffed with foam, the Neanderthals in "The Galileo Seven", and the Romulan Bird of Prey ("Balance of Terror"), 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. |
