Talk:Chang (TAC Officer)

I just checked on IMDb, and it says that Robert Ito was Japanese, not Chinese! It also mentions his name on a "tribute to Japanese on TV" site:  :) zsingaya 08:56, 24 Jul 2005 (UTC)


 * However, Chang is a Chinese name, and not a Japanese one. Also, unless they mentioned on screen what nationality he was, it should probably belond under background or as speculation based of IRL facts. - AJ


 * But, why would a Japanese person play a Chinese character? It makes no sense!  Anyway, wasn't there a Klingon character called Chang as well?  Is he Chinese too? LOL. Maybe it would be safer to say "He's of Asian descent." zsingaya 09:03, 24 Jul 2005 (UTC)


 * Definitly. The casting people probably wrote Chang and said "hire an asian person" assuming the American TV-watcher of the Later 80's coulnd't tell the difference. And if you think that's bad, have you heard Captain French Picard's accent? Not exactly Parfait.- AJ
 * why would a Japanese person play a Chinese character? It makes no sense! -- About as much sense as Korean Linda Park playing Japanese Hoshi Sato or Japanese Hikaru Sulu having a Filipino last name -- these characters were sometimes mentioned to be of "mixed ancestry" or simply of "Asian descent". This happens constantly in Star Trek, Chang here is by no means an exception or isolated case. -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk 12:40, 24 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Meaning of "TAC officer"
I'm not sure it means "Tactical Officer" as is conjectured on the page. Isn't that post usually called "Tactical?" Any why would a Tactical Officer be giving a SFA entrance exam to some kids? :D

Anyway, in my experience in the USCG, officers would be assigned to a "training officer" or "command educational officer" post, handling regular course check outs, testing, civil rights workshops and other recurring training requirements, blah blah blah. School applications and orders to training bases for recurring or advanced training could be handled by this officer. ... If Wesley and the others ARE at a Starbase, it wouldn't been too unusual that Star Fleet has an officer who's doing that job part-time or full-time, and ... would be administering any kind of Academy applications or entrance exams.

I'm guessing that a writer thought, "well a  T raining AC tivities offficer ... let's call him a TAC Officer." ;) Kojiro Vance | Talk


 * The script denotes him as "TAC Officer Chang", as if TAC is an acronym. I think the comment on the article page that "tac" is often assumed to be short for "tactical officer" even though the uniform color says otherwise should either be removed or rewritten to say that TAC is often assumed to be an acronym. 70.251.25.62 23:01, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Possible Parody?
In the movie Galaxy Quest Tony Shalhoub played the actor who played the character "Tech Sergeant Chen". Most likely coincidental, but worth noteing here at he discussion page if anyone would care to discuss it.
 * I don't see the connection or parody.......--31dot 23:13, 25 November 2008 (UTC)