Dr. Pierre Chang was a DHARMA Initiative theoretical astrophysicist from Ann Arbor, Michigan who appeared in orientation films for the different stations on the Island. He is the husband of Lara and the father of Miles, and in 1977, he made his family leave the Island to save them from the impending Incident. In the orientation films, he used various pseudonyms, including Dr. Marvin Candle, Dr. Mark Wickmund and Dr. Edgar Halliwax.
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Dr. Pierre Chang was a DHARMA Initiative astrophysicist living on the Island with his wife, Lara, and baby son, Miles.
After the arrival of the new DHARMA recruits, Chang was tasked with taking Amy's place–because of her son's birth–at giving new members their jumpsuits and work duties. One of these newcomers was Jack Shephard, who was given the job of "Workman" based on his entrance exam. ("Namaste")
Two days later, adult Miles was asked to deliver a dead body to Chang at the Orchid station. At the station, Miles revealed to Hurley that Chang was his father; Miles himself discovered this information when his mother walked in line behind him at the cafeteria three days after the time shifts stopped. Dr. Chang was unhappy that Miles brought Hurley along, and angry that Hurley knew about the body. He threatened Hurley with the task of weighing polar bear feces on Hydra Island if he talked, but Hurley agreed to keep the secret. Miles and Hurley then gave Dr. Chang a ride back to Radzinsky at the Swan construction site. Along the way, Hurley kept dropping hints about the relationship between Miles and Pierre, which upset Miles. ("Some Like It Hoth")
The next morning, at 8:15 a.m., Chang woke up at his home in the Barracks next to his wife. He put on a record ("Shotgun Willie" by Willie Nelson) and gave baby Miles a bottle before getting ready for the day. Before he left, the record began to skip. Inside one of the buildings, he began shooting the first take of the second DHARMA Initiative orientation video, this time for the Arrow station, but was interrupted by a worker concerned about a problem at the Orchid.
After bumping into Chang, Daniel approaches him. He asked Pierre to order the evacuation of everyone on the island, claiming that in a matter of hours, the scientists at The Swan would drill into the electromagnetic anomaly, releasing an energy 30,000 times more powerful than that found in The Orchid. When Chang refused to believe him, Faraday told him that he was from the future. He attempted to back up his claims by showing Chang equations from 20 years in the future, and tried to get Miles to admit to Chang that he was his son, and that he had traveled back in time with Faraday. Chang refused to believe Daniel, and when Miles denied being Chang's son, Chang left. ("The Variable")
Chang followed Hurley, Miles and Jin and encountered them on their way back to the beach. He asked if they're really from the future. Hurley denied it. To determine the truth, Chang quizzed Hurley with questions relevant to 1977. Hurley struggled with the answers, being unsure of his birth year, the current president of the U.S., or whether the Korean War was a real event. Flustered, Hurley finally admitted that he's from the future. He asked Miles if it is true that he is his father, and Miles reluctantly affirmed that he is. Having confirmed his suspicions Chang revealed that he now believes what Daniel told him about needing to evacuate the entire Island.
Chang returned to the Barracks to see Horace and stumbles on the bloody and bruised Sawyer. He told Horace, Radzinsky and the others to stop the drilling at The Swan and ordered to evacuate the Island.
Chang also ordered his wife and son to leave the Island as part of DHARMA's evacuation. Miles and Lara left the Island without Pierre. Years later on her deathbed, Lara told Miles that his father kicked them out when he was a baby and that he had been dead for a long time. ("Some Like It Hoth")
Chang headed to The Swan site, to demand the shutting down of the drill because of the potential dangers of hitting the pocket of energy. Radzinsky, who had arrived there previously, refused to stop the drilling. Chang attempted to turn off the drill, telling Radzinsky that the drill was growing too hot, but Radzinsky switched it back on, saying that they had enough water to cool the drill down.
Chang usually wore professional looking attire for his videos, often including a lab coat. The lab coat featured either a Flame or Swan logo.
In the Pearl video Chang appeared to have use of his left arm; however, in the Swan and Flame films, he did not, probably due to his arm being trapped during The Incident. In the Barracks video, he did not move his left arm, suggesting it might have been a cosmetic device. In the Orchid Orientation video, he was using both his arms. Since the Barracks and The Flame were already constructed at the time of The Incident, and only The Orchid and The Swan appeared to be under construction, it is possible that videos for these were re-shot at some point afterward. ("The Incident, Parts 1 & 2")
It is unknown why he used a different name in each film in which he introduced himself. Portions of all his false names relate to candles (candle, wick, wax).
Chang first appeared in an orientation film bearing a 1980 copyright and found in the Swan station. He introduced himself as Dr. Marvin Candle, and gave a brief history of the DHARMA Initiative and Alvar Hanso. Chang stressed to DHARMA employees the importance of pushing the button to avoid another "incident" ("Orientation"). A part of the film was edited by Radzinsky, Kelvin Inman's partner, where Chang warns not to use the Swan computer for anything but entering the numbers. ("What Kate Did")
Chang's next appearance was in the Pearl orientation film bearing a 1980 copyright, where he introduced himself as Dr. Mark Wickmund. The DeGroots couple was mentioned again. Chang stated that the personnel at another station were the subjects of a psychological experiment. He did not identify the other station during his presentation. Chang also explained how the pneumatic tube works, and introduced the Pala Ferry and the Barracks. Later, the Survivors came across the Capsule dump. The proliferation of apparently ignored capsules at the dump suggested that the personnel at the Pearl were the true experimental subjects or that the DHARMA staff stopped collecting the capsules. ("?")
Chang appeared in a random access video on the computer at the Flame station (accessed by beating a chess game) which allowed the manual override of various system functions. This video was not an orientation; it was a procedures explanation, including a procedure for initiating a self-destruct sequence at the Flame in the event of an incursion by the Hostiles. In this video, the DHARMA lab coat Chang was wearing featured a Flame logo. The end of the video was not seen and the copyright date is unknown. Chang did not introduce himself. ("Enter 77")
An orientation video, apparently shown to new members of the DHARMA Initiative starting in the 1970s, was also narrated by Chang, who cautioned the importance of remaining within the sonar fence surrounding the Barracks for protection from the "wildlife" of the island. ("The Man Behind the Curtain") Chang was wearing a lab coat, bearing what appears to be the Swan logo. He gestured with his right hand and it is highly likely that his left arm was mobile as this video was likely one of, if not the, first orientation filmed and was filmed prior to the Incident. He did not introduce himself.
At the Orchid Station, Ben shows Locke an orientation video, where Chang describes the station's purpose, having to do with the Casimir effect. He conducted an experiment involving rabbits, which was cut when the video started rewinding without any explanation. In this film, Chang introduces himself as Dr. Edgar Halliwax. Ben uses Chang's parka, with the name Halliwax on it, to go down to the frozen room beneath the vault. ("The Shape of Things to Come") ("There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3")
Pierre Chang was seen recording this orientation film. He introduced himself as Dr. Marvin Candle, again. He wears a lab coat bearing the Swan logo. He stated that the purpose of this station was to gather intelligence and devise defensive strategies against the Island's hostiles. He was interrupted before he could finish the orientation film. ("Because You Left")
He hosted the Lost Season 2 Bonus Features Disc, and was not shown with a prosthetic arm, although this was not necessarily canon.
In late July 2007, a new orientation video was shown at Comic Con and released on ABC's Lost website for the Orchid, in which Chang appears, referring to himself as "Edgar Halliwax." In this deleted "blooper" from the orientation film, he is about to explain the purpose of the Orchid station when a catastrophe causes the filming to be cut short.
On July 26, 2008 at Comic Con, a video shot by DHARMA recruit, Dan Bronson, was shown during the Lost panel which had a video of Chang talking to Comic Con audiences in the present from 30 years in the past, stating that he knew George W. Bush is the president, information is exchanged via the Internet, and that this information came from a reliable source. During this video, Chang stated that he was recruited to the island to study the Kerr Metric solutions to Einstein's Field Equations. He also knew that the entire DHARMA Initiative—including himself—would be killed in a "purge" (which he said they were "powerless to stop"), and claimed it was imperative that the DHARMA Initiative be reconstituted to finish the important work he and his colleagues had been engaged in. The unidentified man filming him argued with Chang, saying "This is useless!" and eventually turned the camera off.
In an August 9, 2008 email, Hans Van Eeghen of DHARMA reported to DHARMA recruits that a security breach had occurred at Comic Con 2008 his message included the following statement:
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"The DHARMA Initiative must stress that the video material leaked at Comic-Con 2008 was viewed entirely out of context. Furthermore, the way in which the material was presented utterly distorted its significance and credibility as scientific data." |
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The producers of the show later declared that this video related to a storyline that was eventually not used on the show, therefore making the video non-canon.
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