Suvudu Universe

About three months ago, J.J. Abrams appeared on the set of Star Wars: Episode VII and reached out to the Star Wars fan community, providing the opportunity of a lifetime to appear in the sequel film. Known as Star Wars: Force for Change, the campaign was created to raise funds and spread awareness for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The initiative to help children in need turned out to be a successful one. Star Wars: Force for Change raised approximately $4,261,410 USD and with the $1 million donation made by Disney, the total was over $5 million, “Donations were received via fundraising platform Omaze from citizens of 125 countries and enough money was donated to fund the equivalent of 7-8 new UNICEF Innovation Labs.”

D.C. Barns, an Online Editor and Colorist at a Denver media company in Denver, Colorado, was the grand prize winner. Participating in a donor video chat, Barns spoke about the first time he saw Star Wars and was later asked to share his favorite Star Wars moment. When the Star Wars: Force for Change team surprised him a few moments following the question, a shocked and overjoyed D.C. said, “This! This is my new favorite Star Wars moment!” As promised, D.C. will fly to London with a guest of his choice, receive a behind-the-scenes set visit, and film a scene in Star Wars: Episode Vll.

I won’t deny that I sat down waiting for an e-mail or phone call for my one big chance, but I’m glad it went to D.C. Barns. Denver’s 7NEWS asked Barns who he would like to meet the most on the Star Wars set and he said J.J. Abrams and Carrie Fisher.

When giving a reason, he said rather shyly, “Because she’s Princess Leia, of course.”

In response to winning, he said, “I didn’t really enter with the idea of winning, because who wins these kind of things, you know? I’ve never met anyone who’s won anything, I’ve never won anything.”

In announcing the successful donations made to the campaign, Bad Robot tweeted out another note from J.J. Abrams. The Star Wars community exploded with conversation about the robotic hand holding said note. There have been recent rumors of Star Wars: Episode VII opening with a hand gripping a lightsaber and floating through space, somehow landing on a desert planet and being discovered by John Boyega and Daisy Ridley’s characters. The hand and lightsaber belong to Luke Skywalker and Boyega and Ridley go off on a search to find him. Personally, I find the notion preposterous, but others are thrilled about it. That said, many thought this was some sort of confirmation. After all, Bad Robot also tweeted a picture of the Millennium Falcon’s dejarik table to confirm that the ship was in the movie. Others even went as far as to say that Darth Vader was coming back…

This time around, however, I think the robotic hand was just a treat for fans–simply a reaffirmation that Luke Skywalker will return. Or I could be in complete denial, since I would hate to see a floating hand in space…

#ForceForChange @starwars #EpisodeVII @omaze @UNICEF #uinnovate @UNICEFinnovate http://t.co/pCAbhcjKxn—
Bad Robot (@bad_robot) August 11, 2014