During the 2007-2008 Straight Outta Lynwood Tour, the two were moved to the middle, and Al and his band performed 'Albuquerque' as the encore. It is usually followed by a cover of Johann Sebastian Bach's ' Toccata and Fugue in D Minor', done by Al's keyboardist, RubГ©n Valtierra. In 2011, the entire video was released as a bonus feature in a Star Wars spoofs compilation for the 2011 Blu-ray box set release of the saga.ДЄl and his band usually perform 'The Saga Begins' and Al's earlier Star Wars parody, ' Yoda' as an encore. Yankovic performing the song in Auckland, New Zealand on March 10, 2007. When asked why, Yankovic stated that, 'They didn't want to scare small children,' a reference to the playful teasing of Yankovic's pianist, RubГ©n Valtierra, commonly used in his live shows. The upper half of the pianist's face is always covered by the hood of the robe that he is wearing much like the Sith Lord Darth Sidious.Some Star Wars characters can be seen, such as Queen PadmГ© Amidala (played by Al's cousin, Tammy), Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, and Yoda.

In the last verse, he returns to the desert and in the last chorus, numerous 'Obi-Wan' clones sing as a group.

Yankovic uses the Force to get a resonator guitar, and in the second verse he reappears performing in a Mos Eisley cantina leading a band also dressed as Jedi. Yankovic, dressed like Obi-Wan Kenobi, the protagonist of Episode I, walks until he comes across Darth Sidious playing the piano. The video begins in the desert on the planet Tatooine. According to Yankovic's official website, Lucasfilm's official response to the song was, 'You should've seen the smile on ( George Lucas') face.' This is the second Star Wars song Weird Al has created, with the first being 1980's ' Yoda', a parody of ' Lola' by The Kinks. McLean approved of the song and, according to Yankovic, also has said that his children played it so much that 'he'd start thinking about Jedis and Star Wars, and it would mess him up' in concert. He had done such an accurate job with the story line that after the pre-screening, he ended up making only very minor alterations. Although Lucasfilm declined a request for an advance screening, Yankovic eventually attended a costly pre-screening for charity. Yankovic gathered most of the information he needed to write the song from Internet spoilers.

Set to the tune of Don McLean's ' American Pie', 'The Saga Begins' recounts the plot of Star Wars: Episode I вЂ“ The Phantom Menace, from Obi-Wan Kenobi's point of view.

The saga begins