The Wiggles (partially lost widescreen versions of children's videos; 2002-2004)

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TheWigglesLogo-FlatSparkled.png

The group's logo from Series 3.

Status: Partially Lost

The Wiggles is a popular children's group that formed in 1991 in Sydney, Australia. They are known for their hits Hot Potato, Get Ready To Wiggle, Fruit Salad and many others. Between 1991 and 1998, they mostly released albums and videos and toured heavily and would gain popularity in Australia. By the turn of the century, the group gained globe popularity and their albums, videos, television shows and tours would become hugely successful. From the 1991 to 2001, a lot of their videos and television shows were filmed in 4:3 aseptic ratio and for their next videos and television shows starting in early 2002, they would shoot a lot of them in 16:9 widescreen. But their first few videos shot in widescreen were released on home video in 4:3 and have largely remain unseen.

On July 22, 2021, Anthony Field addressed the unreleased 16:9 videos in a comment on an Instagram post by user wigglesenthusiasts2. Field said "I’ll have the good Sir Leslie look@into this when I find him!!!", meaning the 16:9 videos could see a release in the future.[1]

Wiggle Bay

Wiggle Bay was the first video to be shot in widescreen and is their fifth video shot on location. The first trailer for the video was released on the Wiggly Safari VHS in Australia. The footage shown in the trailer is in widescreen and showcased various different shots that weren't used in the final video. The video would be released in Australia on September 30, 2002 and in North America on May 6, 2003. The footage used for these releases are in the 4:3 ratio and the original widescreen footage was cropped down to fit the 4:3 ratio. When Series 3 premiered in Australia (which was the same day Wiggle Bay was released in Australia[2]), it was shot in 16:9 widescreen and songs from Wiggle Bay were used in the series and the footage used for the series is in 16:9 widescreen. The video also aired on ABC-TV in Australia on January 26, 2004 and the footage used in the airing was in the 16:9 widescreen version but a bit cropped[3]. When the video was uploaded to The Wiggles official YouTube channel in August 2020, the footage from the ABC-TV airing was used. As of right now the only footage from the widescreen version of Wiggle Bay is the trailer from the Wiggly Safari VHS and various episodes from Series 3.

Trailer

Wiggle Bay promo (Widescreen)

Songs

Wiggle Bay

Dancing In The Sand

Swim Like A Fish

C'est Wags, C'est Bon

Dance A Cachuca

Rolling Down The Sandhills/Running Up The Sandhills

Let's Make Some Rosy Tea

Zing Zang Wing Wang Wong

Watching The Waves

Let's Have A Barbie On The Beach

Swim Like A Fish (Instrumental)

Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins!

The second video to be shot in widescreen is Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins! and was filmed after production on Series 3 wrapped. Many songs from Series 3 were carried over into Whoo Hoo! and were previously in widescreen. The first trailer for the video was released on the Australian release of Space Dancing! and was visibly in widescreen. But when the Whoo Hoo! video came out, the footage was cropped down to 4:3. Additionally, the video aired on ABC-TV on February 2, 2004, [4] and the widescreen version was used. However, no recordings of this airing have surfaced. In May 2021, two minutes and fifty-three seconds of the video in cropped widescreen surfaced on YouTube by user WigglesFan12347. In the description, he alleges the cropped widescreen version was on iTunes for a short time but has since been removed[5]. This claim remains unconfirmed. On August 23, 2021, the group uploaded a compilation of songs about Dressing Up. Among the songs shown was the song Hats from Whoo Hoo! from the 16:9 version of the video that has never been seen before. Four days later, another song from 16:9 print, Dressing Up was uploaded as part of another compilation of songs dedicated to Dressing Up.

Trailer

Previews from the Australian Space Dancing VHS (Whoo! Hoo! promo at 1:10)

Songs

Camera One

Gulp Gulp

Testing, One, Two, Three

Bit By Bit (We're Building A Set)

Vegetable Soup

Hats

Music With Murray

Lights, Camera, Action, Wiggles!

Dressing Up

Where's Jeff?

Anthony's Workshop

Dressing Up compilation video with Hats in 16:9 at 11:23

Second Dressing Up compilation video with Dressing Up in 16:9 at 53:50

Top Of The Tots

Top of The Tots was the third video to be shot in widescreen. The only trailer for the video that can be found is for the North American release and the footage used in the trailer is in 4:3[6]. The video was released in both Australia and North America in the 4:3 format. The songs from the widescreen version were used in Series 4. Unlike before, the video did not air on ABC-TV and it's unknown if it ever did.

Songs

Bow Wow Wow

Central Park, New York

Cowboys and Cowgirls

Fly Through The Sky

I Wave My Arms And Swing My Baton

New York Firefighter

Picking Flowers

Say Aah at the Doctors

Feeling Chirpy

Lettuce Sing (Fresh Fruit And Veggies)

Let's Go Swimming

The Bricklayers Song

Calling All Cows

Tick Tock (All Night Long)

Can You Dig It?

Knead Some Dough

Open Wide Look Inside At The Dentist

Santa's Rockin'!

Santa's Rockin'! is the next video to be shot in widescreen only that it wasn't used for series 4 and the video's widescreen status was unknown until the Hot Potatoes! The Best of The Wiggles compilation DVD was released in 2010 and the song Rockin' Santa was used and the footage used in the compilation was in widescreen[7]. The widescreen version of the video was confirmed to be on iTunes in Australia but got removed in 2016. However, a recording of the widescreen version when it was on iTunes surfaced on Dailymotion on September 25, 2019. As of the writing of this article, it is the only video to have its widescreen version released to the public.

Santa's Rockin'! (Widescreen)

External Links

See Also

TV

Concerts

Videos

Music

References