The Wiggles (partially lost widescreen versions of children's videos; 2002-2004)
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 global popularity and their albums, videos, television shows and tours would become hugely successful. From 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 remained unseen.
On July 22nd, 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 but squished to 4:3 and showcased various different shots that weren't used in the final video. The video would be released in Australia on September 30th, 2002, and in North America on May 6th, 2003. The footage used for these releases are in the 4:3 ratio with the exception of the Australian VHS where it's cropped to 14:9 instead. 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 a few times on ABC-TV in Australia and the footage used in the airings was in 14:9 based of two VHS Recordings done on a 4:3 TV. [3]. When the video was uploaded to The Wiggles official YouTube channel in August 2020, the 14:9 Master used for the ABC-TV airings and VHS release was used. As of 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
Songs
Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins!
The second video to be shot in widescreen is Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins! and was filmed during production on Series 3. 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 in 14:9 But when the Whoo Hoo! video came out, the footage was cropped down to 4:3. Additionally, like Wiggle Bay, the video aired on ABC-TV a few times. [4] However, no recordings of these airings have surfaced. In May 2021, two minutes and fifty-three seconds of the video in 14:9 widescreen surfaced on YouTube by user WigglesFan12347. In the description, he alleges the cropped version was on iTunes for a short time but has since been removed[5]. This claim remains unconfirmed. On August 23rd, 2021, the group uploaded a compilation of songs about Dressing Up. Among the songs shown was the song Hats from Whoo Hoo! from the 14:9 version of the video that has never been seen before. Four days later, another song from 14:9 print, Dressing Up was uploaded as part of another compilation of songs dedicated to Dressing Up.
Trailer
Songs
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
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 25th, 2019. As of the writing of this article, it is the only video to have its widescreen version released to the public.
External Links
- Wigglepedia page for Wiggle Bay
- Wigglepedia page for Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins!
- Wigglepedia page for Top of the Tots
- Wigglepedia page for Santa's Rockin'!
See Also
TV
- The Wiggles Live at Disneyland (found Australian TV special; 1998)
- The Wiggles (partially found alternate versions of episodes of children's show; 1998-2011)
- The Wiggles Series One (partially lost deleted scenes of children's live action series; 1997-1998)
- The Wiggles Show (partially found animated songs from children's show; mid 2000s)
- The Wiggles (lost unaired ABC pilot featuring children's group; 1995)
- The Wiggles Show (found Latin American adaptation of children's series; 2006)
- Let's Wiggle (partially found short series for children's band; 1997-1999)
- The Wiggles (partially found Taiwanese adaptation of children's series; 2003-2007)
- Wiggle and Learn (lost unreleased original version of children's TV series; 2006)
- A Wiggly Postcard from Asia (rumored/lost TV special of The Wiggles tour; existence unconfirmed; 2003)
- Dorothy The Dinosaur (unreleased fourth season of children's TV series; 2016)
Concerts
- The Wiggles Big Show (partially lost footage of Melbourne performance; 1997)
- Wiggly Party Live in Concert (partially found footage of Vodafone Arena performance; 2001)
- Yule Be Wiggling Christmas Show (lost footage of The Wiggles live performance; 2000; existence unconfirmed)
- Toot Toot Show! (partially lost footage of The Wiggles performance; 1998)
- The Wiggles - NASA (lost footage of National Aeronautics and Space Administration performance; 2004)
- Santa's Rockin'! Live In Concert (partially found footage of Sydney Entertainment Centre performance; 2004)
- Wiggly Safari Show (partially found footage of The Wiggles performances; 2002)
- Wiggledancing! Live On Stage (partially found pro-shot recordings of concert tour; 2006)
- Greatest Hits In The Round (partially lost Acer Arena performance of The Wiggles; 2010)
- Christmas Celebration (lost footage of The Wiggles final performance; 2012)
- The Wiggles LIVE In Concert Tsunami Relief Benefit Concert (partially found footage of Indian Ocean earthquake fundraiser performance; 2005)
- The Wiggly Big Show Tour (lost footage of "The Wiggles" live performance; 1999)
- The Wiggles Reunion Show (partially lost footage of Melbourne performance; 2016)
- Sailing Around The World Live! (partially lost recordings of The Wiggles tour; 2005-2006)
- Pop Go The Wiggles Show (partially found footage of The Wiggles tour; 2007)
- Big Red Car Tour (partially found footage of The Wiggles concert tour; 1995-1996)
- The Wiggles (lost video recordings from Wonderland Sydney concert; 2001)
Videos
- Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas (partially found original version of music video from album; 1996)
- Wake Up Jeff! (partially found original version of Wiggles video; 1996)
- A Wiggle Tale: Dorothy the Dinosaur Goes to Hospital (found promotional VHS tape; 1999)
- Getting Strong! (partially found original version of Wiggles video; 2006)
- Dancing Ride (found The Wiggles music video; 2001)
- LIVE Hot Potatoes! (found uncut version of Wiggles video; 2005)
- Overture Introductions (lost pre-show videos from The Wiggles tour; 2004)
- The Wiggles (partially found unreleased music videos of children's group; 2000s-2020s)
- Toot Toot! (found original version of The Wiggles video; 1998)
- Pop Go The Wiggles (lost unreleased version of The Wiggles video; existence unconfirmed; 2006)
Music
- Get Ready To Wiggle! (lost "The Wiggles" UK album; 1999)
- The Wiggles Show (partially lost songs from Latin American children's series; 2006)
- The Wiggles (partially lost re-recorded instrumentals of Australian children's band; 2000s)
References
- ↑ https://instagram.com/p/CRo0MgiHC8c/
- ↑ https://wiggles.fandom.com/wiki/Lights,_Camera,_Action,_Wiggles!_(TV_Series)
- ↑ https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wiggles/images/f/ff/WiggleBayAspectRatioComparison.png/revision/latest?cb=20161128032331
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040205094215/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200402/highlights/223049.htm
- ↑ https://youtu.be/T4qslCogv1Q
- ↑ https://youtu.be/hV9MYxRQ0Dc
- ↑ https://youtu.be/NEW5Eab_IYE