Let’s Wiggle (TV Series 1)

The Wiggles Experience’s first TV Series Let’s Wiggle premiered on EBN in Cowell in February 7, 1983-May 2, 1983.

Every episode contains three songs, and the segments Kaz the Cat, Wigglehouse, a Henry the Octopus puppet show, and Captain Featherswords Pirate Show.

It was filmed in mid/late 1982, and as such the sets are very similar, especially Wigglehouse, Wags World and Captain Feathersword's Dockyard. The exterior of Wigglehouse remains pink and orange in the episode Muscle Woman Murray, but was repainted to blue and orange in all its other appearances.

The songs used in the series are primarily taken from Let's Wiggle! (1974 video) and Yummy Yummy (1976 video), with every studio song from both videos appearing once. Some music videos especially filmed for the series also appeared infrequently, as well as songs filmed live in concert.

## Episodes

Episodes range from 22 minutes and 23 minutes in length.

1. Mitchell's Funny Friend (February 7, 1983)
2. Foodman (February 14, 1983)
3. Madeline's Shirt (February 21, 1983)
4. Building Blocks (February 28, 1983)
5. Joshua the Mechanic (March 7, 1983)
6. Lilly (March 14, 1983)
7. Zardo Zap (March 21, 1983)
8. The Party (March 28, 1983)
9. Wiggle Opera (April 4, 1983)
10. Haircut (April 11, 1983)
11. Musclewoman Madeline (April 18, 1983)
12. Spooked Wiggles (April 25, 1983)
13. Funny Janelle (May 2, 1983)

## Format

Every episode was structured to a specific format, which consisted of the following:

### Opening Intro

The shows theme was a special recording of the second verse of "Get Ready To Wiggle". Each Wiggle and their friends get their own introduction. It includes a lot of alternate takes or unused footage, most notably a "Balloon Chase" scene and a video for "Romp Bomp A Stomp" which looks to have been filmed at the same time as other music videos used for the series.

The opening was unchanged throughout the series. Although a single frame of an alternate character card for Captain Feathersword can be seen at the end of his updated one in every episode, it was never used in its entirety, as even the original airing of the first episode is like this.

### Songs

There are three songs in every episode, one after the opening theme, one after the Wigglehouse segment, and one before the end credits. The first seven episodes feature songs only from the 1974 version of *Let's* *Wiggle!* and 1976 version of *Yummy Yummy*, while the next two also feature exclusive music videos for "Dorothy's Dance Party" (ep. 8), "My Old Man's A Dustman" and "O Epoe Tooki Tooki" (ep. 9). "Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car" from The Wiggles' newest video at the time, *Toot Toot!*, was featured in the 10th episode, while the last three episodes only feature songs performed live at a concert.

By the end of episode 10, all songs from *Let's Wiggle!*, *Yummy Yummy* and *Fun and Games* were used once. The only songs to appear twice in the series were "Hot Potato" and "Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep on His Pirate Ship (Quack Quack)", although their later appearances are different versions performed live (in fact, the live performance of "Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep on His Pirate Ship (Quack Quack)" is in a lower key like how it is in the movie).

Songs from *Yummy Yummy* have their title cards appear exactly as they do in that video. For most of the songs from *Wiggle Time!*, as well as two of the music videos made for the series, an exclusive S.S. Feathersword title banner was used, while concert songs had simple text floating across the screen. "Dorothy's Birthday Party", "Here Comes a Bear" and "Rock-A-Bye Your Bear". "Havenu Shalom Alechem" and "Lord Jim" were the only two songs not to feature a song title card at all.

Most of the songs from *Wiggle Time!* and *Yummy Yummy* use the footage from their final edits instead of their raw music videos (except for "Whenever I Hear This Music", "Joannie Works with One Hammer", "Walk", "Get Ready to Wiggle", "Shaky Shaky" and "Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes").

### Kaz the Cat

Kaz the Cat featured new characters, including Kaz herself, Max Mouse, Benjamin Bird and their friend, Carolyn. It is the simplest segment, mostly featuring the characters talking in the same location, as well as the shortest. It has its own unique theme song, sung by The Wiggles and Carolyn Ferrie.

Possibly due to poor reception to the Kaz characters, or wishing for Dorothy the Dinosaur to have a greater presence in the show (perhaps a bit of both), Kaz the Cat segments were dropped after the initial run on EBN, and all networks to run the series afterward, as well as all home video releases of the show replace them with segments showcasing kids doing things like painting and reading in kindergarten, as Dorothy tells of her visit to the school to Wags (neither character is seen, and Wags is never heard). These segments have no official title.

As the Kaz the Cat segments were used so rarely, they were largely considered lost for some time, but recently, all 13 Kaz the Cat segments have resurfaced online, with 12 in the form of VHS recordings of EBN airings of the original episodes and the segment from "Lilly" recorded from a screen via a camera.

### Wigglehouse

The Wiggles have adventures at their home, from throwing a party for the new schoolteacher, to famous actress Lilly Lavender searching for a new star, and even meeting the alien Zardo Zap. Simpler stories include Mitchell having fun with his "imaginary" friend Morty the invisible giant turtle, Madeline staining her red shirt and finding a new one, Joshua having to fix the Big Red Car before a concert, and Janelle losing her sense of humour.

The theme song is a brief part of "Get Ready To Wiggle", similar to the intro to the show, but in a different key.

### Henry the Octopus

Henry's life in the sea, as he conducts his underwater big band, teaches his friend Jacques about the stars, holds a sea circus and plays a rhyming game with all his friends. Henry's friends in the show include The Fishettes, Joey the Crab, The Catfish Brothers, Jacques the Shark, Tom the Purple Trout and Sam and Michael the Sea Snails, with all characters portrayed by puppets. It is narrated by Mitchell Nerville.

Its theme song is a short rendition of the song "Henry the Octopus".

### Captain Feathersword's Pirate Show

Featuring Captain Feathersword and Wags as they go to places like Pirate Park for a picnic, Slow Street while on a treasure hunt, and the beach to have a swim. The primary locations of the segment are Wags World and Captain Feathersword's Dock.

The theme song is adapted from "It's a Christmas Party, On The Goodship Feathersword".

### The Chase (end credits)

As the credits roll on, we see a character be chased by the others after they take something, such as Wags running off with a pink towel that had been hung up to dry, a butterfly flying away with a net after Wags tried to catch it (accidentally getting Dorothy in the process), and Captain riding away on a bike with a ball The Wiggles were playing a game of tennis with.

The segment has never officially been given a title, but has been named by after the instrumental song "The Chase" which plays throughout it. An extended version of the song would appear on the release of the *Fun and Games* album in 1980. The sequence is presented in a manner similar to chase sequences in the sketch comedy series, *The Benny Hill Show*.

## Trivia

* Production of this series primarily took place in early/mid 1982 and early December of the the same year.
* The series was filmed at CTC Renwick Centre, 8725 Harrison Street, Renwick, Emerald City, Cowell.
* In June 1982, the series was originally planned to be 26 episodes, but it was cut short to 13 episodes for unknown reason.
	+ It's also unknown if the next 13 episodes was written or not.
* The series was shown each week on EBN, first airing on Saturday at 3:30pm and then repeating on Tuesday at 10:30am.
* When the series first aired on EBN, episodes were scheduled in reverse order (starting with "Funny Janelle" instead of "Mitchell's Funny Friend").
* It was shown later on the Disney Channel in 1999, around which point Kaz the Catsegments began to be replaced by the kindergarten scenes.
* The series was shown on Nick Jr. in the UK in the late 2000's.
* A UK promo of this series was filmed on the same set as *Santa's Rockin'!*
* The theme song for this series was later used in the New Years' Eve Playhouse Disney 2002 promo, and the intro for The Wiggles Experience Take on the World 2006 documentary.
* This series was later uploaded on YouTube in 2020 as part of Classic Wiggles Experience.
* This was the second Wiggles series aired in America, specifically in 2002, after TV Series 2 debuted on Playhouse Disney first.
* This is to date the only Wiggles TV Series to have covers of Raffi, in Foodman, there was a cover of "Teddy Bear Hug" and in "Funny Janelle", there was a cover of "Baby Baluga".
	+ As such, this series is the only Wiggles video or television project with Raffi covers to be released in the USA before 2019.
* Every episode is named after a Wigglehouse segment.
* Paul Nerville voices the Trivia Announcer during Wigglehouse segments.
* Two of the background music pieces were later used in 2003 for *Space Dancing!* and The Taiwanese Wiggles version of this series.
* Footage of Madeline in the theme song is taken from *the 1980 video of Fun and Games*, specifically from "Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?)" and her introduction to "Spot the Dalmatian".
* Wigglehouse now has a garage attached. The garage's inside was never shown in the Series, though it was in the original 1998 version of *Toot Toot!*
* Clips from an unused "Chase" segment with Balloons, and an exclusive version of "Romp Bomp A Stomp" are shown in the Theme Song, but neither appear in any episode.
	+ It's worth noting that these are the only clips from "Chase" scenes or music videos to appear in the opening. This could mean they may have been shot just for the theme song, or that full versions of each were made but intentionally scrapped, and to make use of the footage, shots were put in the intro.
	+ Along with "Romp Bomp A Stomp", there is also a photo of The Wiggles seemingly performing "Fruit Salad" on the same sets that were used for the specially shot 1982 music videos.
* The Wigglehouse skits for "Musclewoman Madeline" and "Funny Janelle" were filmed first, in mid 1982 alongside the Chases, Pirate Show Skits and exclusively filmed songs before the rest of the series. In the mid 1982 filming:
	+ The Wiggles all wear black socks but wear ones matching their skivvy colours in all others.
	+ Janelle and Madeline both have their earrings and Janelle is wearing a watch.
	+ Wigglehouse's exterior appears pink in "Musclewoman Murray", like it was in *The Wiggles Experience Movie*, despite being blue in other appearances in the series.
* The rest of the series was filmed later in 1982 before the success of their 1982 Tour.
* This is the only series to have Wiggly Trivia questions until Ready, Steady, Wiggle!
* Sprout airings don't have the Wiggly Trivia.
* The opening theme uses a different instrumental track from the 1980 version, with the piano mostly resembling the 1965 and 1973 versions.
* The opening theme is 4% faster. It's also in the same speed when played in NTSC format.
* Mitchell Mallee, Hans Rey, Kim Willett and Margaret Henry are credited as child performers, but it is unclear where they appear.
* This, Wiggles World, The Wiggles Big World, Wiggly Fun and Wiggly Party never aired on CTC.
* Sprout airings had the Tennis Ball Chase in all of the episodes.
* The Wiggles Experience didn't use Hanna-Barbera sound effects yet at the time, so most of the sound effects were made by Joshua Taylor-Beckett, Harold Hester and/or Ben Henry David. Some of the other sound effects were from Sound Ideas Series 2000 and Warner Bros.
* Some Warner Bros sound effects in this series were later reused in Wiggles World, The Wiggles Big World, Wiggly Fun, Wiggly Party, A Wiggly Good Time, Lights, Camera, Action, Wiggles, and The Wiggles Show