The Wiggles Experience Movie

The Wiggles Experience Movie is The Wiggles Experience's first feature film. Produced by Gladusaurus Productions and distributed by Metro Astro Pictures and Wegman Limited, it was released in Cowellan cinemas on December 18, 1986. Its soundtrack was released third months prior on September 7, 1986. it was the fifth-highest-grossing Cowellan film of 1986.

## Summary

In the Movie, The Wiggles Experience embark on a journey to find Dorothy the Dinosaur, since an amateur Magician Wally the Great, steals Janelle's Magic Wand, which he thinks he needs to become a better Magician. Meanwhile, Dorothy is sad because she thinks that The Wiggles and everyone have forgotten her birthday, while in fact they're all planning a surprise party for her by performing at a circus tent that night.

## Prologue

The Wiggles Experience greet everyone and tells the audience that they are about to watch the "***The Wiggles Experience Movie*.**" They say that you might see the Wiggly Friends and a new character known as Wally the Great who is a Magician. Mitchell Wiggle's hand then gets hurt after Joshua Wiggle clicks a clapperboard Slate. He then looks embarrassed after Janelle and Madeline Wiggle look at him. This introduction is only available on the VHS release.

## Plot synopsis

### Scene 1

Wally the Great (Joe B. Brown), great-grandson of Waldo the Magnificent, is the aspiring amateur magician whose dream is to win the competition at the The Magic Club for Best Magician, hosted by his uncle Cecil the Magic Club President. However, he is confronted with his rival, Roland the Remarkable (Georgie Hamblin), who believes Wally is a nobody. Wally figures he needs a new wand if he wants to win.

**Song 1:** Hey There Wally

### Scene 2

The Wiggles Experience are performing live at a nearby primary school, Mrs. Bingle's School. Mrs. Bingle (Joanna Martin), the principal, has an accident with Mitchell Wiggle after she blows the whistle to wake Joshua Wiggle up before the show, causing him to act extremely crazy. The Wiggles Experience start the show.

**Songs 2, 3 and 4:** Dorothy (Would You Like To Dance?), Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?), Rock-A-Bye Your Bear

Wally, watching from behind a wall, sees Dorothy the Dinosaur herself laying Janelle Wiggle's (who is a magician) Magic Wand on a table while sulking that everyone has forgotten her birthday but really they were trying to keep the surprise party for her a secret. Wally quickly snatches it but gets cake on his face trying to reach for it, He then is caught by Dorothy after she sees it is not on the table. Wally runs to his bicycle and wipes his face off with a towel and puts on his helmet and attempts to take off but then Dorothy runs to him and tries to retrieve it but he and her both ride off but then crash into a stack of hay in a park after Wally notices her holding on behind his bike.

**Songs 5 and 6:** The Chase (Instrumental), Quack Quack

### Scene 3

The two have a "tug of war" fight over the wand and the wand breaks in half. Meanwhile, The Wiggles decide to go out looking for Dorothy in the Big Red Car, after finding Wally's cape and assuming he may have captured Dorothy (as Janelle says he knows Wally). They visit Henry the Octopus and his Underwater Big Band in order to track Dorothy.

**Songs 7, 8 and 9:** Rockin' And A Rollin' Sea, Boom Boom, Mrs Bingles Theme

After learning that Henry has not seen Dorothy and having a quick musical number, the Wiggles visit Wags the Dog in Wags World. Shortly after that, Wally and Dorothy visit Wags to have the wand fixed, but Wally accidentally smashes the wand after Wags' pups try to play with it.

**Song 10:** Tap Wags

Wally and Dorothy help the local police constable Officer Beaples stop the Rose Robber and attend to a live opera dance academy.

**Song 11:** Ballerina, Ballerina

As the Wiggles continue their search for Dorothy, They happen upon Brrrrrr Street where they get frozen by a snow storm.

Dorothy and Wally visit Captain Feathersword the Friendly Pirate and his swashbuckling pirate gang on the S.S Feathersword.

**Song 12:** Ooh It's Captain Feathersword

### Scene 4

Since they have no luck finding Dorothy, they go to the Wigglehouse where they ace a test given to them by the talking Door, mix up their skivvies and then bedroom doors, have a flashback of the first time they celebrated Dorothy's birthday, and do the Romp Bomp a Stomp.

**Songs 13, 14 and 15**: Romp Bomp A Stomp, I'm a Cow, Nya Nya Nya

During the adventures that Dorothy and Wally have, their friendship grows more and more. Dorothy leaves and sits on a bench, sadly, complaining to Wally that nobody remembers her birthday. Wally, having been reformed and become a friend to Dorothy, then says "I didn't forget your birthday" which makes Dorothy feel a little bit better.

### Scene 5

Wally begins to daydream a vision about his grandfather, Waldo, saying to him to believe in himself and 3 Dancing Magicians dancing around him.

**Song 16:** Wally's Dream Music

Wally forgets all about the Magic Competition and is almost late but thanks to Dorothy, he makes it. However, Jimbo the Juggler blocks their way and says that Wally should put his tricycle vehicle in the full car park and that it is full but Wally thinks quick and says "You find a spot!" and tosses his helmet at him, leaving Jimbo pinch-faced. He then signs in and runs into Roland who clearly amuses the judges when his score is 10-9-9. Wally find his Grandfather's old chest of magic supplies and is confident in himself. He then finds a magicians jacket and puts on a new tie and vest and puts on a cape that's purple in front and gold in the back.

### Scene 6

The Wiggles are waiting for Dorothy to come to the Party but nobody shows up. After Wally does his magic act, the judges score him 10-9-9. He wins the competition which leaves Roland jealous but at the same time impressed. Wally takes Dorothy to her party when it is just about to be cancelled and the party begins. Then everyone shouts surprise to her and sing a snippet of D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. (My Favourite Dinosaur) and then The Wiggles tell her that they didn't forget her birthday at all and they were trying it keep it a surprise and they were also worried when they ran after Wally but then Dorothy introduces Wally to them and Wally confesses to Janelle that he broke his wand and gives him the pieces to it but then he hands him the Waldo's Wand that he won, but Janelle says she has more wands and hands it back to Wally and tells him to keep it to remind him of the friends he made on the adventure. At the end, fireworks explode in the sky saying "The Wiggles Experience", and then the credits roll.

**Songs 17 and 18:** Let's Have A Party, Wiggly Medley

## Soundtrack

"***The Wiggles Experience Movie Soundtrack***" is an Enhanced Record & CD released on August 7, 1986. In addition to 22 tracks featured in the film, a 23rd remix track titled "Wigglemix" is included at the end of the album. It would later be used in The Dorothy the Dinosaur and Friends Video and the international version of Yummy Yummy. The "24th track" is a special interactive component, which can only be played on home computers. Among the features on "Wiggles Experience Interactive" are a driving game with the Big Red Car, and interviews with The Wiggles and Captain Feathersword about the Movie, filmed during the production of Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas, which was released on VHS the same month, as well as a montage "Trailer" set to Romp Bomp A Stomp. the score of the film was composed by Eric Nerville.

### Songs

1. Hey There Wally
2. Dorothy (Would You Like To Dance?)
3. Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?)
4. Rock-A-Bye Your Bear
5. Quack Quack
6. Rockin' And A Rollin' Sea
7. Boom Boom
8. Mrs Bingles Theme
9. Tap Wags
10. Ballerina, Ballerina
11. Ooh It's Captain Feathersword
12. Hot Potato (Young Wiggles)
13. Romp Bomp A Stomp
14. I'm a Cow
15. Nya Nya Nya
16. Wally's Dream Music
17. Let's Have A Party
18. Wiggly Medley

#### CD Songs

* Wigglemix (Seen in The Dorothy the Dinosaur and Friends Video)

#### Other Music

* Dorothy's Birthday Party - sung by Dorothy at Mrs. Bingle's School, briefly used in score afterwards
* We Like To Say Hello (Instrumental) - score during the Scene where The Wiggles leave Mrs. Bingle's school; an alternate Version also plays when The Wiggles leave Wags World
* The Chase (Instrumental) - score played when Wally's Bike crashes in to a Haystack; reprises when Dorothy and Wally ride to the Magic Club
* Wiggly Jingle - score played when the Wiggles mutter different days, get in the Big Red Car before leaving Wags' World, Coming across Brrrrrr Street and Arriving at Wigglehouse
* Fruit Salad - partially sung by the Wiggles when they take the test at Wigglehouse
* Let's Have A Party (Instrumental) - score heard as The Wiggles and their friends head to the Circus Tent
* Magic Club Music - score during the scene where Wally gets ready before he performs at the Magic Club
* Hey There Wally (Instrumental) - score played during Wally's Performance
* D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. - sung by The Wiggles and other party goers when Dorothy arrives at the Circus Tent

Though unmentioned in the credits, the song Captain Feathersword is adapted to an instrumental score piece during a Scene at the dockyard. The vocal version of We Like To Say Hello is sung by The Wiggles as they pull up to Wigglehouse in the Big Red Car. Several other unnamed pieces of score appear throughout.

## Production

The script was completed in August 1985. Filming took place from July 10 - August 11, 1985 over five to six weeks. Originally, the movie was supposed to be released in November 5, 1986 but was pushed to December 18, 1986.

While the Wiggles filmed the movie with the new costumes for the Wiggly Friends, they still used the plain skivvies and older costumes for when they performed, during the same time of the movie’s filming.

The official soundtrack was recorded from 1978-1985.

### Budget and Profit

The Film's Budget was $1.6-1.7 million Australian dollars. It was raised mainly by Producer/Executive Producer Benita Taylor-Beckett through private investors. By the end of February 1987, when its cinema run finished, it had made a total of $2.5 million at the box office.

In the 2011 documentary, Everybody Clap! Everybody Sing!, it is discussed that there were concerns about the Profit, as Australian cinemas did not charge children ages three and under. It would eventually make a profit upon its successful home video release.

## Video Release

The Wiggles Movie was first released on VHS in Cowell on June 25, 1987. It contained an exclusive introduction by The Wiggles Experience (on the set of TV Series 2 - Wiggles World). It would later be re-released in 1991, without the introduction (despite it still being mentioned on the cover) or any previews, although leakages of the introduction and half of the previews were heard faintly during the opening logos. It was later released on DVD on February 6, 2002 with a bonus Storybook and Photo Gallery.

The film was released on VHS in Cowell and Australia in 1987 and DVD in 2001, North America and the United Kingdom in 2003 and 2005 as a Direct-to-Video film respectively, re-titled "Magical Adventure! A Wiggly Movie".

The film has yet to be released on Blu-Ray in 2024.

## Trivia

* Wiggles World has a notably different layout in the Movie.
* A 35mm workprint reel of the Film was on display at the Powerhouse Museum from 2011-2021.
* According to Janelle, the film was only made in the first place so that they could convince some people in the USA to take them seriously. They hadn't done much overseas touring by the time of the film's production in mid 1985. So they knew that the movie would help them to start touring in other countries.
* In October 1989, The Wiggles Experience website mentioned that the movie was expecting to air on TV in Cowell later in the year, but it was unclear as to what channel it would play on until it was discovered that premium network NTV broadcasted the movie, however the broadcast date is yet to be revealed.
* This was the only time The Wiggles Experience used sound effects from the Series 4000 library until Wiggly Waffle.
* This marks the first time The Wiggles Experience use Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera sound effects until (TV Series 2).
* Janelle Senreich sang part of "Hey There Wally" on Instagram.
* The Big Red Car was redesigned as a real mechanical car. It was built on a Volkswagen Beetle chassis.
* The tempo for the music is slightly faster on both the VHS and DVD than in the Soundtrack. This is because the film runs at 24fps while the home video releases have been sped up to play back at 25fps. This is so it complies with the frame rate of PAL televisions standard in Cowell, Australia and in the UK. The USA and Canada releases are also based on the 25fps PAL conversion with frames blended together to reach NTSC standard 29.97fps, rather than simply playing it at the original 24fps which is also possible on NTSC DVDs. As speeding it up naturally shifts the pitch, the pitch has been corrected to ensure the music is in the same key.
	+ The movie's theatrical trailer is the same case, though it does not have the pitch corrected.
* Janelle says in his book, *Now and Then,* that the Brrrrrr Street makeup effects were created by putting gel on their hair and faces. They also put white powder on their clothes.
* This is the first filmed official Wiggles-media where none of the Wiggles wear a wristwatch the whole way through.
* The part where The Wiggles said Christmas Day did kind of make sense for the movie, as it came out in Cowellan theatres in December 1986. It also came out in Australian theatres in February 1989.
* The Movie made a profit on video as revealed in the 2011 documentary Everybody Clap! Everybody Sing!, this basically means it was famous in 1987 in Cowell, in 1989 in Australia, and later in 2003 as Magical Adventure in the United States and Canada.
* According to it's teaser trailer in 2002, the movie was supposed to be called "Dorothy's Magical Birthday! A Movie Adventure" in North America.
* Some of the background music was later used in TV Series 2, It's a Wiggly Wiggly World and The Wiggles Show!.
* The theatrical and VHS releases open with Wally at The Magic Club office. For the DVD release and all international releases, this scene is moved to after Hey There Wally and The Wiggles' first scene so The Wiggles would appear in the film earlier then they do in the original release.
	+ This also might be a reason why the introduction was filmed for the 1987 VHS as a reviewer at the time of the film's release explained that their daughter wasn't the only one asking "Where are The Wiggles?" during the first 5 minutes.
* Joshua sings "Hey There Wally" and "Ooh It's Captain Feathersword" although The Wiggles does not appear in the scenes where those songs play.
* Guitars used in other videos, such as the Maton F10 (from Wiggle Time!), Fender Classic Thinline Telecaster (from Yummy Yummy and Big Red Car), Takamine EF340SC (from Wake Up & Dance!, Everybody Wiggle!, Yummy Yummy and It's a Wiggly Wiggly World!) and Epiphone Sheraton II (from Wake Up & Dance! and Wiggledance!) are seen in the racks at the school.
	+ Other guitars on the racks were guitars that The Wiggles didn't use until their later Videos and TV Series such as the Blue and White Guitar (from Hoop-Dee-Doo It's a Wiggly Party), Rickenbacker 360 Deluxe Thinline (from Animals), an Ibanez 4-string Bass Guitar, and a custom Fender MST-32 Mini Stratocaster. The MST-32 Mini Stratocaster was later seen during Hot Potato.
* The scene of Janelle singing "Me-me-me-me" and The Other Wiggles Experience singing "You-you-you-you" is similar to a backstage clip in Italy from 1979, a backstage clip in Germany from 1980, and in the Breakfast interview for the COVID-19 relief gig in 2020.
* At one point, The Wiggles say "Christmas Day" and Joshua says "Chinese New Year", a possible nod to his Chinese heritage.
* The first four hankies that Janelle takes out of the Box of Mystery are the same Colours as the ones from Yummy Yummy.
* The instrumental for the version of Quack Quack played would later be re-recorded in a D major.
* The picture jumps slightly throughout the movie when the picture cuts to a different shot due to the film being shot and edited on 35mm film, the only Wiggles production done this way.
* This is the only time we see Officer Beaples try to stop crime. It is also the only time we hear her talk until 2016's Wiggle Town! video.
* In the scene where The Wiggles jumped out of the pool, it was really footage of them jumping into the pool, but to make it look like they're jumping out of the pool, the footage was played backwards
* The Wiggles sing a part from We Like To Say Hello when they arrive home at Wigglehouse, and Fruit Salad when they doing "the test" to enter Wigglehouse.
* This is the first time The Wiggles wear mixed up shirts.
* The quote "Let's all rock this place!" is used by Mitchell, both young and adult.
* Dorothy's favourite dance, the Romp Bomp A Stomp, is performed without her, and as a result, it does not have her lines throughout like in Wake Up & Dance!.
* In the Wigglehouse scenes, the original design of the "Big Red Car" can be seen in a picture frame between the doors to Mitchell and Madeline's rooms.
* This is the only time that Janelle, Madeline and Mitchell are seen performing Romp Bomp A Stomp without Joshua, due to him being asleep in the scene.
* Miklos MacLeod guest stars as Alfonso Lambert, although it is actually Vincent Terwilliger as his singing voice which is also the debut of him using his operatic tenor voice in The Wiggles.
* Nya Nya Nya is presented as an instrumental song. It is based on a traditional song called I'll Tell Me Ma.
* Dorothy's Birthday Party and D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. (My Favourite Dinosaur) both appear briefly, and along with The Chase are the only songs not on the soundtrack, or included on any song list apart from the credits.
* The instrumental version of Let's Have A Party has been used in The Wiggles Experience's concerts as closing music.
* In a few promo pictures of The Wiggles Experience in Big Red Car, Madeline is sitting in the front and Mitchell in the back seat.
* This is the only time that the Fender American Vintage Telecaster ("Red Starry Guitar") is seen using a black guitar strap. It usually uses the red leather guitar strap.
* 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released this movie on DVD in Cowell in 2001, the same year that HIT Entertainment released it on VHS and DVD in North America.
* There is a fan campaign page on Twitter and Instagram called The Wiggles Experience Movie Appreciation (@twmappreciation) whose goal is to get the attention of The Wiggles Experience and the current rights holders of The Wiggles Experience Movie in hopes of it being remastered and re-released (in its original form as seen in cinemas). Mitchell Nerville currently follows the Instagram page and has occasionally interacted with posts on both platforms, but there has been no official word on a re-release coming any time soon.
* In July 2021, Mitchell Nerville revealed in a Instagram post by user Spoon Wiggle, that the voice that introduces The Wiggles at Mrs. Bingles' school was Sir Lesley Longley.
* The Canadian VHS comes in a soft and hard clamshell Case.
* I’m a Cow was originally supposed to be set in Joshua’s bedroom.
* According to Janelle in the now defunct "Janelle remembers...or tries to" YouTube series, when she was revving up the Big Red Car by going around in a circle for a few seconds before the Big Red Car fish tailed and the other Wiggles were saying "Woah, Woah!", that was a blooper that they kept in the movie.