User blog:WigglesFan82/Getting Strong! Review

I've decided that every once in a while I'd write a review giving my opinions on Wiggles videos, new or old. Today I chose to look at Sam's debut as the yellow Wiggle (well, not counting Wiggledancing!), Getting Strong!

My first experience with this video wasn't a very good one. I had just heard of Greg leaving and was, like just about every Wiggles fan, pretty sad about that fact. However, I enjoyed Sam's singing of the Barcarolles in Santa's Rockin'! and Sailing Around the World, so I had high hopes and was sure he'd do pretty well. And my first impression of Sam as a Wiggle is also probably one of my least favorites.

After a long day of sitting around at school I was treated with the new Wiggles video the day it came out in America. It was a sort of belated birthday present as my birthday was the week before. The first time I watched it I loved it, as I always did with Wiggles videos, but my second time watching I felt something wasn't right. Actually, a lot of things weren't right. It had nothing to with Sam himself, he did fine with what he needed to do, but the whole video just felt off. And that's because of the awkward transition The Wiggles tried to take in becoming more educational. Obviously, this failed as the then-planned Wiggle and Learn video series was cut short at this one, instead becoming just another Wiggles TV series without much of a focus on educating at all anymore.

The first part of the video focuses on Health and Physical Development. Already, this is a bad sign. Anthony's usual antics of eating all the food at the party, or making himself the biggest sandwich might as well all go swirling down the drain because The Wiggles have become health-conscious. There's nothing wrong with teaching kids about about being healthy, in fact I think it's something people need to teach, but it just doesn't seem like The Wiggles anymore. I get the feeling that this mostly came from Anthony, Murray, and Greg (who did help write this video originally) all being parents by this point, and with experience in being parents they became worried they were conveying the wrong message by always having Anthony eating, so they slowly converted the focus of food on Fruits and Veggies, until this point when half the message they're giving in a video was about eating healthy. But it's not just about eating right, they also teach kids about the fun of exercising, hence the title, Getting Strong. And all things considered, I don't think they needed to. As someone who tried dancing to an entire Wiggles video lately, let me tell you, it was a good enough work out on its own. They sing songs about playing a ball game (Sporting Salsa), different parts of the body (Hands on Your Ears, Fingers Standing Very Tall), the five senses (The Five Senses) and a bird flying around...for some reason (come on guys, if you're going to make a theme stick to it). And really, none of these songs are very memorable. They're well written I guess, but seriously, when was the last time you found yourself humming Smell Your Way Through the Day or Everybody Hop/Skip/Jump?

The second part of the video is about Language and Literacy, and this is where they really start to get off-topic. All these songs do still teach something I suppose, but trust me when I say Beach, Beach, Sandy Beach and I Spy has nothing to do with Language or Literacy. As far as stuff The Wiggles can teach I'd say this fits the style of their previous videos a bit better, but it still all seemed out of place at the time. This is the superior segment of the two, but honestly I'd say it's just because the songs are more catchy. Some of the songs they sing are about different languages (Konnichi Wa/Ciao/Hola/Yiasou Everybody), descriptive words (The Biggest Smile of All), and rhyming (One, Two, Three, Four Rhymes). This section begins with The Wiggles saying some of the songs they sing will tell stories, but the only one that does is the one that follows them saying this, A Frog Went a Walking. When I first saw them sing this song I couldn't help but wonder why they would make a new version when they just had used this in a video the year before (It's Time to Wake Up Jeff!), but since that was from 1996 I guess updating it felt natural (though this version is definitely worse, but tolerable). My point is, I guess when they started writing this they had storytelling in mind more, but that idea just got lost as the script went on.

Personally, my favorite songs from Getting Strong weren't even in the video. To Have a Tea Party, Follow the Leader, Swinging on a Swing, First in Line, and We're All Friends are all great songs that were featured in the album but were ditched for the video because they didn't have anything to do with the themes they chose. Luckily they got their chance to shine in You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, but why they left the best songs in the album out of the video still kind of baffles me. Another thing to bring up with this videos is the heavy use of green screens. I don't think there was a single scene in this video that was shot on an actual set other than Dorothy's intro to segment 2. There were actual props used like the table, a shelf, things that they actually interact with, but the rest is all digital paintings they filled in later. And sadly this is a trend that continued until Hot Poppin' Popcorn, and then again in Hot Potatoes and Let's Eat. I understand why they did this, then they could use a lot more locations (all of which are detailed, I'll give them that), but they just needed to film some songs outside or in a real set every once in a while. While it got a lot of hate, I personally liked the beachside locations used in Series 5 and the 2006 videos. They didn't really make sense for the most part but it at least showed that The Wiggles are real people who go outside and have fun, and the nice Wigglehouse set showed they lived in a realistic(ish) house they can actually interact with and do things in. In this video it just feels like 4 guys, some extras, a green sheet, and an experienced editing team. Looking at the few images and videos we have from the original version with Greg, this was all to be filmed on a set, and probably some stuff outside as well. Why when Greg left they decided to replace all that with a green screen I have no idea.

Luckily things got better with the videos that followed. Pop Go The Wiggles, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, and Sing a Song of Wiggles are among my favorite Wiggles videos of all time, but this just doesn't hit the same spot. And it's because this video was so different that I was turned off from The Wiggles for a long while. It wasn't until around Taking Off that my interest re-sparked and I was able to discover the other great Sam videos. Getting Strong is watchable, sure, but it just didn't feel like The Wiggles. It didn't at the time, and it still doesn't for the most part. If I were to give it a rating I'd say it's 2 out of 5 stars at best, 1.5 at worst. There were some catchy songs, but it just left a lot to be desired. And it just didn't feel right watching The Wiggles sloppily transition into (and subsequently out of) a more educational mindset. Let me know your opinions in the comments and if you all liked this review I'll do more and hopefully get some good discussions started on other videos.