With the Wiggles delayed by car trouble, that annoying bastard Captain Feathersword takes over the reigns at Network Wiggles as they prepare to shoot a new television show. But no matter how hard the Captain, or the Wiggles’ more padded friends, try to get things going, nothing seems to be working as it should. There’s blue-screen pranks, tangles in the electrical chords, faulty magic buttons, all kinds of tomfoolery. When the Wiggles finally arrive they start to get the sets and equipment in order, however soon it becomes apparent that those mischievous Wiggly Gremlins have been at play! But once the cat is out of the bag, the Gremlins pitch in, and The Wiggles and their friends are able to get their wiggly show in the can.

Filmed on the set of their television show Lights! Camera! Action! Wiggles! (that is co-produced with the ABC), Wiggly Gremlins is basically a filler plot that’s been written and recorded so as to glue together as many of the songs produced (and filmed) for the series as possible into a more traditional Wiggles video release. Apart from maybe Gulp, Gulp - a song about the advantages of water consumption that I haven’t seen played on Lights! Camera! Action! Wiggles! - all the songs here have either featured on, or are a segment theme song, for the series:

Basically, you should be warned that your little ones may well have seen and heard these songs many, many times before. On the other hand, however, if they’re huge fans of Lights! Camera! Action! Wiggles! then it’s just possible they will love Wiggly Gremlins.

For my part, however, although I can hardly blame the Wiggles for wanting to release as much of their material as possible in this most consumable of forms, I found the quality of this release really left me wanting. While the songs themselves are certainly on par with the group’s extensive back-catalogue, the story itself is half-baked at best and it really shows. I mean if the guys want to release a video based around the content of their television series, then call it Network Wiggles and go for it with my blessing. But why invent these half-arsed gremlins and a pissy plot? I can only surmise it’s so as to give the release any title other than Network Wiggles - and that can only mean that a DVD release of the series itself isn’t far away…

Presented on a single-sided, single-layer disc from Roadshow, Wiggly Gremlins continues the high standard that we have come to expect from ABC for Kids releases. With the source material a mixture of bright exteriors, dim pre-show studios, and the bright-lights of television in the making, the relative quality of the image varies markedly during the presentation. During the exteriors, sharpness is high and detail is good. However as the image moves into the studio, shadows reduce the relative detail, as does the predominance of wide-shots. Even the faces of various Wiggles are lost in the haze; magically appearing again as camera pans from a wide to a middle shot. On the plus side, with its relatively minor set dressing, aliasing is not a concern this time around and the transfer itself is as technically perfect as we’ve come to expect from Roadshow. Colours and black level are rendered beautifully, and there's not a hint of compression related artefacts.

Predominantly composed of music tracks, Wiggly Gremlins provides a solid, stock-standard stereo audio track. The mix is serviceable, yet unremarkable, with little front channel separation and no surround or subwoofer usage. Subtitles for the hearing impaired are also provided, and these again meet the high standards set by previous ABC for Kids releases.

In terms of extras, there’s just over a half an hour of extra material that your kids will certainly enjoy. Of biggest interest will be the bonus episode of the television series Lights! Camera! Action! Wiggles! that is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and looks much better than the feature presentation itself. I’ve definitely seen this episode on the ABC before and, apart from being a little heavier on the songs than many of the other episodes, it gives a good feel for the content of the entire series (just in case your one of the only parents in Australia not to know it by heart). Second is the addition of two bonus songs from Lights! Camera! Action! Wiggles! - the pretty neat The Dancing Flowers, and the awfully naff Go to Sleep Jeff (Brahm’s Lullaby). Lastly we are provided with a photo gallery containing 73 still images from on the set of Lights! Camera! Action! Wiggles!.