This is the 6th season of The Wiggles, and the worst/least good season. It is also the only season with Sam, Greg's replacement from late 2006-late 2011. The 4 original Wiggles are my favorite lineup, partly because they're the Wiggles I grew up with the most and the ones I'm the most familiar with. When I think of The Wiggles, I normally think of Greg, Anthony, Murray, and Jeff. However, I grew up with Sam too and watched a lot of the episodes starring him as well, but I've watched a lot more of the Greg era. My feelings about Sam may seem biased based on what you've read so far, but there's more to why I feel the way I do about the Sam/Wiggle and Learn era. When I watched the spinoff, Wiggly Waffle, on Sprout for the first time, I was confused when Sam introduced himself. That was my first exposure to the Sam era. Both yellow wiggles look nearly identical; no wonder I thought Sam was Greg at first. I guessed either a) Sam would fill in for Greg when he was unavailable, or b) the latter left and got replaced by the former, the episodes with the latter were older ones, and the ones with the former were newer. Now I know b is the correct answer. I used to like the Sam era, but I never thought it was as good as the Greg/OG (Original) Wiggles era. It lacks some but far from all of the OG era's charm and charisma. I don't like it anymore, I don't hate/dislike it, it's a mixed bag. Here's why.
Sam: All of the OG Wiggles had their own distinctive personalities and gimmicks, but not Sam. Like Greg, he would sing lead in most of the songs and drive the Big Red Car, but that's all he would do. He isn't a bad singer, but 90% of the time, his voice is nowhere near as beautiful, relaxing, iconic, or recognizable as Greg's. Greg and his voice are two of the main reasons I still watch and love The Wiggles to this day, even though I'm no longer the target audience. However, Sam's vocals in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are heartwarming and sound a lot like Greg. When I first heard that rendition, I thought the latter was singing it for a minute or two, and then I noticed it was actually the former. To put bread on the table, the former occasionally opera sang, unlike the latter, but that's the only quality that makes Sam distinguishable from Greg. I like opera because it's like no other style of singing. Coincidentally, I can opera sing too.
Returning Characters: In the new segment, "Dressing Up with Anthony," Anthony would always put on a costume, and Sam, Jeff, Murray, or Captain Feathersword would have to guess what he was dressed as. After giving a few incorrect guesses, he would tell them the correct answer, but the latter 3 would ask him if he was sure, and he'd tell them to ask their friends (the audience). They would ask their friends, and they'd find out Anthony was right. In one segment, Anthony dressed as a cowboy, and Captain Feathersword confused his cowboy boots for ballet slippers. They're NOT even close. "Are you sure you're/he's dressed as a cowboy?" is one of the dumbest questions I've ever heard. To be fair, if Anthony's friends always got the answer right, the segment would be boring, overly simple, and would end very quickly (maybe in 5 seconds, or close enough). If Anthony dressed as something trickier every time, like a teddy bear, squirrel, and bunny hybrid, the segment would've been better. To make matters worse, Murray forgot how many fingers people have, and in Getting Strong, Captain forgot how to read, and The Wiggles had to teach him how. The aforementioned circumstances are all examples of dumbing down the show for younger audiences, which the OG Wiggles never did. Jeff, Captain, and Murray were all slightly flanderized and started to not know a few of the simplest concepts, but they were still their same old likable selves for the most part, and their flanderizations were barely noticeable. The titular four would never say their old catchphrases "Huh?" (except in Hot Poppin' Popcorn) and "Oh no! Oh what?" anymore. Wags the dog talked in this season, much to my shock ever since I watched it for the first time because his friends understood his barks just fine. It may be safe to say he was also flanderized and had the most noticeable flanderization because of that. That's one of the main reasons why this isn't as good as the Greg era. Despite this, Wags was still likable for the most part. Luckily Anthony, Dorothy the dinosaur, and Henry the octopus were all still likable too and not one bit flanderized.
Songs: Another one of the main reasons I don't like this as much as seasons 1-5 is because nursery rhymes are a lot more prevalent. The Wiggles would sometimes sing new original songs, but they barely sang any of their classic originals anymore (Hot Potato, Fruit Salad, Rock-a-Bye Your Bear, Wake Up Jeff, etc.) They sang nursery rhymes even before and after the Sam era, but only once in a while. There is far less originality here than in the OG era due to the prevalence of nursery rhymes and shortage of original songs. Unlike seasons 1-5, I feel like only kids could like this season because of the nursery rhymes. However, the nursery rhyme renditions/covers aren't bad at all, as overused as they are, and that's one of the main reasons why I'm neutral to the Sam episodes rather than liking or hating/disliking them. Some of the songs that originated here are repetitive, annoying, and not too good. In the song "Monkey Man," Captain Feathersword sings about monkeys in a high-pitched, annoying, and ear-piercing voice. During the song "Murray Had a Turtle," Murray's turtle (actually Captain Feathersword dressed as a turtle) gets sick. He eats a bar of soap and drinks his bathwater. Yuck! No wonder he got sick. A doctor and a nurse go to Wigglehouse to give him a checkup, and a random lady with a pink purse comes along for no given reason. The lyrics of The Mooche consist mostly of the word "meow" being repeated hundreds of times. Annoying, right? The Wiggles' repetitive/excessive/prolonged singing would sometimes get annoying even before and after the Sam era, but some of the songs that originated here take it to a new level. However, some of the era's original songs are good, like I Just Can't Sleep on Christmas Eve, D is for Dorothy, Getting Strong, Beach Beach Sandy Beach, The Sporting Salsa, First in Line, Follow the Leader, Smell Your Way Through the Day, The Shimmie Shake, Thank You Mr. Weatherman, and a few others. Greg sang a few of those songs when he re-replaced Sam in 2012; even better!
Beatles Nods: Speaking of The Shimmie Shake, it pays tribute to The Beatles. The Wiggles wear Beatles-like clothes and hairstyles during the song, and the words "The Wiggles" on the drumhead of Anthony's bass drum are in the same style as the Beatles logo. The cover of the DVD Let's Eat is a parody of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. These nods are pluses because 1) The Wiggles are also called "The Beatles of children's music," 2) either Anthony, Murray, or both of them were influenced by The Beatles to become singers, and 3) I don't think there were any Beatles references/nods in the OG era. They were long "overdue," but better late than never.
Acting/voice acting: The acting and voice acting were as good as ever for the most part, but there were a few hiccups here and there. Paul Paddick (who plays Captain Feathersword) became the new voice of Henry the octopus (previously voiced by Jeff). His Henry voice sounded slightly like Jeff's, but more closely to Roger Rabbit. A lot of the time, Captain Feathersword would lose his American voice and talk/sing in an Australian accent, even before Sam came along, but it's more common here. Sometimes Wags sounded like he was suffocating, which made his speech hard to understand.
Continuity: There were a few continuity errors here. For example, Captain Feathersword once called the Romp-Bomp-a-Stomp Dorothy's new dance, even though it was NOT a new dance. Dorothy and The Wiggles have done it a number of times before. In It's Always Christmas with You (the end of the era), Captain reunites with his long-lost family, who are all cowboys and cowgirls. In the season 2 episode "Family," he shows a photo of his parents, and they are pirates like their son. To make matters worse, Greg never made any guest appearances here, nor were there any flashbacks or mention of his time with the group, as if he never existed.
Sets: Green screen scenes with cartoon backgrounds were a lot more prevalent here, and traditional sets were barely used anymore. This meant less screen time for famous Wiggles locations/backgrounds (Henry's place, Wags' house, Dorothy's garden, etc.) Even Wigglehouse rarely appeared anymore. It may be safe to say including more custom backgrounds and less traditional sets has made the show lazier or more cartoony, I'm not entirely sure. The Sam era is likely non-canon because of the backgrounds and continuity errors.
Greg is my favorite Wiggles character/member. The show and band weren't the same without him when he left. I'm well aware that he had no choice but to leave due to his orthostatic intolerance, which is understandable and somewhat justified, but that doesn't excuse some unnecessary changes that were made nor change Sam's reputation. Some of the changes could've easily been avoided. To be fair, plenty of the things I like about The Wiggles (songs, dances, most of the characters, etc.) remained in the Sam era, and the show was far from being completely ruined because of that. Having a new yellow wiggle in the house wasn't handled terribly, but could've been handled better, though it couldn't have been as great as the Greg era no matter what, because let's face it: my beloved Greg is irreplaceable, and so are Murray, Anthony, and Jeff! To put bread on the table, when Greg returned in 2012, 99% of the problems with the Sam era were fixed, and The Wiggles were brought back to their former glory!
Sam: All of the OG Wiggles had their own distinctive personalities and gimmicks, but not Sam. Like Greg, he would sing lead in most of the songs and drive the Big Red Car, but that's all he would do. He isn't a bad singer, but 90% of the time, his voice is nowhere near as beautiful, relaxing, iconic, or recognizable as Greg's. Greg and his voice are two of the main reasons I still watch and love The Wiggles to this day, even though I'm no longer the target audience. However, Sam's vocals in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are heartwarming and sound a lot like Greg. When I first heard that rendition, I thought the latter was singing it for a minute or two, and then I noticed it was actually the former. To put bread on the table, the former occasionally opera sang, unlike the latter, but that's the only quality that makes Sam distinguishable from Greg. I like opera because it's like no other style of singing. Coincidentally, I can opera sing too.
Returning Characters: In the new segment, "Dressing Up with Anthony," Anthony would always put on a costume, and Sam, Jeff, Murray, or Captain Feathersword would have to guess what he was dressed as. After giving a few incorrect guesses, he would tell them the correct answer, but the latter 3 would ask him if he was sure, and he'd tell them to ask their friends (the audience). They would ask their friends, and they'd find out Anthony was right. In one segment, Anthony dressed as a cowboy, and Captain Feathersword confused his cowboy boots for ballet slippers. They're NOT even close. "Are you sure you're/he's dressed as a cowboy?" is one of the dumbest questions I've ever heard. To be fair, if Anthony's friends always got the answer right, the segment would be boring, overly simple, and would end very quickly (maybe in 5 seconds, or close enough). If Anthony dressed as something trickier every time, like a teddy bear, squirrel, and bunny hybrid, the segment would've been better. To make matters worse, Murray forgot how many fingers people have, and in Getting Strong, Captain forgot how to read, and The Wiggles had to teach him how. The aforementioned circumstances are all examples of dumbing down the show for younger audiences, which the OG Wiggles never did. Jeff, Captain, and Murray were all slightly flanderized and started to not know a few of the simplest concepts, but they were still their same old likable selves for the most part, and their flanderizations were barely noticeable. The titular four would never say their old catchphrases "Huh?" (except in Hot Poppin' Popcorn) and "Oh no! Oh what?" anymore. Wags the dog talked in this season, much to my shock ever since I watched it for the first time because his friends understood his barks just fine. It may be safe to say he was also flanderized and had the most noticeable flanderization because of that. That's one of the main reasons why this isn't as good as the Greg era. Despite this, Wags was still likable for the most part. Luckily Anthony, Dorothy the dinosaur, and Henry the octopus were all still likable too and not one bit flanderized.
Songs: Another one of the main reasons I don't like this as much as seasons 1-5 is because nursery rhymes are a lot more prevalent. The Wiggles would sometimes sing new original songs, but they barely sang any of their classic originals anymore (Hot Potato, Fruit Salad, Rock-a-Bye Your Bear, Wake Up Jeff, etc.) They sang nursery rhymes even before and after the Sam era, but only once in a while. There is far less originality here than in the OG era due to the prevalence of nursery rhymes and shortage of original songs. Unlike seasons 1-5, I feel like only kids could like this season because of the nursery rhymes. However, the nursery rhyme renditions/covers aren't bad at all, as overused as they are, and that's one of the main reasons why I'm neutral to the Sam episodes rather than liking or hating/disliking them. Some of the songs that originated here are repetitive, annoying, and not too good. In the song "Monkey Man," Captain Feathersword sings about monkeys in a high-pitched, annoying, and ear-piercing voice. During the song "Murray Had a Turtle," Murray's turtle (actually Captain Feathersword dressed as a turtle) gets sick. He eats a bar of soap and drinks his bathwater. Yuck! No wonder he got sick. A doctor and a nurse go to Wigglehouse to give him a checkup, and a random lady with a pink purse comes along for no given reason. The lyrics of The Mooche consist mostly of the word "meow" being repeated hundreds of times. Annoying, right? The Wiggles' repetitive/excessive/prolonged singing would sometimes get annoying even before and after the Sam era, but some of the songs that originated here take it to a new level. However, some of the era's original songs are good, like I Just Can't Sleep on Christmas Eve, D is for Dorothy, Getting Strong, Beach Beach Sandy Beach, The Sporting Salsa, First in Line, Follow the Leader, Smell Your Way Through the Day, The Shimmie Shake, Thank You Mr. Weatherman, and a few others. Greg sang a few of those songs when he re-replaced Sam in 2012; even better!
Beatles Nods: Speaking of The Shimmie Shake, it pays tribute to The Beatles. The Wiggles wear Beatles-like clothes and hairstyles during the song, and the words "The Wiggles" on the drumhead of Anthony's bass drum are in the same style as the Beatles logo. The cover of the DVD Let's Eat is a parody of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. These nods are pluses because 1) The Wiggles are also called "The Beatles of children's music," 2) either Anthony, Murray, or both of them were influenced by The Beatles to become singers, and 3) I don't think there were any Beatles references/nods in the OG era. They were long "overdue," but better late than never.
Acting/voice acting: The acting and voice acting were as good as ever for the most part, but there were a few hiccups here and there. Paul Paddick (who plays Captain Feathersword) became the new voice of Henry the octopus (previously voiced by Jeff). His Henry voice sounded slightly like Jeff's, but more closely to Roger Rabbit. A lot of the time, Captain Feathersword would lose his American voice and talk/sing in an Australian accent, even before Sam came along, but it's more common here. Sometimes Wags sounded like he was suffocating, which made his speech hard to understand.
Continuity: There were a few continuity errors here. For example, Captain Feathersword once called the Romp-Bomp-a-Stomp Dorothy's new dance, even though it was NOT a new dance. Dorothy and The Wiggles have done it a number of times before. In It's Always Christmas with You (the end of the era), Captain reunites with his long-lost family, who are all cowboys and cowgirls. In the season 2 episode "Family," he shows a photo of his parents, and they are pirates like their son. To make matters worse, Greg never made any guest appearances here, nor were there any flashbacks or mention of his time with the group, as if he never existed.
Sets: Green screen scenes with cartoon backgrounds were a lot more prevalent here, and traditional sets were barely used anymore. This meant less screen time for famous Wiggles locations/backgrounds (Henry's place, Wags' house, Dorothy's garden, etc.) Even Wigglehouse rarely appeared anymore. It may be safe to say including more custom backgrounds and less traditional sets has made the show lazier or more cartoony, I'm not entirely sure. The Sam era is likely non-canon because of the backgrounds and continuity errors.
Greg is my favorite Wiggles character/member. The show and band weren't the same without him when he left. I'm well aware that he had no choice but to leave due to his orthostatic intolerance, which is understandable and somewhat justified, but that doesn't excuse some unnecessary changes that were made nor change Sam's reputation. Some of the changes could've easily been avoided. To be fair, plenty of the things I like about The Wiggles (songs, dances, most of the characters, etc.) remained in the Sam era, and the show was far from being completely ruined because of that. Having a new yellow wiggle in the house wasn't handled terribly, but could've been handled better, though it couldn't have been as great as the Greg era no matter what, because let's face it: my beloved Greg is irreplaceable, and so are Murray, Anthony, and Jeff! To put bread on the table, when Greg returned in 2012, 99% of the problems with the Sam era were fixed, and The Wiggles were brought back to their former glory!
