Dorothy the Dinosaur was once played by a hairy-armed man in a garbage bag. Now she is a large professionally made green foam suit with a trained dancer inside. This is fine, this is the evolution and refining of an original concept. Captain Feathersword was formerly played by any brother of a Wiggle who happened to be around. Once it was played by Anthony himself, who the other Wiggles all pretended not to recognise. Then they engaged a full-time dedicated pirate, (with magic buttons) in the role. Once again, this is all well and good. The other causal Captains never really convinced, and sometimes they were actually disturbing.
Now we come to Wags the Dog. He has been dark brown, he has been light brown. He sometimes has had a big W on his chest, sometimes not. On occasions he is pranced about by Waggettes. Usually he does that dogs-on-tv thing where he says "Woof woof grrrrrr bark!" and someone will reply "Yes Wags, the Big Red Car does need a tune-up and wheel balance".
Then out of the blue - he speaks! No one says "Good heavens, Wags can talk!" Suddenly he is asking Captain Feathersword around to babysit the Waggettes, and discussing how much he likes bones. In the Wiggly Fun Book on one page he goes missing when he is due at Wiggle Studios, and when they find him in a boat on a lake, he says "I was a bit worried about being in the show, and I thought a spot of fishing would calm my nerves".
A few pages later, he is in Paris with Captain Feathersword on their tour of the world. He points to the Eiffel Tower and makes climbing actions." Sure Wags, we can climb right to the top", says the Captain.
In closing I ask: Wags the Dog - is he a hollow sham?
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