Nu, pogodi!
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Nu, pogodi! (Russian: Ну, погоди!, English translation: Just you wait!) is a series of Russian animated shorts directed by Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin, produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow, between 1969 and 1986. Additional series were produced in 1993 and 2004.
The plot of the series follows the mischievous and artistic Wolf (Волк, Volk) trying to catch the Hare (Заяц, Zayats), presumably with the intention to eat him.
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[edit] Characters
The two main characters are Wolf (voiced by Anatoli Papanov) and Hare (voiced by Klara Rumyanova).
[edit] Wolf
Wolf is initially portrayed as a hooligan: a heavy smoker who eagerly turns to vandalism (e.g. knowingly destroys museum exhibits), abuses minors and breaks laws.
On the other hand, many of Wolf's attempts to catch the Hare are often characterized by uncanny abilities on his part like figure skating, ballet and waltzing which demonstrate his more refined side. Wolf can also play the guitar very well and ride the powerful rocker motorbike, making his character more complex and interesting. In the first episode, while climbing a high building to catch Hare, Wolf whistles the popular and officially disrespected mountaineer song, "Song of a Friend" (the author and performer of this song, Vladimir Vysotskiy, says in one of the existing sound records that the song is officially criticised before singing it).
Unfortunately - in spite of these talents - most of Wolf's schemes eventually fail or turn against him.
[edit] Hare
The Hare is portrayed as a supposedly positive hero. He gets much less screen time, however, and is less developed than Wolf - most of his actions are simply reactions to Wolf's schemes (i.e. running away and hiding, sometimes in ingenious ways). Therefore, the sympathies of some spectators are on the side of the Wolf, contrary to all didactic intentions. Only in the latest releases does the Hare become more active, several times even saving the Wolf.
[edit] Others
The story also features supporting cast animal characters, the most common of which is the physically strong and heavy Hippopotamus who participates in various roles (i.e. as a policeman, museum caretaker, shop keeper, passer-by, etc) and whom Wolf usually annoys and has to run away from. In one episode, he shows up as the captain of the ship.
Another persistent character is the cat, a specialist in magic who appears in several stage performances throughout the series. This cat is shown to be a good magician, but very self-absorbed and highly sensitive to applause (in one scene, he twice drops the levitating Wolf as he accepts the applause from Hare).
Many episodes feature friendly bears in various supporting roles.
[edit] Background
In some ways the plot of the series is similar the American cartoons Road Runner, or Tom and Jerry. The director has admitted that he was learning from American animated films which were brought into the USSR from Germany immediately after World War II.
There are very few spoken lines in the series (the most common is wolf saying "Nu pogodi" (Just you wait) at the hare after he fails yet again), but it features many grunts, laughs and songs. The series' trademark is that at the end each episode (and at the end of the pre-title introduction) the Wolf, having failed his schemes, says: "Nu, zayats, nu pogodi!" (Hare, just you wait!).
Many action sequences of the cartoon are choreographed to fit various recognizable tunes, from classical music to pop hits, with tunes selected to match the action. Sometimes the words of the songs are modified or altogether substituted to correspond to the action.
The series were eventually cancelled after the death of Anatoli Papanov (voice of Wolf). The 1993 revival used samples of his voice recorded earlier (studio had archived all outtakes of his work for the series). It featured a lot of product placement and the quality of animation and the originality of the storyline suffered when compared to the original series. The 2005 series were voiced by Igor Khristenko (Wolf) and Olga Zvereva (Hare).
Originally, the cult Russian singer/actor Vladimir Vysotsky was cast for the voice of Wolf, but the studio didn't get the needed approval of Soviet state organization to use him. However, some homage to Vysotsky remains, as in the opening episode, the Wolf is whistling his "Song of a Friend".
The 2005 series were done by Christmas Films studio (#19 is complete and released, #20 is in production). They were directed by Aleksey Kotyonochkin (son of deceased Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin), one of the writers is Alexander Kurlyandsky who participated in writing all other episodes.
[edit] List of episodes
The Nu, pogodi! episodes are numbered but not named. Each episode is set in a different environment. Release dates in parentheses.
- City and beach (1969)
- Fairground at Night (1970)
- Road (1971)
- Stadium (1971)
- City (1972)
- Countryside (1973)
- Sea voyage (1973)
- New Year celebration (1974)
- Television studio (1976)
- On construction site (1976)
- Circus (1977)
- Museum (1978)
- Olympic games (1980)
- Children's extra-scholar activities center (1984)
- The house of Culture (1985)
- In the world of Russian folk tales (1986)
- Exotic land on island (1993, released in 1994)
- Supermarket (1993, released in 1995)
- On a health-resort (2005)
- (in production)
[edit] Cast
Director:
- Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin - 1-18 episodes
- Vladimir Tarasov - 17 and 18 episode
- Alexey Kotyonochkin - 19 episode
Screenplay:
- Alekxander Kurlyandsky - all episodes
- Arcady Hait - 1-17 episdoes
- Felix Kamov - 1-7 and 19 episodes
Main drawer:
- Svyatozar Rusakov - 1-16 episodes
- Alexey Kotyonochkin - 17 and 18 episode
- Svetlana Davidova - 19 episode
Roles:
- Anatoli Papanov(Wolf) - 1-18 episodes
- Klara Rumyanova(Hare) - 1-18 episodes
- Igor Khristenko(Wolf) - 19 episode
- Olga Zvereva(Hare) - 19 episode
- Gennady Hazanov(Announcer) - 9 episode
- Vladimir Soszalbski(Hippopotam) - 15 episode
Operator:
- Yelena Pietrova - 1-6 episode
- N.Klimova - 7 episode
- Svetlana Koscieieva - 8-14 episode
- Alexander Czechovski - 15 and 16 episode
- L.Krutovskaja - 17 and 18 episode
Sound director:
- George Martyniuk - 1-10 episode
- Vladimir Kutuzov - 11-18 episode
Editor:
- Tatyana Sazonova - 1-7 episode
- Margarita Micheeva - 8-18 episode
Animators:
- Viktor Arsentev - 1-15 episode
- Oleg Komarov- 1-13 episode
- Viktor Likchacev - 1,3,4,7,9,11,13 and 15 episode
- Oleg Safronov - 1,2,9,10,14 and 15 episode
- Vladimir Krumin - 1,5,10,11,13 and 14 episode
- Fyedor Eldinov - 1,3,6,7,12,13,15 and 16 episode
- Vladimir Zarubin - 2,4 and 9 episode
- Leonid Kayukov - 2,5 and 7 episode
- Valery Ugarov - 3,8 and 16 episode
- Sergey Dyezhkin - 3 episode
- Sergey Marakasov - 2 episode
- Youry Butyrin - 3,4,8 and 9 episode
- Vladimir Arbekov - 8,12 and 17 episode
- Alexander Panov - 7 episode
- I.Troyanova - 2 episode
- Alexey Bukin - 8 episode
- Alexander Davydov - 10,13 and 17 episode
- Alexander Dorogov - 14-16 episode
- Nikolai Fyedorov - 12 episode
- Alexander Mazayev - 15 and 16 episode
- Sergey Avramov - 14 episode
- Olga Orlova - 16 episode
