Nu, pogodi!
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Nu, pogodi! (Russian: Ну, погоди!, English translation: Just you wait!) is an animated cartoon series directed by Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin, produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow, between 1969 and 1986. Additional series were produced in 1993 and 2005.
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.
Characters
The two main characters are Wolf (voiced by Anatoli Papanov) and Hare (voiced by Klara Rumyanova).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 and waltzing which show 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.
Wolf is also shown to be very goal-oriented, especially in the later releases. He needs this Hare, not a hare in general. There are scenes where Wolf is trying to recognise the wanted Hare between multiple others. To reach this goal, Wolf is always ready for drastic actions. Most of these actions are directed toward catching the Hare, but in one instance he also breaks everything in his flat just trying to eat a hard dried fish.
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.Others
The story also features supporting cast animal characters, the most common of which is the physically strong 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.
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.
Some Western viewers may notice "politically incorrect" elements in the show: cross-dressing, nudity (Wolf often ends up stripped down to his underwear in public places), and other actions that can be interpreted as sexual innuendos (i.e. male Wolf often makes male and young Hare dance with him, and instead of eating he usually tries to kidnap Hare, and finally visits him with champagne and roses, etc.). It should be pointed out, however, that none of these things are seen to be of an inappropriate sexual nature in Russia, and the cross-dressing and "naked" scenes are played purely for comedic effect, not dissimilar to similar scenes in American films (e.g. Mrs. Doubtfire). The reason Wolf usually tries to kidnap Hare is because it would presumably be inappropriate to eat him in public (not to mention illegal - there are many scenes where Wolf has to avoid policemen). The episode with roses was intended to show that Wolf intends to put their rivalry behind them (of course, this does not come to pass).
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 Aleksandr Kurlyandsky who participated in writing all other episodes.
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)
- Supermarket (1993)
- On a health-resort (2005)
- (in production)
See also
External link
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