Dashell
SMILE!
- AKA
- Sonique, Quexinos, Pinkie Pie, Derpy Hooves
Can we please take a moment to appreciate this show? This fucking brilliant cartoon! “Nu, Pogodi” ladies and gentlemen! Created by Soyuzmultfilm in 1969, this became a popular cartoon in the Soviet Union, and is now working its way around the internet.
Let me tell you a little bit about how I found this little gem. A few weeks go I had a dream that I was in school and we were being shown this oddly foreign cartoon. For whatever reason, something in this cartoon, upset me and made me extremely sad. But whatever, just a dream right?… but the next day on youtube, what appears in my “suggestions” side bar? On odd looking Russian cartoon. I remember thinking, “Oh great, I had a prophetic dream and if I watch this cartoon I’ll really be upset.” So I ignored it. But it kept popping up and popping up until FINALLY I decided to watch it. Man am I ever glad I did.
I don’t think I can describe just how ingenious this cartoon is. The premise is basically like that of Tom and Jerry, only this time we’re met with a Wolf and a young Rabbit (who for the longest time, I thought was a girl) Their names are usually translated as Volk and Zayats. There are very few lines spoken in the series except when Volk’s plans to capture Zayats are foiled (usually at the end of the episode). That’s when he ends up yelling “Nu, (Zayats) Pogodi” (roughly translated as “Well, [hare] just you wait!”) as a threat.
So it’s just another average Road Runner and Coyote like cartoon right? Well that’s where you’re wrong. The characters in this series, particularly Volk, are really fleshed out. Volk’s is a hoodlum who picks on children, smokes and vandalizes often. Whenever the cops come by, he’ll immediately stop what he’s doing and tip his hat to them as if nothing was going on. Since his main goal is to capture Zayats, he’ll do pretty much anything he needs to do to get to him, including taking a job at a construction site or joining the Olympics. He’s also quite talented and artistic as can be seen by his playing the guitar in more than one episode.
Zayats on the other hand, is very young and innocent. He never fights back against Volk, and is sometimes even seen helping him out if he’s in trouble. In one episode, he even brings Volk flowers while he’s in the hospital.
A lot of the episodes, unlike Tom and Jerry or Roadrunner, don’t rely strictly on violence to get entertainment across. Many of them will have scenes set to popular music, sometimes music even being performed by the main characters themselves (as pictured above), and there’s the occasional moments where Volk and Zayats have to work together. One of my personal favorite scenes takes place after Volk and Zayats plug a hole they accidentally made in a ship. They sit down, Volk lets out a huge sigh of relief, while Zayats curiously watches him, then mimics him exactly. Volk then pulls out his pipe to begin smoking, but then looks over at Zayats, offering it to him first. Zayats, of course, refuses, pulling out a carrot instead. Before chomping on it, he taps Volk on the shoulder, offering him a bite as well. Volk turns away in disgust and Zayats just shrugs and chows down.
I could literally go on and on about my favorite moments in this series, but instead I’ll just encourage you all to find it for yourselves. Look it up on youtube under “Nu Pogodi”. You can find all the episodes there. If you are a fan of old cartoons, or even cartoons in general, or hell even just damn good TV, check out this cartoon. You’ll be absolutely delighted and glad you did, just like I was. Hope to see you all boarding the Nu Pogodi train soon.