Here’s why this cartoon will always be a Russian favourite

Kids love cartoons the world over…and not just kids. Between 1969 and 1986, the cartoon Nu Pogodi! (Ну, погоди!) was produced in the Soviet Union and shown throughout much of Europe, the Arab world and parts of East Asia. The cartoon is still shown today and is as beloved as ever.

The premise of the cartoon was simple, a ‘too cool for school’, cigarette smoking wolf (Volk) was trying to chase a hare (Zajets) in order to eat it, but the hair always somehow outwitted the hungry wolf.

Many have compared the antics of the characters of Nu Pogodi to that of the US produced cat and mouse cartoon Tom & Jerry.

Nu Pogodi was simple fun and had great music. Some of the music was original in addition to a surprising amount of original pop music as well as groovy James Last covers.

There was hardly any dialogue in the shows, making them easy to export throughout the world. The only line that was generally said was “Nu, Zajets, nu pogodi”, which simply meant, ‘you hare (rabbit), just you wait’, as in ‘someday I’ll catch you’.

As intellectual snobs are prone to do in any culture ,some in Russia thought there was some deeper philosophical message in the cartoon. Creator Vyacheslav Kotyonichkin said that such criticisms were nonsense and that the show was no more complicated than a bit of fun and fun it is!

Now watch each episode of this adorable cartoon.

WARNING, once you start you may not be able to turn it off.