Nu, pogodi!

From Wikipedia

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.

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, 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.

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 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.

List of episodes

The Nu, pogodi! episodes are numbered but not named. Each episode is set in a different environment. Release dates in parentheses.

1. City and beach (1969)
2. Fairground at Night (1970)
3. Road (1971)
4. Stadium (1971)
5. City (1972)
6. Countryside (1973)
7. Sea voyage (1973)
8. New Year celebration (1974)
9. Television studio (1976)
10. On construction site (1976)
11. Circus (1977)
12. Museum (1978)
13. Olympic games (1980)
14. Children's extra-scholar activities center (1984)
15. The house of Culture (1985)
16. In the world of Russian folk tales (1986)
17. Exotic land on island (1993, released in 1994)
18. Supermarket (1993, released in 1995)