Trivia / Nu, Pogodi!

• Cash-Cow Franchise: Ironic for a show created in what was once a communist state, but being the single most popular animated work in Russia would ensure that the two characters would have plenty of revival shorts, merchandise tie-ins, toys, commercial and PSA appearances, picture books, a touring stage show... in the former Soviet bloc, they're everywhere!
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Klara Rumyanova as Zayats in the original Russian version and Malena Negrin in the Cuban Spanish dub.
• Denied Parody: No, this isn't a knockoff of Tom and Jerry. The creators have made it quite clear that seeing it behind the iron curtain would have been impossible. Series director Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin claimed that he couldn't see a single Tom and Jerry cartoon until 1989, twenty years after the first episode of Nu Pogodi! was produced.
• I Am Not Spock: Anatoly Papanov, an extremely talented actor who voiced Wolf, hated being associated with the role.
• International Coproduction: A very odd case in the Cuban Spanish dub: While dubbed by Cuban actors, the entire series was dubbed in Russia by a state-owned studio named Filmexport, whose job was to dub many Soviet-era animated films to Spanish. In fact, Malena Negrin and Manolo de la Rosa, Hare and Wolf's respective voice actors, were the only Spanish-speaking voice actors who worked in that studio, or at least only known ones to date.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Only the first sixteen episodes (the ones made in the Soviet Union) have been officially released on DVD, and only in formerly Soviet countries, although the entire series (bar the 2012 Christmas episode) has been uploaded to Soyuzmultfilm's YouTube channel. A few appearances by the characters outside of the shorts, such as interstitials for an anthology show of Russian animation, TV commercials and PSAs about energy conservation, are occasionally found floating around YouTube in some capacity.
• Milestone Celebration: Episode 17 was the 25th anniversary special. Wolf and Hare come out onstage in old-age makeup and canes before changing back to their old selves.
• No Export for You: Outside of Eastern Europe, the only way to see the show is through YouTube. It was briefly on Prime Video, but has since been taken down.
• The Other Darrin: Anatoly Papanov was a voice of the Wolf in episodes 1 to 16. Production was put on hold after his death in 1987, but archived voice recordings of him were later used for the 17th and 18th episode. Klara Rumyanova voiced the Hare in episodes 1 to 18 until her death in 2004. In 19 and 20 episodes, Wolf and Hare were voiced by Igor Khristenko and Olga Zvereva respectively.
• Real-Life Relative: In the Cuban Spanish dub, Hare and Wolf's voice actors (Malena Negrin and Manolo de la Rosa respectively) are married in Real Life, making the whole premise of the show incredibly hilarious by itself.
• Real Song Theme Tune: "Vizisi (Water Skiing)" by Tamás Deák.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Wolf was originally supposed to be voiced by actor and singer Vladimir Vysotsky. But the artistic council did not approve the candidacy, and the role was went to Anatoly Papanov. One of Vysotsky's more famous songs, "Pesnya o Drugye" ("The Song About A Friend"), does appear in one of the first episodes, presumably as a holdover.
  • The series was nearly canceled after writer Feliks Kamov moved to Israel.

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