GoGoRiki

"GoGoRiki", known in Russia as "Smeshariki" ( _ru. Смеша́рики), is a Russian animated television series consisting of 208 episodes of 6 minutes and 30 seconds each, aimed at children of 4 to 9 years. The first episode premiered in Russia on July 7, 2004. The series has been acquired for the english-speaking territories by 4Kids Entertainment from the worldwide distributor Fun Game Media, Muenchen, Germany, and renamed as "GoGoRiki" [cite web |url=http://app.quotemedia.com/data/newsItem.htm?webmasterId=92403&storyId=12531148&topic=KDE|title=GoGoRiki confirmed for fall 2008|accessdate=2008-08-11|] , and will air as part of The CW4Kids block beginning September 27, 2008. [cite web |url=http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080903/0429959.html |title=4Kids announces fall 2008 Lineups for FOX and The CW |accessdate=2008-09-05|]

The Smeshariki (the name is derived from "smeshnye" meaning "funny ones", and "shariki" meaning "little balls") are stylized round animals. Each of the 10 characters has a unique personality and range of interests, and there are no negative characters among them. Plots are built not on the battle of opposing forces but on the unexpected situations which the animated characters stumble upon in their interactions, which are similar to ones that children may encounter in their everyday lives. Much attention was given to the humor in the series, some of which has attracted adults as well.

The roundness of the characters, according to the creators, highlights their kind personalities and allows them to be easily drawn even by a child.

Creators

The series was created as part of the cultural-educational project "World Without Violence" as part of the federal program "Forming bulwarks of tolerance and preventing extremism in Russian society". It is made with the help of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and with the participation of the company "Master-Film" at the computer animation studio "Peterburg", which was created in March 2003 specifically for "Smeshariki".

*Artistic director: Anatoliy Prokhorov
*General producer: Ilya Popov
*Co-producers: Aleksandr Gerasimov, Vyacheslav Mayasov
*Leading drector: Denis Chernov
*Leading writer: Aleksey Lebedev
*Art director: Salavat Shaykhinurov
*Composers: Marina Landa, Sergey Vasilyev

Characters

Pogoriki/Krosh (rabbit)

Pogo firmly knows that everything in the world must be interesting and fun. He loves all questionable adventures such as a hike in the mountains (series "Good News"), diving for treasures, where their submarine was almost almost destroyed ("Ballast"). He does not like to fulfill his promises if it is difficult to fulfill them ("Hives of Boboriki"). He once lost his entire crop of carrots to a slot machine ("Big Whoop"). And the fact that he does not like to sleep in the afternoon almost ended poorly for him, though because of Bigo ("Pedagogical Poem"). Even his house reflects his character: it has two entrances, with an outside ladder leading to the second one on which it is possible to run up.

Russian's name Krosh ( _ru. Крош) means the traditional russian nickname of rabbit.
*Voice: Anton Vinogradov flagicon|RUS / Dan Green flagicon|USA

Chikoriki/Yozhik (hedgehog)

Quiet and behaved. Unlike Pogo he does not like the adventures which his best friend loves; this is because of those adventures almost ended poorly for him ("Good news"). He must fulfill all of his promises, no matter how unpalatable they are ("Promises"). But sometimes he's simply unrecognisable. For example, he once drew his portrait on the field of Bobo, stamping down the stalks so that it would be visible from the top ("Do They Think About You on the Stars?"). Unlike Pogo, he believes in Father Frost ("Operation "Father Frost">). Around his house in the form of a mushroom is a small garden with apples. Chiko likes to collect various things, and this once almost cost him his friendship with Pogo ("Collection"). He likes to grow cactuses. He looks for them in the desert, where Big Races take place.

Russian's name Yozhik or Ezhik ( _ru. Ёжик) formed from the word Yozh ( _ru. Ёж, hedgehog) whith russian suffix -ik (-ик), which mean "a little".
*Voice: Vladimir Postnikov (Before voice - Anton Vinogradov) flagicon|RUS / Jason Anthony Griffith flagicon|USA

Rosariki/Nyusha (pig)

Wants to become a princess. More than anything else, she likes to beautify herself and read books about princes and knights ("A Prince for Nyusha"). She's afraid of scary stories ("A Scary Story for Nyusha"). She dreams of becoming a beauty queen ("Miss Universe"). Can't cook blintzes, but is learning how to ("Maslenitsa"), and one time she even went on a submarine to look for pirate gold as ballast ("Ballast"). She loves when guests come to visit her, rather than when she comes as a guest to someone else's place ("How to Quickly Gather Friends").

Russian's name Nyusha ( _ru. Нюша) means a little name from russian Anastasiya or Tanya girld names.
*Voice: Svetlana Pismichenko flagicon|RUS / Annice Moriarty flagicon|USA

Wooliriki/Barash (ram)

A poet. He loves to create poetry, though it doesn't always come to him. He sometimes goes to extraordinary lengths to find inspiration ("Play, Soccer!"). Fluffy is a "night owl" in that he goes to sleep late and wakes up late ("Live Clocks"). He's afraid of heights ("Talisman"). He dabbles in music sometimes, though sometimes with poor results ("La"). Sometimes through outside circumstances he finds himself in an adventure ("Goodbye, Fluffy"). He feels that becoming sick is a good thing.

*Voice: Vadim Bochanov flagicon|RUS / Wayne Grayson flagicon|USA

Bigoriki/Kar Karych (crow)

An artist in the widest sense of the word. Sometimes, his artistry leads to some bad results: for example, he once hit a goal into his own net because he tried to hit a goal into the opposing net in an artistic way ("Football, First Time"). He believes that one should sleep during the day as well. One time this helped Otto, who took a nap while steering a seaplane which then accidentally picked up the skeeping Bigoriki in his rocking chair ("Flights in Dream and Feel"). Bigo once destroyed with a hammer eight telegraph devices at night that Pogo and Chiko found in Otto's stores, after they started communicating with each other exclusively through them ("The Telegraph"). His house is peculiar in that it is painted only on the front.
*Voice: Sergey Mardar flagicon|RUS / Mike Pollock flagicon|USA

Olgariki/Sovunya (owl)

is a doctor in the Round Country. She cures anything. Sometimes Bigo is also present, and the two have arguments about what the patient is sick with, a cold or a flu ("ОРЗ"). She lives in the den of a big tree on a high hill in the north-east of the country, to where it is very difficult to wheel a bed with a sick Rosa ("How to Gather Friends Quickly"). She teaches Rosa how to cook pancaкes ("Pancake week"). If anyone is depressed, she raises their spirits ("Plywood Sun"). If she's very angry, she can bring forth rain with thunder ("The Energy of the Snore").
*Voice: Sergey Mardar (Before voice - Svetlana Pismichenko) flagicon|RUS / Jessica Calvello flagicon|USA

Ottoriki/Pin (penguin)

A self-taught inventor who speaks with a German accent. He constructs anything from anything and doesn't care how well it works; to him, the process is the most important thing. He once constructed a garbage incinerator that ate half of his own fence and notebook and Chiko's doormat ("The Energy of the Snore"). This machine greatly helped them when they found in their lagoon several dozen barrels of oil which were leaking ("Small Big Sea"). He made a computer for Losyash ("Triumph of Reason"), a lawn mower for Boboriki ("Repair is a Collective Job"), a snowmobile for himself ("Where Does the Old Year Go?"), a fireworks machine ("Day of Fairness"), a robot for Pogo and Chiko, whom they couldn't take ("Metallic Nanny"), and the robot Robo. He sleeps in a specially-equipped refrigerator which stands near his home.

Roboriki/Bibi (robot)

An intelligent robot whom Ottoriki created without much effort. First he learned everything that Ottoriki could teach him, and then disappeared ("Roboriki and His Dad"). After some time he came back and it was found out that he had been in space and had come to visit for a little while ("Roboriki's Holidays"). After some time Ottoriki decided to go and look for him ("Cosmic Odyssey")

Docoriki/Losyash (moose)

A real scientist. His home is filled with books. He can predict the weather ("Meteorology") and the future ("A Gift of Fate"). At the time of Pogo's, Chiko's and Wooli's ascent up the mountain, he had a communication station at his home, with the second belonging to Pogo ("Good News"). In the episode "Pedagogical Poem", he inspected Pogoriki, received the encephalogram and put forth his diagnosis: "He's asleep".

Voice: Sean Schemmel flagicon|USA

Boboriki/Kopatych (bear)

A bear farmer, growing everything except pineapples. It's he who grows the best carrots for Pogo, some mushrooms for Chiko, and the best cherry for the pirogis of Bigo. he also has several fields adjoining his property, on which he grows wheat and fagopyrum. It was them that Otto sprayed from his seaplane ("Flights in Dream and Feel"), and it is there that Chiko drew his portrait. Bobo also has occasional honey binges, which isn't good for him because it makes him sick.

Voice: David Wills flagicon|USA

Feature film

On January 24, 2007, it was announced that a "Smeshariki" feature film is being made by the St. Petersburg company "Marmelad-media" (which owns the brand) for a planned release of late 2009. [ru icon [http://www.rbcdaily.ru/2007/01/24/media/264138 «Смешарики» выходят на широкий экран] , "24-01-2007". Rbcdaily.ru.] An initial budget of $1 million was given to produce a "test film"to show to international partners. According to Marmelad-media's general director Ilya Popov, the final budget will depend on a number of factors, such as whether the film is made in 2D or 3D and whether it will be sold internationally (in which case the budget would be up to $15 million) or limited to Russian theatres (in which case it will cost around $3-4 million). If the film is limited to Russia, Popov considers spending anything over $5 million to be unprofitable (the highest-grossing Russian animated film, "Prince Vladimir", cost $5 million and made $5.8 million, meaning that it was likely not profitable since part of the profits go to distributors).

List of episodes

GoGoRiki Games

* GoGoRiki Matching Game

GoGoTunes

At the end of GoGoRiki on Saturday, there are GoGoTunes, short songs that have to do with the characters.

Here are the List of Songs from GoGoTunes
* Get Round (Rap)
* The Love in the Sinsatrack (Rosa and Wooli's Love Song)

See also

*List of animated feature-length films

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0853174/ Smeshariki] at the Internet Movie Database
* [http://fungamemedia.com/ Official English website]
* [http://fungamemedia.de/ Official German website]
* [http://smeshariki.ru/ Official Russian website]
* [http://stpeter.ru/ Homepage of "Peterburg" studio]
* [http://community.livejournal.com/smeshariki_ru/ LiveJournal community] ("half-official")
* [http://suzdalfestivalo.blogsome.com/category/viglobetoj/ Some "Smeshariki" series subtitled in Esperanto]
* [http://www.4kids.tv/show/gogoriki Official 4Kids GoGoRiki site]