Eastern European Animation refers to Animated Shows from Eastern Europe, which includes Russia and countries from the now-defunct Soviet Union, as well as most other ex-socialist European countries.note Actually, classifying these as "shows" is very inaccurate; some of them are features, some are actual shows; most of them are isolated shorts that don't have a theatrical release. but do have initial airings on television. In fact, there were no animated shows in the Soviet Union; those that look like shows are series of loosely connected shorts, with long (sometimes over 10 years) intervals between "releases". Overall, network and medium seem to matter much less in Eastern European culture, at least to the average viewer — in part because there was only one thing to watch for so many years — so not making the distinction between features, shorts, and series on this page is justified. However, the post-Fall era animation is more westernized in formal aspects, with a proper division into features, shows, and shorts.
Whether Eastern European Animation can be considered a form of Western Animation is up for debate as many people do not think of Eastern Europe as "Western".
See also Anime and Asian Animation. There may be some overlap between Asian animation and Eastern European animation due to certain countries (namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Russia) being part of both continents at once.
Examples:
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Russian/Soviet
- 38 Parrots
- About Sidorov Vova
- Adventures of Mowgli: Five Russian shorts based on The Jungle Book.
- The Adventures Of Buratino
- The Adventures Of Prince Vladimir
- The Adventures of Vasia Kurolesov
- Alice's Birthday
- Atomic Forest
- At the back desk (На задней парте)
- Back When We Were Birds (Прежде мы были птицами)
- Big Troubles
- Booba
- Boxballet
- The Cameraman's Revenge — film from tsarist Russia and one of the earliest examples of stop-motion animation
- Captain Pronin
- The Cat and the Tree
- Cheburashka
- Cinderella (1979)
- Clinic
- The Cow
- The Dog Door, based on the short story Goodbye Ravine
- Fantasy Patrol
- Film, Film, Film
- Firing Range
- The Fixies
- The Forest Chronicle
- The Frog Princess
- Gagarin
- The Goat Musician
- The Golden Antelope
- Hedgehog in the Fog
- Heron And Crane
- Heroes of Envell
- His Wife Is a Hen
- Hoffmaniada
- The Humpbacked Horse
- Icarus and Wisemen
- Interplanetary Revolution
- Investigation Held by Kolobki
- I Shall Give You a Star
- It Was I Who Drew The Little Man (a.k.a. Chelovechka narisoval ya)
- The Key
- Kid-E-Cats
- KikoRiki (titled Smeshariki in its native Russia, and GoGoRiki in 4Kids' English dub)
- A Kitten Named Woof
- Last Year's Snow Was Falling
- Lavatory-Lovestory
- Leopold the Cat
- Little Fox
- Little Longnose
- The Little Mermaid
- The Little Witch
- Masha and the Bear
- Mermaid
- Mitten
- Mother for a Little Mammoth
- Mr Walk
- My Love
- The Mystery of the Third Planet
- My Sweet Monster
- Nu, Pogodi!
- Once Upon a Dog
- The Old Man and the Sea (1999 animated short film adaptation)
- Orchestra Country
- Ostrov
- The Penguins
- Peresvet And Oslyabya
- Pinocchio: A True Story
- Plasticine Crow
- Qumi-Qumi
- Scamper the Penguin (Soviet-Japanese co-production)
- The Scarlet Flower
- Seeing Music
- Sheep & Wolves
- The Snow Maiden
- The Snow Queen (1957) (Soviet adaptation)
- The Snow Queen (2012) (2012 CGI adaptation)
- The Soviet short and Russian animated film based on The Nutcracker:
- The Nutcracker
- The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (co-produced with Germany)
- The animated adaptations of Tales of the Magic Land and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
- There Lived Kozyavin.
- A 1984 adaptation of There Will Come Soft Rains. One would be hard-pressed to find a creepier cartoon.
- Three Bogatyrs
- Town Musicians of Bremen.
- Pif - Paf, Oi-Oi-Oi
- The Return of the Prodigal Parrot
- The Tales Of The Wonder Keepers - Co-production with China.
- Treasure Island (1988)
- Three From the Prostokvashino Village
- Holidays in Prostokvashino
- Winter in Prostokvashino
- The Twelve Months
- Welcome: A Soviet adaptation of Dr Seuss' Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose.
- A Very Blue Beard
- Vinni Pukh (Soviet Winnie the Pooh shorts)
- Vovka In Far Far Away Kingdom (Vovka v Tridevyatom tsarstve)
- Vykrutasy
- Five short 1970's cartoons based on Greek Mythology. Remarkably close to the original material, especially considering the heavy Socialist undertones. Possibly unique in not giving Princess Andromeda a Race Lift. The shorts are "Return from Olympus" (occurring in modern times, with a flashback to the Labors of Heracles), "Labyrinth" (about Theseus, naturally), "Argonauts", "Perseus", and "Prometheus".
- We Can't Live Without Cosmos
- The Wild Swans
- The Wolf and the Calf.
- Tale of Tales
- A Tale is Told
Bulgarian
Croatian
- The works of Zagreb Films
- Ersatz (1961)
- Igra (1963)
- Professor Balthazar (1967-78)
- Tup Tup (1971)
- Dream Doll (1979) (co-production with the United Kingdom)
- The Elm-Chanted Forest
- Lapitch The Little Shoemaker
- Manivald
Czech
- Creators
- Adolf Born
- Gene Deitch after 1960. However, most of them were made for and financed by American distributors.
- Jiri Trnka
- Jan Švankmajer
- Karel Zeman
- Večerníček (‘Little Eveninger’ in English) is a children's programme in which most of the following animated series were featured. Basically, every evening at 7 PM, it airs an episode. Once all episodes of said series are aired, it starts airing another one.
- About Dressy Sally, about a girl who is taken by a wizard. It became infamous for being lost media for a while.
- Bob And Bobek, two rabbits live in a magician's hat and go on various adventures. One rabbit is smart and hard-working, the other one is lazy and a bit thick (not unlike Chip 'n Dale).
- Club of the Discarded
- The Crabs
- Cybernetic Grandma
- Daughter
- Even Mice Belong in Heaven
- Fantastic Planet
- The Foolish Frog
- Goat Story - Old Prague Legends
- The Little Mole (Krtek)
- The Little Witch
- Max And Sally and the Phenomenal Phone (Mach, Šebestová a kouzelné sluchátko), about two children and a dog who find a torn-off telephone handset which grants them wishes
- Maxidog Fik (Maxipes Fík), about a girl named Ája and her huge talking dog companion.
- Mire Bala Kale Hin
- O místo na slunci — first European cartoon to get an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film
- Mr Krbec and his Animals (O zvířátkách pana Krbce), featuring the merry adventures at Castle Kulíkov of Mr. Krbec the Castle keeper and his friends Kokeš the Cat, Kukula the Owl, Kocanda the Jackdaw and the castle ghost, the spirit of Duke Ruprecht.
- Pat and Mat, two middle-aged men live together and try to build something during an episode. Usually, all kinds of construction accidents and mishap happen, but for some reason, the end result is fine.
- E.g. they bake Christmas cookies, they get flour everywhere, they burn the cookies to crisps, but realise these super-hard sweets can be used as tiles in their pavement.
- The Pied Piper (Krysar), a Darker and Edgier version of the classic The Pied Piper of Hamelin story.
- Poppy Doll And Butterfly Bartholomew (O makové panence a motýlu Emanuelovi)
- Staflik And Spagetka (Štaflík a Špagetka), tales of two dogs, a short-pawed, long-bodied black one and a tall white one with a shorter body.
- Stories Of Amelia The Forest Sprite (Říkání o víle Amálce)
- Rumcajs The Little Bandit Of The Forest (O loupežníku Rumcajsovi), about a cobbler who was banished from the city of Jičín by its uppish mayor Humpál and became a highwayman. He later has a wife called Manka and a son Cipísek.
- The Tales Of Doggie And Moggie (Povídání o pejskovi a kočičce)
- The thirteen Tom and Jerry, Deranged Animation shorts and part of a Western series.
- The Vanished World of Gloves
- Words, Words, Words...
Estonian
Greek
Hungarian
- Cat City (Macskafogó), a.k.a. The Cat Trap and its sequel.
- Dragon and Slipper (Sárkány és Papucs)
- The District! (original title: Nyócker!)
- Az Erdő Kapitánya
- The Fly (original title: A Légy)
- Foam Bath, a.k.a. Bubble Bath (original title: Habfürdő)
- Gustavus (original title: Gusztáv), a long-running series of comedic shorts with social commentary.
- Gypsy Tales (original title: Cigánymesék)
- Háry János (hour-long opera adaptation)
- Heroic Times (original title: Daliás idők), oil painting animation adapting a historical drama.
- Hófehér, Black Comedy retelling of the Snow White story satirizing the Communist regime.
- Hugo the Hippo
- Hungarian Folk Tales
- I Like Life A Lot (Nekem az élet teccik nagyon)
- Its Just Fashion (original title: Ez csak divat), animated cultural magazine from the '70s.
- Johnny Corncob (original title: János vitéz), after the poem John the Valiant, a.k.a. John the Hero.
- „Kérem a következőt!” a.k.a. Doktor Bubó
- The Kidnapping of the Sun and the Moon, experimental and highly revered animated short.
- Krisztofóró
- Kuzdok
- Long Live Servatius
- Lúdas Matyi
- Maestro, an Academy Award-nominated CGI short.
- A Mézga család
- Misi Mókus kalandjai
- Moto Perpetuo
- Pangea – The Neverending World a.k.a. Rexy, a CGI short.
- Panic (1978)
- Pityke Ormester
- Pom Pom Messei
- The Princess and the Goblin
- Rabbit and Deer (original title: Nyuszi és Őz)
- The Rabbit with the Checkered Ears a.k.a. Kockásfülü nyúl, colloquially known in English as "Bunny in the Suitcase"
- Ruben Brandt, Collector
- The Seventh Brother (original title: A Hetedik Testvér)
- Son of the White Horse (original title: Fehérlófia)
- Song of the Miraculous Hind (original title: Ének a Csodaszarvasról), a semi-educational collection of mythological tales.
- Three Dirty Dwarves (Part of a video game)
- Time Masters (a Franco-Hungarian effort)
- The Tragedy of Man
- The Treasure Of Swamp Castle (original title: Szaffi)
- Vízipók-Csodapók
- Vuk the Little Fox
- Kis Vuk, a.k.a. A Fox's Tale, a rather poorly received sequel.
- Willy the Sparrow
- The Princess and the Pea (a co-production with America)
Latvian
Polish
- Ark
- Blok Ekipa
- Bolek & Lolek
- The Cathedral
- "Creation Of The World" (aka "Stworzenie świata")
- David and the Magic Pearl, a.k.a. Dawid i Sandy
- Dreadfully Titled Movie
- Dziwne Przygody Koziolka Matolka
- George The Hedgehog (aka Jeż Jerzy)
- Hip-Hip and Hurra
- Kapitan Bomba
- Kayko & Kokosh
- The Lordz o' Flys a.k.a. Włatcy móch
- Loving Vincent (co-production with the United Kingdom)
- Między Nami Bocianami
- The Nut (1967)
- Miś Kudłatek
- Piesek W Kratkę
- Podróże Kapitana Klipera
- Pomysłowy Dobromir
- Przygody Gapiszona
- Reksio
- Tango
- Zaczarowany Olowek
Romanian
- Animat Planet Show
- A Brief History
- Miaunel and Balanel - shown on Nickelodeon in North America in the 1980s
- Mihaela Si Azorel
Serbian
Ukrainian
References to Eastern European animation in other media:
Live-Action TV
- Spoofed on The Fast Show with Chanel 9's strange and sadistic animation "Willy Ton Bastardo".
Western Animation
- Spoofed on The Simpsons when Krusty the Clown airs Worker and Parasite in place of Itchy and Scratchy in the Krusty Gets Kancelled episode.
- Also spoofed in Family Guy, which features a show called Shoe and Shoelace in "Stewie Goes for a Drive".
