The Russian animation studio Toonbox has begun producing a new Flash-animated series about famous space pups. The Real Adventures of Belka and Strelka tells new tales of the first dogs to return safely from space travel (Laika died a few hours into the mission). Another Russian team is mining the same stories, with a planned January 2009 launch of a CGI feature titled Star Dogs: Belka and Strelka. Here’s one of the 7-minute episodes from the Flash version:

This morning Cartoonbrew.com featured a clip from an upcoming Flash-animated featured titled Alice’s Birthday (Russian website). It’s being directed by Sergey Seryogin and produced by Master Film, the same company behind Smeshariki, a Flash TV series recently picked up by 4Kids. Here’s the latest trailer.

According to an article in the Hollywood Reporter, the Russian animated series Smeshariki will begin airing in the US on TheCW4Kids block. This pick-up marks the first time a Russian animated series has been sold into the US market. It was announced this summer by 4Kids Entertainment, who fill the CW animation block, that they were representing the property, which currently sees 5.5 million viewers each broadcast. Broadcasts on The CW start in November.

Andrew Dickman, a storyboard artist in Burbank, California, recently pointed me to a Flash-animated series out of Russia called ‘Smeshariki.’

In a 2003 article in the St. Petersburg Times, the show’s PR Manager said:

…the cartoons are produced in the best classical traditions of Russian animation with the use of a modern information technology called Flash.

‘Modern Information Technology.’ Brilliant!

The show’s website claims the show is “the first large-scale Russian animated serial for children of pre-school and elementary-school age,” and they’ve completed a total of 208 episodes.

From what I can tell, the series wrapped production in 2004.