I think this entry is one of the highlights of the series. Both directors did an excellent job, and made really fun films in which the animation is constantly moving, with objects transforming into other objects. For Vladimir Morozov, this might be his best film (and so much better than his contribution to Merry-Go-Round 6, made 11 years earlier). He wisely chooses to put the focus on the family and on how their hard gardening work brings them bounty, contrasting them with lazy Miron who sleeps all day and misses everything. So the script editors had nothing to complain about. But at the same time, he puts so much effort into making everything a joy to watch. The animators also really deserve credit here, as does the art director for the character design, which I find really satisfying. And of course, the composer, who created quite a catchy musical piece (played in typical 1980s Soviet synths style).

The second film by Mititello is rather more abstract and I'm not entirely sure what the takeaway is, if any (unless it's simply to teach very young kids to recognize the alphabet letters?), but all the transformations are still very fun to watch. The boy wins each "contest" by successfully creating one more letter of the word "rainbow", and once he's able to spell the whole word, everything turns from black and white to colour. So is this also meant to be about the benefits of open-mindedness and "friendship of the peoples"? I don't know, that might be a bit of a stretch. In any case, this was Mititello's second film, and she would go on to make some excellent ones in the years to come, although unfortunately her career was cut short by the crisis of the 1990s.

Both of these films, in their endless energy and playfulness, also remind me of Roze Stiebra's Looking-Rhymes (1988).