Charlie Bean Bob Staake (Model Design) Donald Shank (Background Design)
Dexter's Debt is the third part of the 11th episode of season one in Dexter's Laboratory. In this episode, Dexter is slammed with a fine of 200 million dollars by NASA as they are the monitors of his lab. He quickly comes up with plans on how to make the money.
The mailman arrives and gives Dad the mail. Meanwhile, Dexter and Dee Dee get some mail (Dexter gets a bill from NASA and Dee Dee gets something from the Publishers Sweeping House). Dexter has to pay $200 million dollars, and he has a talk with Dad about his allowance, and Dexter gets a quarter and Dee Dee gets $5. He then makes lemonade but his lemonade doesn't make any money. He then talks with a NASA employee over the telephone about the bill. He later has a sale and made not much money. One of his customers just wanted a "glowing thingy". Dee Dee also has a sale and made more than Dexter. Later, he tries to help a Harvard University student with his homework, but then the student declines. Then, Dee Dee wins the exact amount Dexter has to pay, but then Dexter makes a dollar (using science) and then some men from NASA arrive. He later tries to break Dee Dee's piggy bank and Dee Dee tells him that she would've loaned him the money if he just asked. Dexter then asks, and she agrees on the condition that they share the lab.
On some cable boxes, the title is spelled as "Dexter Debt".
When Dexter gets Dee Dee's envelope, it says wiener instead of winner.
The Publishers Sweeping House is an obvious parody of Publishers Clearing House.
Big Red, a giant ant who appeared in the season 2 episode Ant Pants, has a similar appearance to the mutated ant in this episode.
The title card of the episode shows the text U.S. Smail below, yet it says U.S. Snail on the mail truck.
All of Dexter's inventions are put outside for sale, yet his parents have not questioned him nor have they appeared to ask where did all those things come from.
Dexter receives a bill from NASA, in real-life NASA is a real space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
While Dexter and Dee Dee are out front, for a few seconds of frames, the spaceship seen in the background shows the word APOLLO written on it...which could refer to Apollo a real-life space mission.
When Dexter offers to assist someone on the phone with their homework and they reject his help after realizing the price of $2,000 a page, he says: "Fine then!!! See if you graduate Harvard by yourself!!" This references the real-life school Harvard University and its notable reputation for being one of the most difficult, most prestige schools in the United States.
Dexter goes to his lab to create a replica of a dollar. Despite this ingenious creation it's still not enough to cover his debt and in real-life this is called counterfeit money a form of fraud. Doing so in real-life is illegal and may result in prosecution.
The ending of the episode suggests that Dee Dee is given a portion of Dexter's lab, yet in later episodes this compromise was not followed through.
We're left with unanswered questions of how Dexter was indebted to NASA. Maybe he used one of their equipment, space shuttles or power sources which would eventually lead to him being charged $200 million dollars.
Other theory is that Dexter get the resources to built his lab from the NASA, explaining how Dexter get this debt
Other theory can be the fact that Dexter have a spaceship APOLLO, implying that Dexter bought it to the NASA
The outside view of Dexter's house seems to look more vibrant in this episode
The date on Dee-Dee's check says May 5, 1996, this could be the date that the cel for the episode was drawn.
Dexter shows to be lack of common sense when paying his debt since he just needs to surrender some his advanced technology to NASA as payment or working for them to make advanced technology to pay his debt.
Goofs/Errors
In the beginning of the episode the pathway to the front door and driveway of the house can be seen, yet later in the episode, the sidewalk pathway to the front door is missing.
The interior of the house is shown again that at the front door, the living room is not seen and the windows are not there. Cartoon logic has been implemented.
