Dexter's Laboratory (TV series)

Original Promo Poster for Dexter's Laboratory (1995)

Dexter's Laboratory is an Emmy award-winning American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios (also co-produced with Hanna-Barbera from 1996–1999). The show is about a boy named Dexter who has a secret laboratory filled with an endless collection of his inventions. The series premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on April 28, 1996, and ran until 2003. Since 2006, Dexter's Laboratory has been airing on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang.

The series initially debuted on the What a Cartoon! show as a cartoon short and later became the first of said program to be adapted into its own series. Each 22-minute episode consists of two to three segments (with the exception of the initial series finale). Dexter's Laboratory originally ended in 1998 after 52 episodes, but it was later revived for a TV movie, and two more seasons featuring a different production team, including Chris Savino, creator of the Loud House, taking over as creative director.

The show's logo.

As of March 30, 2012, the series has returned to Cartoon Network in re-runs on the revived block, Cartoon Planet. The series originally aired on YTV in Canada. On May 5, 2012, Dexter's Laboratory moved to Teletoon, airing Saturdays at 12:30PM ET, in favor of the launch of Cartoon Network.

Production

Dexter's Laboratory was inspired by one of Genndy Tartakovsky's drawings of a ballerina. After drawing her tall and thin shape, he decided to pair her with a short and blocky opposite, Dexter. In 1991, he made his first "Dexter" short. On February 20, 1995, Dexter's Laboratory made its first run on the What a Cartoon! Show. In April 1996, the first season began airing. Directors and writers on the series included Genndy Tartakovsky, Rumen Petkov, Craig McCracken, Seth MacFarlane, Butch Hartman, Rob Renzetti, Paul Rudish, Mark O'Hare, John McIntyre and Chris Savino.

Legacy

Dexter's Laboratory ended its initial run in 1998, with the series finale being the episode "Last But Not Beast," but re-entered production on February 21, 2001 following a press release from Cartoon Network. The new episodes, which ran for two more seasons, had a different production team than the originals, since Genndy Tartakovsky was busy working on Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars. The second series featured new character and background designs, alternative storyline and character backgrounds, and different sound effects (which were mostly all classic Hanna-Barbera sound effects) and featured the transition from traditional cel animation to digital ink-and-paint. Future Loud House creator Chris Savino was put in charge by Tartakovsky to take over the show in its last two seasons, as Tartakovsky himself was working on his next series, Samurai Jack, at the time. The new character designs were done by Chris Battle, who not only worked on the first two seasons of the show, but was also known as a character designer for Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and the Powerpuff Girls. Much of the new creative crew included some people who worked on Samurai Jack, including Aaron Springer and the late Chris Reccardi. In season four of Dexter's Laboratory, Savino was promoted to the series producer.

During the early episodes of season three, Christine Cavanaugh continued to voice Dexter until she retired from voice acting in 2001 due to personal reasons. From then on, Dexter was voiced by Candi Milo, and Allison Moore continued to briefly voice Dee Dee until she was replaced with Kat Cressida, who assumed her role in season four.

In 2023, Tartakovsky has stated that he has no plans to reboot Dexter's Laboratory, citing Cavanaugh's death in late 2014 as one reason as well as the "overabundance" of cartoon reboots.

Opening Sequence and Premise

Dexter standing in front of the unlit logo, from season 1.

The show opens with Dee Dee sneaking into Dexter's room and entering his lab through a chute hidden underneath a circular rug. She then prances into Dexter's laboratory. Dexter is seen inventing a remote that Dee Dee snatches from him immediately after holding it over his head. Dexter pursues Dee Dee throughout the lab to get it back, but ends up crashing into a wall.

Dee Dee, however, finds herself at a dead end, and Dexter uses the remote to take it back from Dee Dee. He then stands in front of the unlit logo and presses the button on the remote to activate it, but nothing happens. As Dee Dee plugs it in, Dexter is greeted with a blinding flash of the logo as he falls to the floor. In season one, the Dexter's Laboratory logo was lit up with orange fluorescent lights and white sparkles, and from season 2 onward, the logo was changed to its current design with blue sparkles. In the opening of the season 4 episode "Babe Sitter", Mandark replaces Dee Dee, and just after he plugs in the lights, they instead red "Mandark's Laboratory" followed by the flourish being distorted with Mandark's signature laugh.

The series revolves around a boy genius named Dexter, who has a secret laboratory filled with highly advanced equipment hidden behind a bookshelf in his bedroom. Access to this never-ending laboratory is achieved by speaking various passwords or by activating hidden switches on the bookcase (such as pulling out a specific book). Dexter is normally in conflict with his ditzy older sister, Dee Dee, who has an uncanny talent for gaining access to Dexter's lab despite his best efforts to keep her out. Dee Dee eludes all manner of security and, once inside, delights in playing in the lab, often destroying his inventions and creations. For reasons left unexplained, Dexter manages to keep the lab a secret from his clueless, cheerful parents, and in the beginning of the show, Dee Dee is the only other character to know about his lab. In several episodes, however, he is forced to reveal his lab to his parents, although such episodes always end with his parent's memories being wiped.

Dexter has an arch-nemesis, a boy named Susan "Mandark" Astronomonov. Often Mandark, through fraud or (rarely) by coincidence, attempts to take credit for Dexter's achievements. Mandark is also secretly in love with Dee Dee. In the later seasons, after the revamp, Mandark becomes significantly eviler, his laboratory dark-looking and spiky (instead of the bright, cartoony lab featuring a Death Star from earlier seasons) and his plans are more diabolical and nasty. It was shown in an episode that when Mandark was referred to as "Susan" Dexter mocked Mandark for looking like a girl and this sparked his hatred toward Dexter.

The show's humor derives in part from Dexter's essentially one-sided and intense rivalry with his sister (in which Dexter, although brilliant, never gets the upper hand) and from exaggerated stereotyping of his high intelligence and social awkwardness. Much absurd and surreal humor is used as well. Dexter also speaks with a Russian accent while his parents speak with distinctive American accents.

The show breaks the time-honored TV rule of returning the characters and situation to the status quo at the end of each episode; most episodes end in an unresolved state with no easy solution offered for returning the characters to normal; e.g. Dexter is a mutated mass of protoplasm , a large tentacled monster attacks the house, there are multiple clones of Dexter and Dee Dee running around, the entire lab self-destructs and is completely gone, Dexter destroys the lab and is later turned into a sandwich, etc. However, each episode always begins from the accepted "normal" premise of the program.

An hour-long special, Ego Trip, aired on Cartoon Network in 1999, in which Dexter travels through time and meets several of his future selves. Ego Trip was originally supposed to conclude the series, but two additional seasons followed.

Backup Segments

Two short segments ran in between episodes during 21-minute slots called "Dial M for Monkey" and "The Justice Friends". These segments existed within the Dexter's Laboratory universe and main characters from either "show" appeared in actual episodes regularly. The episodes of the first half of Season 1 of the Dexter's Laboratory included the Dial M for Monkey segment in between two of the Dexter's Laboratory episodes. The last half of Season 1 included a Justice Friends segment in between the two Dexter's Laboratory episodes. Monkey often appeared in the Justice Friends segments and vice versa, teaming with his fellow superheroes.

Dial M for Monkey

The Dial M for Monkey shorts all feature Dexter's laboratory pet, Monkey, who is secretly a superhero. He often helps Agent Honeydew, his human friend, and the rest of the Global Security with various missions. Monkey kept this a secret from Dexter until the episode "Last But Not Beast", but he erased Dexter's memories of it after the revelation.

One episode in this segment, "Barbequor", was banned from reruns following its initial airing. It was widely speculated that the Silver Spooner, Barbequor's henchman, was a stereotypical flamboyant man and Krunk getting drunk from too much liquor near the end of the episode. In reality, the writers of the episode received threats of copyright infringement from Marvel Comics due to Silver Spooner being a misuse of the Silver Surfer.

The segment's title is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Dial M for Murder.

The Justice Friends

The Justice Friends intro card.

The Justice Friends followed the daily misadventures of Major Glory, Valhallen, and Krunk, a trio of superheroes who live in Muscular Arms, an apartment complex. The segments are presented as a sitcom, as it features all three characters butting heads with each other when they can't agree on something and less about their superhero life.

In a 2001 interview with IGN, Tartakovsky voiced how disappointed in how The Justice Friends turned out, citing the characters not having fleshed-out personalities.

The Puppet Pals Show

A TV series seen in the apartment of Major Glory, Valhallen, and Krunk called "The Puppet Pals Show" (or simply "TV Puppet Pals") is seen as a few small segments with live-action puppets. One of the cartoons featuring Dom DeLuise's character Koosalagoopagoop has an opening similar to the two main back up segments.

Mini-Segments

Mini-Segments are short segments of the show that will appear after some episodes. They will have short joke that is about a few seconds long that features Dexter and Dee Dee doing something funny.

Characters

Main Characters

• Dexter - The series' main protagonist. A prodigy of science at a young age, he is a diligent boy who creates inventions in his laboratory for use in his daily life, but almost always finds himself in a sticky situation once the invention falls into the wrong hands. Dexter also works to keep his lab a secret from both his parents and Dee Dee.
• Dee Dee - The series' deuteragonist. Dee Dee is Dexter's older, airheaded, but fun-loving sister who constantly barges into Dexter's laboratory where she makes a mess of things and acts as a foil to Dexter's plans. In her spare time, Dee Dee loves to hang out with her friends, do ballet dancing, and girly things.
• Mom - Dexter and Dee Dee's mother. She is a hardworking housewife who enjoys cleaning and loves cooking.
• Dad - Dexter and Dee Dee's father. He is often depicted as dimwitted, but his heart is in the right place.
• Mandark - The series' main antagonist. Just like Dexter, Mandark is a boy genius who has his own laboratory, where he comes up with plans and creates inventions to get rid of Dexter. He has a crush on Dee Dee, who doesn't reciprocate his gestures.

Recurring Characters

• Douglas E. Mordecai III - Dexter's best friend who also goes to Huber Elementary, who is often referred to by his surname. He and Dexter both have the same interests, but are often bullied for being nerds.
• Koosalagoopagoop - Dee Dee's imaginary friend who debuted in "The Koos is Loose", AKA "Koosy" or "Koos". He is Dee Dee's imaginary friend who hails from Koosland.
• Mee Mee and Lee Lee - Dee Dee's best friends who enjoy the same things as her. Initially, they were depicted wearing pink ballet outfits like the one Dee Dee wears, but in later appearances, Mee Mee's outfit was purple while Lee Lee's was green.
• Windbear and Oceanbird Astronomonov - Mandark's hippie parents who enjoy peace and nature. They are completely oblivious to their son's love for evil and his crush on Dee Dee, and always refer to Mandark by his real name "Susan", much to Mandark's annoyance.

Episodes

Main article: Episode Guide

Dexter's Laboratory has aired a total of 78 episodes over the course of four seasons during its seven-year run. The series kicked off with four What a Cartoon! pilots, starting with "Dexter's Laboratory" on February 26, 1995. When the series started for real on April 27, 1996, the four pilot episodes were reaired along with some season 1 episodes. From April 27, 1996, to June 15, 1998, a total of 52 episodes were produced.

On December 10, 1999, the series had its first and only animated special: Ego Trip. It was originally intended to serve as the series finale of Dexter's Laboratory. However, despite the animated special receiving mixed reviews, it had high viewership, culminating in the series receiving two more seasons.

From November 18, 2001, to November 20, 2003, Dexter's Laboratory produced another twenty-six episodes. "Chicken Scratch", a theatrical short that aired before The Powerpuff Girls Movie in 2002, was later rebroadcast in season four.

Media

Ego Trip

Main article: Ego Trip

Ego Trip is an Annie Award -winning one-hour animated television special spawned from the Cartoon Network animated television series Dexter's Laboratory, produced by Hanna-Barbera (now Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network, and aired in 1999.

Music videos

see also|Groovies Four music videos were made in 2002 and had occasional airings between shows on Cartoon Network. One was a mock-anime video sung by They Might Be Giants called "Dee Dee and Dexter".

The other three were rap songs which were released on a compilation album:

• "Back to the Lab" (by Prince Paul) A pop art video highlighting the walkway sequence of a stern Dexter, marching presumably back to his lab. The video consisted of various clips and animation derived from the series' later seasons.
• "Secrets" (by will.i.am): will.i.am singing/rapping within a color-tinged record studio, with Dexter bumping his head and mixing up beats on a turntable in the background.
• "Dexter (What's His Name)" (by Coolio): A pseudo "live" performance, essentially Coolio freestyle-rapping beside Dexter on an animated stage before a large cheering crowd composed of a host of Cartoon Network characters.

Dexter's Laboratory: The Hip Hop Experiment

Dexter's Laboratory: The Hip-Hop Experiment, a compilation album featuring songs by various hip hop artists inspired by the series, was released on August 20, 2002. The track listing for the CD are as follows:

1. "Dexter's Laboratory Opening Theme"
2. "Secrets" - will.i.am
3. "Dexter (What's His Name?)" - Coolio
4. "Love According to Dexter" - Phife Dawg, introducing Slick E. Rose
5. "Sibling Rivalries" - De La Soul
6. "Mandark's Plan" - YZ
7. "Back to the Lab" - Prince Paul

Video games

Four games were released to tie in with the series, Dexter's Laboratory: Robot Rampage for the Game Boy Color, Dexter's Laboratory: Chess Challenge and Dexter's Laboratory: Deesaster Strikes!, both of which were released for the Game Boy Advance, and Dexter's Laboratory: Mandark's Lab? for the Sony PlayStation all developed and produced by the now defunct publisher BAM! Entertainment.

Home media releases

Dexter's Laboratory home media releases

Season		Title	Format	Release dates
				Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	1	Jonny Quest - Race Bannon in Army of One	VHS	March 19, 1996	N/A	N/A
		Dexter's Laboratory: Volume 1	VHS	N/A	March 27, 2000	N/A
		Cartoon Network Halloween 2 - Grossest Halloween Ever	DVD	August 9, 2005	N/A	N/A
		Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete First Season	DVD	October 12, 2010	N/A	February 13, 2008
		4 Kid Favorites Cartoon Network: Hall of Fame #1	DVD	March 13, 2012	N/A	N/A
		4 Kid Favorites Cartoon Network: Hall of Fame #3	DVD	June 23, 2015	N/A	N/A
		Dexter's Laboratory: Collected Experiments	DVD	N/A	N/A	October 25, 2017
		Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete Series	DVD	June 25, 2024	N/A	N/A
	2	The Powerpuff Girls: Twisted Sister	VHS	April 3, 2001	N/A	N/A
		Dexter's Laboratory: Greatest Adventures	VHS	July 3, 2001	N/A	N/A
		The Powerpuff Girls: 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas	DVD	October 7, 2003	N/A	November 8, 2005
			VHS		N/A
		Scooby-Doo and the Toon Tour of Mysteries	DVD	June 2004	N/A	N/A
		Cartoon Network Halloween - Nine Creepy Cartoon Capers	DVD	August 10, 2004	N/A	N/A
		Cartoon Network Christmas - Yuletie Follies	DVD	October 5, 2004	N/A	N/A
		Cartoon Network Christmas 2 - Christmas Rocks	DVD	October 4, 2005	October 18, 2010	N/A
		Dexter's Laboratory: Season 2; Part 1	DVD	N/A	N/A	June 11, 2008
		Dexter's Laboratory: Collected Experiments	DVD	N/A	N/A	October 25, 2017
		Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete Series	DVD	June 25, 2024	N/A	N/A
	Film	Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip	VHS	November 7, 2000	July 23, 2001	N/A
		Dexter's Laboratory: Collected Experiments	DVD	N/A	N/A	October 25, 2017
		Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete Series	DVD	June 25, 2024	N/A	N/A
	3	Dexter's Laboratory: Collected Experiments	DVD	N/A	N/A	October 25, 2017
		Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete Series	DVD	June 25, 2024	N/A	N/A
	4	The Powerpuff Girls Movie	DVD	November 5, 2002	N/A	N/A
			VHS		N/A	N/A
		Dexter's Laboratory: Collected Experiments	DVD	N/A	N/A	October 25, 2017
		Dexter's Laboratory: The Complete Series	DVD	June 25, 2024	N/A	N/A

External links

• Dexter's Laboratory at Wikiquote
• Dexter's Laboratory at IMDb
• Dexter's Laboratory at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
• Dexter's Laboratory at the Big Cartoon Database