Dexter's Laboratory is an American animated science fiction comedy television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network. The series follows Dexter, an enthusiastic boy-genius with a science laboratory in his bedroom, which he keeps secret from his unsuspecting parents. Dexter is at constant odds with his older and more extroverted sister Dee Dee, who regularly accesses the laboratory and inadvertently foils his experiments. Prominently featured in the first and second seasons are other segments focusing on superhero-based characters Monkey, Dexter's pet lab-monkey with a superhero alter ego, and the Justice Friends, a trio of superheroes who share an apartment.
Tartakovsky pitched the series to Fred Seibert's animated shorts showcase What a Cartoon! at Hanna-Barbera, basing it on student films he produced at the California Institute of the Arts. Four pilots aired on Cartoon Network and TNT from 1995 to 1996. The first pilot "Changes" became the former network's highest-rated What a Cartoon! short, and viewer approval ratings led to a half-hour series, becoming the first original series under the Cartoon Cartoons moniker. Two seasons aired from April 27, 1996, to June 15, 1998, totaling 52 episodes. On December 10, 1999, a television film titled Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip aired as the intended series finale, before the series was revived for a second run of episodes. Due to Tartakovsky's departure, Chris Savino served as showrunner for the revival, which aired for two more seasons from November 18, 2001 to November 20, 2003, ending the series at 78 episodes.
Dexter's Laboratory became one of Cartoon Network's most successful original series, which helped increase the network's ratings in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It received high viewership in the United States on cable television, becoming the network's highest-rated original series in 1996 and 1997. Critics lauded its humor, intelligence, and originality, ranking the series as one of the best cartoons in various lists. It was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less) from 1995 to 1998 and won three Annie Awards. The series spawned various merchandise, including albums, books, home video releases, toys, and video games.
Premise
Dexter (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh in seasons 1–3 and Ego Trip; Candi Milo in seasons 3–4) is a bespectacled boy-genius who lives in a suburban neighborhood with his parents, only addressed as Mom (voiced by Kath Soucie) and Dad (voiced by Jeff Bennett), and his hyperactive, carefree, older sister Dee Dee (voiced by Allison Moore in seasons 1 and 3; Kat Cressida in seasons 2 and 4, including Ego Trip). Dexter conceals a vast secret laboratory and solves problems ranging from saving the world to defeating school bullies. Dee Dee delights in playing haphazardly in the laboratory, wreaking havoc with Dexter's inventions.
Recurring segments Dial M for Monkey Dial M for Monkey follows Monkey (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker), Dexter's pet laboratory monkey who is secretly a crime-fighting superhero. He is joined by his partner Agent Honeydew (voiced by Kath Soucie) and a team of assembled superheroes.
The Justice Friends The Justice Friends follows Major Glory (voiced by Rob Paulsen), Valhallen (voiced by Tom Kenny), and the Infraggable Krunk (voiced by Frank Welker) who shared an apartment. Major Glory acts as a patriot; Valhallen wields with his electric guitar and speaks "between Shakespearean English and surfer dialect"; and the Infraggable Krunk is a purple monster with the intelligence of a child. According to Den of Geek, the trio are parodies of Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk that deal with "mundane sitcom stuff [...] with a superhero twist."
Episodes
Notes The second season episode "Dexter and Computress Get Mandark!" was created by Long Island resident Tyler Samuel Lee, who submitted his idea to Tartakovsky as an audiotape at the age of six. Lee's recorded narration is used in the episode. Tartakovsky—who often received letters and comments from other fans—praised Lee for "[capturing] the imaginative kid perspective we're always striving for." The episode was animated with "crayon-like backgrounds" and "crudely drawn characters" to visualize the imagination of a second grader. The second season episode "Rude Removal" was produced, but not aired. It involves Dexter creating a "rude removal system" to diminish Dee Dee and Dexter's rudeness that instead creates highly rude clones of both siblings. "Rude Removal" was only shown during certain animation festivals and was never aired on television due to the characters swearing. "Rude Removal" became available on Adult Swim's YouTube channel on January 22, 2013. "Chicken Scratch" debuted theatrically with The Powerpuff Girls Movie on July 3, 2002, and was later broadcast as a season four episode on November 4, 2003, on Cartoon Network.
Controversy "Dial M for Monkey: Barbequor", a season 1 episode from 1996, was removed from rotation after being broadcast in the United States. It features a character named the Silver Spooner (a spoof of Silver Surfer), which was perceived by Cartoon Network to be a stereotype of gay men. Second, Krunk appears to become drunk, has a hangover, and vomits off-camera. In later broadcasts and on its Season 1 DVD (Region 1), "Barbequor" has been replaced with "Dexter's Lab: A Story", an episode from season two.
Production Background
Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Dexter's Laboratory, was born in Moscow, where his father, a dentist, served in the government of the Soviet Union. Although relatively wealthy and well-connected, his family feared racial persecution due to their Jewish heritage and moved from Russia to Chicago when Tartakovsky was seven. Along with his older brother Alex, Tartakovsky learned English by watching cartoons and taught himself how to draw as a child by copying comic books.
Tartakovsky initially went to Columbia College Chicago to study advertising and took an animation class as an elective. After he transferred to the California Institute of the Arts in 1990 to study animation full-time, Tartakovsky wrote, directed, animated, and produced two student short films; one of which was a precursor to Dexter's Laboratory's first television pilot "Changes", featuring the voices of Rob Renzetti as Dexter and Allison Moore as Dee Dee. A two-and-a-half-minute pencil test produced in 1991–92 as his second student film, "Changes" was included in a university screening for the producers of Batman: The Animated Series, who were impressed and hired Tartakovsky to move to Spain to work on Batman at a studio in Madrid.
After Batman, Tartakovsky moved back to California to work for Hanna-Barbera on the production team of 2 Stupid Dogs. His co-workers on that series, Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti, and Paul Rudish, had been classmates of his at Cal Arts, with Renzetti and Mccracken being his roommateshttps://web.archive.org/web/20130710074613/https://www.newsarama.com/1954-animated-shorts-craig-mccracken-talks-powerpuff-girls.html , and went on to collaborate with him as part of the core creative crew for Dexter's Laboratory. Tartakovsky's last job before developing Dexter's Laboratory into a television series was to serve as a sheet timer on The Critic.
Development During his time on The Critic, Tartakovsky received a phone call from Larry Huber, who had been a producer on 2 Stupid Dogs. Huber had shown Tartakovsky's unfinished student film to a then-nascent Cartoon Network and wanted Tartakovsky to expand the concept into a seven-minute storyboard. Unhappy with his position on The Critic, Tartakovsky accepted Huber's proposal. "Changes" premiered on February 26, 1995, as part of Cartoon Network's animation showcase series World Premiere Toons. After "Changes" premiered, Tartakovsky had no expectations that it would lead to a series. In September 1995, Turner Entertainment Co. announced the series greenlight of Dexter's Laboratory, becoming the first of sixteen shorts to earn the vote of approval based on feedback from focus groups, phone lines, the America Online reaction, the ten-city "Dive-In Theater" tour, and the "Cool Toons Mobile". After Tartakovsky and his former classmates McCracken and Rudish finished "Changes" and The Powerpuff Girls' debut short "Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins" for World Premiere Toons, they proceeded to work on the second short film for Dexter's Laboratory titled "The Big Sister".
When Dexter's Laboratory received a series greenlight by Cartoon Network president Betty Cohen and Cartoon Network Senior Vice President of programming Mike Lazzo, Tartakovsky became one of the youngest animation directors during the time period at the age of 27. In developing Dexter's Laboratory, he continued the tradition of making "violent cartoons", explaining that "many people like them because they project themselves in the drawings and they laugh," while following the principles of older Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The production process for an episode was unique compared to most animated series at the time. Similar to The Dick Van Dyke Show, the story ideas for the episodes were created during pitch sessions. The stories would be transferred into storyboards with dialogue written, condensing and combining concepts into a story. Popular culture references were added as part of the jokes to entertain the series' audience.
The first season premiered on TNT on April 27, 1996, and the following day on Cartoon Network and TBS. By August 1996, Dexter's Laboratory was renewed for a second season, premiering on Cartoon Network on July 16, 1997. The television film Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip premiered on December 10, 1999, on Cartoon Network. During a press conference in New York City held on February 21, 2001, Cartoon Network announced that it ordered more than 110 episodes of renewed original series, including Dexter's Laboratory. As Tartakovsky was immersed in launching his next series Samurai Jack, Chris Savino replaced Tartakovsky as creative director. By the fourth season, Savino was promoted to producer giving him further control of the series, including the budget. To promote the third season, a twelve-hour marathon titled "Dexter Goes Global" was broadcast on November 18, 2001, in 96 countries and twelve languages. It featured fan-selected episodes of Dexter's Laboratory and culminated by premiering the first two episodes of the third season. Dexter's Laboratory concluded on November 20, 2003.
Character conception
During Tartakovsky's second year at CalArts, he animated a tall ballerina and a boxy scientist for his second student short film. Although they were unnamed at the time, the two characters would develop into Dee Dee and Dexter. Early in development, Dee Dee was initially intended to be the protagonist; Dexter and Dee Dee's roles were later switched altogether. To contrast the two characters, Tartakovsky made Dee Dee artistic and Dexter scientific.
The names "Dexter" and "Dee Dee" were found in name books; "Dexter" caught Tartakovsky's attention for sounding scientific while "Dee Dee" appealed to him because of its uniqueness, feeling that it complemented her two pigtails. Before settling on these options, Tartakovsky had considered titling the series Dartmouth and Daisy. Explaining why he discarded this idea, Tartakovsky said that "Dartmouth doesn't exactly roll off the tongue" and that the name Daisy was already heavily associated with Disney. The title Dexter's Laboratory was settled during the production of "Changes".