Dexter's Laboratory

***Dexter's Laboratory*** (commonly abbreviated as ***Dexter's Lab***) is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network. It follows Dexter, a boy-genius and inventor with a hidden laboratory in his room, which he keeps secret from his parents. He is in a constant battle with his older sister Dee Dee, who always finds a way to get inside Dexter's lab and inadvertently foil his experiments. Dexter also engages in a bitter rivalry with a fellow boy-genius named Mandark, who is Dexter's neighbor and classmate. Prominently featured in the series' first two seasons are segments featuring superhero-based characters Monkey, Dexter's pet lab-monkey/superhero, and the Justice Friends, a trio of superheroes who share an apartment.

Tartakovsky pitched the series to Fred Seibert's first animated shorts showcase *What a Cartoon!* at Hanna-Barbera, basing it on student films Tartakovsky produced at the California Institute of the Arts, and four pilots aired from 1995 to 1996. Viewer approval ratings led to a half-hour series, which initially ran for two seasons with 52 total episodes from April 27, 1996, to June 15, 1998. On December 10, 1999, a made-for-television movie titled *Ego Trip* aired as the intended series finale, and Tartakovsky left to begin work on *Samurai Jack*.

In 2001, the series was revived for two more seasons containing 26 total episodes, which began on November 18 of that year, and concluded on November 20, 2003. Due to Tartakovsky's departure from the series, the new seasons were made under Chris Savino and a different production team at Cartoon Network Studios, with various changes to the visual art style and character designs.

*Dexter's Laboratory* won three Annie Awards, with nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Reel Awards, and nine other Annie Awards. The series is notable for helping launch the careers of animators Craig McCracken, Seth MacFarlane, Butch Hartman, and Rob Renzetti. Spin-off media include comic books, DVD and VHS releases, music albums, collectible toys, and video games.

## Premise

The series revolves around Dexter (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh in seasons 1–3; Candi Milo in seasons 3–4) a bespectacled boy-genius who possesses a secret laboratory hidden behind a bookcase in his bedroom. The laboratory is filled with Dexter's inventions and can be accessed by speaking passwords or by activating hidden switches on Dexter's bookshelf (e.g. pulling out a specific book). Though highly intelligent, Dexter often fails at what he sets out to do when he becomes overexcited and makes careless choices. Although he comes from a typical American family, Dexter speaks with a thick accent of indeterminate origin. Christine Cavanaugh described it as "an affectation, [a] kind of accent, we're not quite sure. A small Peter Lorre, but not. Perhaps he's Latino, perhaps he's French. He's a scientist; he knows he needs [a] kind of accent." Genndy Tartakovsky explained, "he's a scientist. All scientists are foreign and have accents...It's not really a German accent. It's just Eastern European."

Dexter manages to keep his lab a secret from his clueless mother (voiced by Kath Soucie) and father (voiced by Jeff Bennett), who never take notice of it. However, he is frequently in conflict with his hyperactive, but good-hearted, older sister, Dee Dee (voiced by Allison Moore in seasons 1 & 3 and by Kat Cressida in seasons 2 & 4). In spite of Dexter's advanced technology, Dee Dee eludes security, and once inside her brother's laboratory, she delights in playing haphazardly, wreaking havoc with his inventions. Though seemingly dim-witted, Dee Dee outsmarts her brother and even gives him helpful advice. For his part, Dexter, though annoyed by his intrusive sibling, feels a reluctant affection for her and will come to her defense if she is imperiled.

Dexter's nemesis is another boy-genius from his school named Susan (first name revealed in later seasons) "Mandark" Astronomonov (voiced by Eddie Deezen). Just like Dexter, Mandark possesses his own laboratory, but his schemes are generally evil and designed to gain power or downplay or destroy Dexter's accomplishments. In revival seasons, Mandark becomes significantly more evil, becoming Dexter's enemy rather than his rival, and Mandark's laboratory changes from brightly-lit with rounded features to gothic-looking, industrial, and angular. Dexter's inventions are objectively better than his, and Mandark tries to compensate for this by stealing Dexter's plans. Mandark's weakness is his unrequited love for Dee Dee.

### Recurring segments

Every *Dexter's Laboratory* episode, with the exception of "Last But Not Beast", is divided into different stories or segments, each being 7–12 minutes long. Occasionally, a segment centers on characters other than Dexter and his family. Two segments are shown primarily during season one: *Dial M for Monkey* and *The Justice Friends*. *Dial M for Monkey* is the middle segment for six episodes of season one, and *The Justice Friends* takes its place until season one's end.

* ***Dial M for Monkey***

*Dial M for Monkey* shorts feature Dexter's pet laboratory monkey named Monkey (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker), whom Dexter believes is an ordinary monkey and nothing more. However, Monkey secretly has superpowers and fights evil as a superhero named Monkey. Monkey is joined by his partner Agent Honeydew (voiced by Kath Soucie) of Global Security, Commander General (voiced by Robert Ridgely in season 1, Earl Boen in season 2), and a team of assembled superheroes. *Dial M for Monkey* was created by Genndy Tartakovsky, Craig McCracken, and Paul Rudish. Monkey's superpowers include superstrength, telekinesis, flight, and super speed, among others.

* ***The Justice Friends***

*The Justice Friends* consists of Major Glory (a spoof of Captain America with the abilities and personality of Superman, voiced by Rob Paulsen), Valhallen (a spoof of Thor with the personality of Eddie Van Halen, voiced by Tom Kenny), and the Infraggable Krunk (a spoof of the Incredible Hulk, voiced by Frank Welker), a trio of superhero roommates residing in an apartment called Muscular Arms. Their adventures deal less with superhero life and more with an inability to agree with each other; it is presented much like a sitcom, including a laugh track. Genndy Tartakovsky's inspiration for *The Justice Friends* came from reading Marvel Comics when learning how to speak English. Tartakovsky stated in a 2001 IGN interview that he was disappointed with how *The Justice Friends* turned out, saying, "it could have been funnier and the characters could have been fleshed out more."

* **Mini-segments**

Between the three main segments in seasons one and two are brief mini-segments, which often feature only Dexter and Dee Dee. Other characters that star in these include "The Puppet Pals", two live-action puppets named Puppet Pal Mitch (Rob Paulsen) and Puppet Pal Clem (Tom Kenny).

## Production

 File:Genndy Tartakovsky.jpg
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 to the United States when Tartakovsky was seven. Along with his older brother, Alex, Tartakovsky taught himself how to draw as a child by copying comic books. After transferring from Columbia College Chicago to California Institute of the Arts in 1990 to study animation, Tartakovsky wrote, directed, animated, and produced two student short films, one of which was a precursor to *Dexter's Laboratory*'s television pilot, "Changes".**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** Described as a two-and-a-half-minute pencil test,**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".****Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** this short film was included in a university screening for the producers of *Batman: The Animated Series*, who were impressed and hired Tartakovsky.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** Later on, Tartakovsky joined the production team of *2 Stupid Dogs*.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".****Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** Several of his co-workers on that series, such as Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti, Paul Rudish, and Lou Romano, had been classmates of his at Cal Arts**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** and went on to collaborate with him on *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*. During his time on that series, 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 develop the concept into a seven-minute storyboard.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".****Script error: No such module "Footnotes".**

Unhappy with his position on *The Critic*, Tartakovsky accepted Huber's proposal,**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** and the resulting project, "Changes", was produced as part of Cartoon Network's animation showcase series, *World Premiere Toons*.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".****Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** "Changes" debuted on February 26, 1995. Viewers worldwide voted through phone lines, websites, focus groups, and consumer promotions for their favorite short cartoons; *Dexter's Laboratory* was the first of 16 to earn that vote of approval. Mike Lazzo, then-head of programming for Cartoon Network, said in 1996 that it was his favorite of the 48 shorts that had been produced by that point, commenting that he and colleagues "loved the humor in the brother-versus-sister relationship".

Even after "Changes" premiered, Tartakovsky had no expectations that it would lead to an entire series.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** In 2018, he noted that his generation was the first in which people could become showrunners at a young age, saying, "Everybody before us were in their forties, at least, and so [our generation's experience] was a very different way to do something where we had no clue what we were doing and we were just trying to make each other laugh." When *Dexter's Laboratory* received a series green-light, Tartakovsky became, at age twenty-seven, one of the youngest animation directors of that era.

Tartakovsky's old classmates McCracken and Rudish helped him design "Changes". Soon afterward, Tartakovsky helped McCracken create his own short film for *World Premiere Toons/What a Cartoon!*, which would eventually become the basis for *The Powerpuff Girls*.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** After finishing McCracken's project, the group proceeded to a second short film for *Dexter's Laboratory*, titled "The Big Sister".**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".****Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** At the time, Tartakovsky was still not anticipating a series green-light for *Dexter's Laboratory*. He went on to reminisce that, in those days, he was simply having fun working on short films with his friends.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** Tartakovsky and McCracken, who had been roommates shortly after college, went on to become regular collaborators on each other's series.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** Animation historian David Perlmutter noted a symbiosis between the two men, which he felt led to stylistic similarities between *Dexter's Laboratory* and *The Powerpuff Girls*.**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".**

In August 1995, Turner ordered six half-hours of *Dexter's Laboratory*, which included two cartoons of one spin-off segment titled *Dial M for Monkey*. In addition to Tartakovsky, McCracken, Renzetti, and Rudish,**Script error: No such module "Footnotes".** directors and writers on *Dexter's Laboratory* included Seth MacFarlane, Butch Hartman, John McIntyre, and Chris Savino. McCracken also served as an art director on the series. Perlmutter described McCracken's role on *Dexter's Laboratory* as that of Tartakovsky's "effective second-in-command".

## References

1. ↑ Moore, Scott (July 21, 1996). Out of the Mouth of 'Babe'.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Molly Woulfe (June 24, 2003). Chicago-bred Animator Draws from His Imagination.
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5. ↑ **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 **Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration' not found.**
7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Jewish Journal`
8. ↑ Plume, Kenneth (November 28, 2001). 10 Questions: Genndy Tartakovsky.
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11. ↑ *People* staff (March 3, 1997). In Toon with Tots.
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15. ↑ Seibert, Fred (November 3, 2004). Original Premiere >My Life as a Teenage Robot. Frederator Studios.
16. ↑ Avi Tuchman (February 2, 2008). Channel Frederator Blog: Lou Romano. Frederator Studios.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Moore, Scott (February 26, 1995). Creative 'World Premiere Toons'.
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19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Tony Sokol (June 29, 2018). Hotel Transylvania Director Genndy Tartakovsky Tells Tales Outside the Lab.
20. ↑ Steve Fritz (January 15, 2009). Animated Shorts: Craig McCracken Talks Powerpuff Girls.
21. ↑ Bartlett, James (March 12, 2007). Seth MacFarlane – He's the "Family Guy". Greatreporter.com.
22. ↑ Basile, Nancy. Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons! An Interview with Butch Hartman. About.com.
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24. ↑ Roffman, Marisa (July 11, 2010). Comic-Con 2010: Sunday's Schedule Released. GiveMeMyRemote.com.