It’s time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dexter’s Laboratory, the first real Cartoon Network original series, and as such the first so-called “Cartoon Cartoon”. Created by Genndy Tartakovsky, the series originally ran between 1996-1998, but did receive a sort of reboot only a couple of years later, and ran for an additional two seasons between 2001-2003, this time supervised by Chris Savino (Tartakovsky at the time being busy with his next hit show, Samurai Jack). As a whole, Dexter’s Lab still ran for 78 half-hour shows, as well as a special hour long TV movie, and was generally well liked by the audience.
Its pilot episode premiered even earlier, in 1995 as part of the What A Cartoon! project, from where a bunch of other shows were born (including Cow & Chicken, Johnny Bravo, The Powerpuff Girls and Courage the Cowardly Dog), and also where a whole slew of artists got their start in the animation industry (apart from Tartakovsky, another notable name would be Craig McCracken, among others). Dexter’s Lab wasn’t the first What A Cartoon! to air (that honor went to McCracken’s The Powerpuff Girls), but was apparently the most popular one considering it was the first to receive a full series. The Powerpuff Girls instead became the fourth Cartoon Cartoon series on the network.
Dexter’s Lab primarily focuses on the adventures of boy genius Dexter (originally voiced by Christine Cavanaugh, and later by Candi Milo), who has built his own secret laboratory inside his bedroom where he performs all kinds of weird experiments, but still finds himself in awkward situations since he’s just too technical for lack of a better word, and because of his free-spirited big sister, Dee Dee. Dee Dee (voiced by Allison Moore, and by Kat Cressida depending on the season), loves dancing and playing around with all of Dexter’s Inventions, and ultimately destroys them, though it is usually by accident. Their sibling dynamic was seemingly inspired by Genndy Tartakovsky’s own relationship with his brother, and is usually pretty entertaining. They still care for each other, somewhere deep down, and it does come up occasionally in a few episodes. Also present to complete the family dynamic, are their parents – Mom (voiced by Kath Soucie), a clean freak who can be very strict when needed, and Dad (voiced by Jeff Bennett). The parents are usually oblivious to all of the experiments Dexter performs, and don’t have a clue about his secret lab though they do think he is the smarter one of their kids, and are sometimes caught up in whatever mess caused by one of their son’s failed lab experiments.
Then there is also Dexter’s rival, Mandark (voiced by Eddie Deezen), who is likewise a genius with an even bigger lab and ego, apparently Dexter’s superior on some occasions. He is also infatuated by Dee Dee for some reason, who couldn’t care less about him and has done what she knows best – destroy a lab – while on their first “date”. In later episodes Mandark turns completely to the dark side and becomes an evil genius bent on getting his revenge and making Dexter suffer. His backstory is likewise changed, and while there are no real contradictions to the earlier episodes, it doesn’t really add much to the character either, in my opinion. His parents being peace loving hippies who hate science is a neat idea, though. Similarly, the earlier Tartakovsky episodes also introduced his sister in a story, making her Dee Dee’s rival, but then she never appeared again.
The show also originally featured supporting segments, usually parodies of the superhero genre. Initially the middle segment starred Dexter’s pet monkey, on which he performed various tests but never realizes that it is in fact a superhero who saves the world when it is in trouble. Supporting characters here were the “Justice Friends”, parodies of various superheroes, mostly from Marvel Comics, which Tratakovsky was a fan of. The Justice Friends got their own series of shorts as the middle segment during the first season of Dexter’s Lab. These episodes were more of a sitcom featuring Major Glory, Val Hallen and Krunk (parodies of Captain America, Thor and Hulk, as anyone can tell), all living under the same roof and having various misadventures. Both Monkey and the Justice Friends would receive less segments with each new season, but the characters still popped up every once in a while, in actual Dexter segments. As well as the occasional cameo or guest-appearance on The Powerpuff Girls. (If things go according to plans, a more in-depth article about some of the superhero parodies featured on the show will be published next month).
Also worth noting, the show had at least two segments banned for various reasons. One of them was a Monkey segment, “Barbequor” (parody of Galactus) which did air on the network but was soon removed from re-runs due to the character the Silver Spooner (based on Silver Surfer), who was a bit too effeminate. Now even with today’s looser standards that was still supposed to be more of a parody and it was a stereotype so I can kind of understand why it still wouldn’t air, but I think it could work with a disclaimer or something ahead of the episode. If more racial stereotypes from cartoons made during World War II could be released with such warnings in front, I don’t see why this episode couldn’t; it doesn’t seem to be any worse, and I hope I haven’t offended anyone with this.
The other banned segment was called “Rude Removal”, and had Dexter and Dee Dee’s bad selves swearing all the time – though it was censored by bleeps and the like. This was considered to be lost media for the longest time, until Adult Swim posted the episode online in 2013.
Another notable short was “Chicken Scratch”, which originally debuted in theaters playing before The Powerpuff Girls Movie, and had a different animation style. It was later included in one of the series’ half-hour shows, though.
While the show usually featured 3 segments in each half-hour show, there were a few exceptions. There are a few episodes that only contain 2 segments, and what was intended to be the series finale (under Tartakovsky, anyway), was a full half-hour story in which just about every characters that appeared previously on the series showed up. As mentioned before, this was also followed by an hour long TV movie, “Ego Trip”, which likewise, was a pretty satisfying way to end the series.
With season 3, lots of things changed. Apart from Chris Savino being the new show-runner, the voice actors likewise changed, as did the art style and writing. The format did as well, now a short 3 minutes long segment would show up in the middle of the half-hour show, each one focusing on a different character in some wacky situation. Personally I found season 3 to be the weakest of the show. Season 4 seemed a step up, though still not as entertaining or memorable as the show once was. There are some neat ideas in there but the execution is a bit off, and the characters are more annoying than they were originally. These later episodes might have their fans though. They’re not completely awful I suppose, and are a decent enough watch, but I just find the first seasons to be better, overall.
The show covered a lot during its run. As well as spoofed a bunch of movies, and genres as well. From Speed Racer to Alien, or from Die Hard to a crossover with Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. Whether it was science-fiction, superheroes, or anything else in-between. The duo of Genndy Tartakovsky and Craig McCracken worked together on each other’s shows, Dexter, and the Powerpuff Girls, and the art styles and tone of the series do match pretty well. Dexter himself had a few cameos on the latter show. And as mentioned before, the Justice Friends, most notably Major Glory appeared as well in at least one episode of Powerpuff Girls (“Members Only”). These were their first real projects and kick started their careers in animation. Tartakovsky went on to make Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars (the 2003 mini-series), Sym-Bionic Titan, Unicorns: Warriors Eternal, and Primal, which recently finished its third and perhaps final season, on Adult Swim. Plus the Hotel Transylvania series of movies. McCracken went on to make Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (Cartoon Network), Wander Over Yander (Disney), and Kid Cosmic (Netflix).
Dexter’s Lab was the first real Cartoon Network original series and I think still holds up pretty well after all these years. The characters and most of the situations are entertaining. It is however a bit… dated. Considering the advancements in technology and computers and whatever else, in real life. The lack of internet might seem odd to newcomers to the show, but you need to take into account when the show was originally produced. The later episodes didn bring it up a couple of times (off the top of my head, the episode “Dos Boot” had Mandark infiltrating Dexter’s computer via an e-mail). The show might be outdated, but it’s not obsolete. It’s still fun and the dynamics between the characters should provide some entertainment.
Due to their popularity, the characters also appeared in a few other media over the years. Apart from various promos for the Cartoon Network, including hosting segments for the “Cartoon Cartoon Fridays” blocks. Dexter himself also had a cameo on Time Squad (in the episode “Orphan Substitute”), for example. Recently the characters popped up in an episode of Jellystone!, where several other Cartoon Network stars appeared and entered the fictional world of Hanna-Barbera characters. It’s a pretty ambitious cross-over event and it stands to reason that Dexter and Dee Dee would be part of it.
The show has also been released on DVD, airs re-runs occasionally on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim’s block “Checkered Past”, and most recently, is available to stream on the Tubi platform. It’s well worth a watch, or re-watch as the case might be.
