[IMG]http://s2.hubimg.com/u/604557_f520.jpg[/IMG]
[B]Dexter's Laboratory [/B] (commonly abbreviated as Dexter's Lab) is an American animated series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios (also co-produced with Hanna-Barbera in 1996-2001). The show is about a boy named Dexter who has an enormous 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 ended on November 20, 2003. As of 2006, Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang reruns the show.
The series initially debuted on The Cartoon Cartoon Show as a cartoon short. Each thirty-minute episode consists of two to three segments (with the exception of the series finale). Dexter's Laboratory originally ended in 1998, but it was later revived for a movie as well as two more seasons.
Dexter's Laboratory is notable for helping launch the careers of several cartoon creators such as Craig McCracken, Seth MacFarlane, Butch Hartman and Rob Renzetti.
[B]Production[/B]
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 Cartoon Cartoon Show—an episode now known as "Changes". The show was picked up by Cartoon Network, and its first season began airing on April 28, 1996. 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.
Dexter's Laboratory ended its initial run in 1998. The series finale was "Last But Not Beast", which differed from the format of the other episodes in that it was not a collection of cartoon shorts, but was a single 25-minute episode. It featured Dexter's family, alongside many of the recurring characters from the Dexter universe, in a battle against a monster that Dexter had accidentally released from a volcano as an exchange student in Japan. In this episode Dexter was forced to reveal the lab to his parents, though it ended with their memories being wiped clear of the experience.
Due to the show's popularity, and despite the fact that Dexter's Laboratory had already had a series finale, the series re-entered production in 2001. 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 (MacFarlane and Hartman had left Time Warner altogether at this point, focusing on Family Guy and The Fairly OddParents, respectively). This second line of episodes featured noticeably different visual designs, minor inconsistencies with the original episodes both in storyline and in visuals, different sound effects, and Christine Cavanaugh, the original voice for Dexter was replaced with Candi Milo for these episodes (as Cavanaugh had retired from voice acting in 2001 for personal reasons).The creators did not attempt to recreate the look and atmosphere of the originals. This second series was not quite as well received as the first, and these new episodes were canceled in their second season with a series finale. The original episodes of Dexter's Laboratory currently air on Boomerang.
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[B]Plot[/B]
The series revolves around Dexter, a nine-year-old boy genius who has a secret laboratory (which he pronounces with a stress on the second syllable) filled with highly advanced equipment hidden behind a bookshelf in his bedroom. Access to this never-ending laboratory is usually achieved by speaking various passwords or by activating hidden switches on his bookcase (such as pulling out a specific book). Dexter is normally in conflict with his ditzy older sister, Dee Dee, who can always mysteriously gain access to his lab no matter what he does to try and keep her out. Dee Dee eludes all manner of security and, once inside, delights in playing in the lab, often destroying his creations. Dee Dee, despite her hyperactive personality, can sometimes makes more logical decisions than Dexter, or even give him helpful advice. Dexter, despite being highly intelligent, often fails at what he has set out to do when he becomes overexcited and makes careless choices. He manages to keep the lab a secret from his clueless, cheerful parents, who humorously never notice evidence of the laboratory, even when it is right before their eyes. Dexter also has a Russian accent, despite being from a typically all-American family.
Dexter has an arch-nemesis, a boy from his school who dubs himself "Mandark". Mandark lives down the block from Dexter and has his own secret laboratory. His schemes are generally evil and are designed to gain power for himself while downplaying or destroying Dexter's accomplishments. Dexter often makes better inventions than Mandark, but Mandark tries to make up for this by stealing Dexter's inventions. Mandark is also in love with Dee Dee, though she prefers to ignore him and never returns his affections. As the series progresses, Mandark's schemes become significantly more evil, his laboratory darker-looking, industrial and angular, in contrast to his original brightly-lit lab which had more rounded features.
Continuity is not a feature of the show, and many episodes are self-contained or leave characters in predicaments that are left unresolved and never referenced afterward; e.g., the entire lab is completely destroyed, the earth is destroyed, Dexter is turned into a sandwich, etc. Most episodes end in disaster because of a flaw in Dexter's logic or in his inventions. Dexter usually fails at what he has set out to do with Dee Dee often besting him.
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[B]Backup segments[/B]
In some episodes of Dexter's Laboratory, the middle segment would sometimes center around characters from the Dexter's Laboratory universe other than Dexter's family. Two kinds of these segments were shown, running during 21-minute slots: Dial M for Monkey and The Justice Friends. Dial M for Monkey appeared in the first half of the first season, while The Justice Friends appeared in the latter half of the first season. Monkey often appeared in the Justice Friends segments and vice versa, teaming with his fellow superheroes while Dexter and Dee Dee sometimes appeared in the Monkey segments.
[B]Dial "M" For Monkey[/B]
[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/DialMforMonkey_intro.JPG[/IMG]
The Dial M for Monkey shorts feature Dexter's lab monkey, Monkey (voiced by Frank Welker), who, unbeknownst to Dexter, has superpowers and fights evil with his secret agent and superhero partners. Villains range from a cranky and irritable lava monster that just wants people to be quiet because it needs its sleep, to a woman obsessed with making fur coats from endangered species across the universe, to a bounty hunter obsessed with killing Monkey for use as a hunting trophy. Monkey's true identity was revealed to Dexter in "Last But Not Beast", although Dexter's memories were erased afterward.
The segment's title derives from Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder and DC Comics' Dial H for Hero.
[B]Justice Friends[/B]
[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c8/Justice_Friends_intro.JPG[/IMG]
The Justice Friends consist of Major Glory, The Infraggable Krunk, and Val Hallen, who are all roommates who live in an apartment complex. Most of the adventures of The Justice Friends deal with the three trying to balance out their superhero adventures while just trying to keep their composure living in the house. Most of these adventures play out like a sitcom along with a laugh track, used in a satirical manner. The segment's title likely derives from the DC Comics superhero organization The Justice League and its sanitized animated cartoon version, Super Friends, though the team itself is clearly a parody of Marvel Comics's Avengers title. The three main characters are based on Marvel Comics characters, Major Glory being based on Captain America (though his powers roughly mirror those of Superman), the Infraggable Krunk being based on Hulk, and Val Hallen being based on Thor, two of whom belonged to the original Avengers comic team (Captain America joined later). Val Hallen's name is a portmanteau of Valhalla, the spiritual plane of Norse mythology, and Van Halen, an American rock band. Valhallen frequently refers to himself as the "Viking God of Rock", and wields a wing-shaped electric guitar instead of a war hammer.
These segments crossed over into episodes of Dial M For Monkey. In addition to Agent Honeydew and Monkey, the three superheroes are seen in action along with additional superheroes, similar to the large number of Justice League members appearing in Challenge of the Superfriends, though all of these additional heroes are still based upon Marvel superheroes (Living Bullet based on Iron Man, White Tiger based on Black Panther, Tiki Torch based on Human Torch, Capital G based on Antman), with the exception of Ratman being based on Batman (origin and all). The Justice Friends have also appeared on The Powerpuff Girls episode "Members Only".
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[B]Characters[/B]
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Dexter
[IMG]http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Dexters-Lab-tv-01.jpg[/IMG]
Dexter is the title character and protagonist of the Genndy Tartakovsky animated series Dexter's Laboratory, originally run on Cartoon Network from 1996-2003. He was originally voiced by Christine Cavanaugh for the two original seasons and Ego Trip, and later by Candi Milo when the series returned for 2 additional seasons, as well as in all recent media. Dexter is a boy genius who maintains a lab behind his bookshelf, in which he invents strange chemicals, robots, rockets, and a giant fighting robot which he pilots and uses to fight his arch-nemesis Mandark, who owns a similar machine. Most of his notable inventions are destroyed by his sister Dee Dee, whose favorite pastime is playing with his inventions. His birthday is unknown, although it was revealed in the episode "A Hard Day's Day" that Dexter is a Capricorn and in another episode, that he was in the 5th Grade. It is also learned the he skips two grades which explains why he is in the same grade as his older sister Dee Dee. Despite being American, and both his parents speaking English with an American accent, Dexter speaks with an Eastern European accent, as a parody on the stereotype of a scientist.
Dexter is the class know-it-all, and prides himself on seldom being proved wrong. This is contradicted by his experiments, many of which are frivolous creations used to achieve ends presented in the show, such as a machine built to render him invisible so as to sneak a look at his birthday presents. He is prone to believing urban myths that he is fed by Dee Dee, which often cloud his judgement, as well as superstitions. Despite his Genius IQ—Dexter is not above cheating when he wants to win—as in the episode "D & D D". It also appears that he knows very little about common illnesses such as Chickenpox. He has many phobias, namely his fear of bugs, thunderstorms and clowns. He also struggles to fit in, and the hysteria that potential social situations cause in him constantly gets him in trouble. He has no tolerance for Dee Dee's disregard for his personal space, and will often bellow "Dee Dee, get out of my laboratory!", among other, more extreme measures. Dexter, when shown working, is usually tightening a single nut on an otherwise blank piece of metal or a random machine. He is sometimes shown mixing two chemicals carefully, at which point he is interrupted by Dee Dee.
Dee Dee
[IMG]http://www.allfreevectors.com/images/Free%20Vector%20dexters%20laboratory%20dee006663.jpg[/IMG]
Dee Dee is Dexter's extremely ditzy, naïve, simple-minded older sister. Her name possibly was influenced by the Bengali "Didi", or "older sister." She is in the 6th Grade and loves ballet, dolls, ponies, unicorns and messing around in Dexter's laboratory, and generally depicts all the stereotypes concerning young girls. She is quite similar to the Powerpuff Girls character Bubbles, both in appearance and personality. She is two to three times taller than Dexter and has peculiar body proportions; a minuscule torso with a large head, gangly limbs, and big feet, similar to a ballerina's. To complete the ballet look, she wears a small pink tutu and ballet shoes, which usually create a "squishy" noise while walking. Dexter once compared her to a stick and subsequently threw her to entertain a dog. She occasionally reveals a deep depth of hidden knowledge being able to beat Dexter on a test and therefore driving him insane, and once functioned as a guru for Dexter, teaching him "The Way of the Dee Dee". Although she seems to be extremely moronic, her social skills far exceed Dexter's, as she is quite popular at their local school, while he is shunned except for his other equally geeky associates. Her best friends in the series are Mee Mee and Lee Lee, two girls that share her interests, even though they are noticeably different in appearance. Her catchphrase is "Ooooooo. What does this button do?". She wears her full length of hair down on rare occasions, mostly when sleeping. She also has a multitude of stuffed animals and she has a four poster bed/canopy bed. It was revealed in the episode "A Hard Day's Day" that Dee Dee is a Cancer. Dee Dee was originally voiced by Alison Moore, a friend of Genndy Tartakovsky, who left the show initially to pursue an acting career in New York after Season 1. Kathryn Cressida took over the role for the show's second season as well as the Ego Trip movie, however when the show resumed production for a third season, as well as the theatrical Chicken Scratch short in 2001, Moore was brought back to the role, but was once again replaced by Cressida at Cartoon Network's request for Season 4. Dee Dee bugs Dexter so much because she wants to spend time with her little brother and because she thinks that his secret lab is cool. Dexter considers his sister Dee Dee to be stupid, clumsy, and inferior to him, most ironically when Dee Dee tricks him with urban myths and false information about certain diseases. Dee Dee also enjoys succeeding where Dexter fails, whether its beating him at an unnecessary game or skill, or entering a contest just because Dexter is in it and winning. On rare occasions Dee Dee and Dexter work together, he also rarely shows affection to her. While Dexter seems harsh to Dee Dee his feelings are occasionally quite justified as Dee Dee continually destroys parts of his lab, sometimes blowing up the whole lab which forces Dexter to have to rebuild everything countless times.
Mandark
[IMG]http://marmalademusings.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/mandark2.jpg?w=335&h=422[/IMG]
Dexter's arch-nemesis and the show's second antagonist. Approximately equal in intelligence to Dexter, he too possesses his own laboratory, which has a very red-and-black color scheme and may be organic-based. In his original appearance, his technology and knowledge far exceeded even Dexter's, and he ordered Dexter to shut his laboratory down since it was taking away valuable power from Mandark's lab. However, after Dexter tricked Dee Dee into destroying Mandark's lab, he has been forced into playing catch-up with Dexter, and the two are usually an even match whenever they engage in any form of competition. Despite her role in his setbacks, Mandark has a crush on Dee Dee, who initially resented the attention, but developed an easier relationship with him in the later series. He was originally referred to as 'Astronomonov' though his "true" name was revealed to be 'Susan' after becoming a recurring character. In one episode called Dee Dee's Rival, it is revealed that he has a sister named Olga Astronomonov, also called Lalavava, who seems to have total control over him, although she hasn't been seen or heard of since. Though during his first appearance Dexter is thought to have seen Mandark for the first time, it is revealed in one episode that Mandark first met Dexter when Dexter was making fun of the former's real name, and this encounter triggered Mandark's hatred of Dexter. It can also be assumed that it caused Mandark to become evil, as he appears to be simple and peace-loving before the encounter, a sharp contrast to his evil personality later on. It is also revealed that his name "Mandark" is actually a short for "monarch of darkness." Mandark has a noticeable, strange laugh which appears to always have the same pattern of 3-5 Evil Laughs, And It is later revealed he does everything in the same rhythm. In earlier episodes, Mandark's laboratory has a high-tech and more advance appearance. In later episodes, his lab starts to have a more gothic and crude look. Has dabbled in magic at least twice, the most recent during a science fair in a bid to out-place Dexter. Mandark lives in the same neighborhood as Dexter, but Mandark's parents are hippies in contrast to Dexter's stereotypical middle-class parents. As revealed in the episode A Boy Named Sue, his mother, OceanBird, gave birth to him in water. The numerous inconsistencies in his backstory and evolution as a character are due to the production crew change when the show re-entered production following Ego-Trip. Mandark was voiced by Eddie Deezen.
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[I]This is easily one of my favorite shows of all time. And not just mine, but others as well.
This series holds a lot of memories both for the children who watched it, and for their parents who sat down with them. If you watched this as a child, or if you watched it with your child, you probably think fondly of it.
It's worth noting that this thread is for nostalgia purposes only.
It's for fans of the series, and for people who'd remember the series.
If you have anything negative to say about the series, or it's fans, please say it elsewhere.
~Bento[/I]
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[B]Links[/B]
Wikipedia Article - [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter%27s_Laboratory[/url]
Dexter's Lab Wiki - [url]http://dexterslab.wikia.com/wiki[/url]
IMDB Page - [url]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115157/[/url]
Intro - [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSnij6sRbHA[/media]
this show was SO great.
well, up until Last but Not Beast, then it got ostensibly terrible.
-snip-
Stupid post is Stupid
ummm there were two more seasons after that. like, they started up again a few years later with a new voice for dexter and new uglier animation and complete bastardization of pretty much all the characters.
it is an incident better left forgotten.
Seriously?
Did they have Genndy's permission?
I'd think they would have left it at that finale.
It totally would've worked as one.
after Ego Trip, i mean. they started again. it was awful
Actually, scratch that.
The fact that they re-cast dexter makes me suddenly hate CN a lot more, now.
im not sure. i feel like he wasnt involved mostly because it was terrible, but i think he was in some way at least.
[editline]25th October 2010[/editline]
yeah, by that point genndy had pretty much moved on and was working on samurai jack, but cartoon network wanted to squeeze out a few more buxx from dexter
I imagine he probably lost creative control or something.
Sort of like how Seth Macfarlane doesn't write, but can veto scripts.
yeah, probably. who knows.
but yeah, this show was the greatest before they went and did that. my favorite episode is the one where hes trying to stop the pictures from getting developed
Actually, I think Genndy was working on Samurai Jack, since that would've been the early 2000's.
yeah
thats what i said
THIS WAS MY FAVORITE SHOW
I miss it so much
[editline]25th October 2010[/editline]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jccONkeGkZw[/media]
I loved this show. Especially the episode where the statues from Mt. Rushmore started fighting. So much badassery
My favorite was always the one where the Janitor traps Dexter inside the school, and makes it a death trap.
Fucking epic.
I used to watch this show everyday, I miss it.
What about the one where Dexter eats the giant-ass burrito?
I [B]SO[/B] wanted one.
[QUOTE=Daily Bento Man;25640924]What about the one where Dexter eats the giant-ass burrito?
I [B]SO[/B] wanted one.[/QUOTE]
as in the one that koosy made?
dude, that thing was nasty. he cooked it for like 2 seconds so it was like...raw.
No, No.
The one that Dexter had like, home-delivered.
Thing was as big as he was.
ah
idr that one.
Just think of having a Gigantic Burrito, almost as big as Dexter,
being ordered as take-out, and eating the whole thing with a knife and fork about 1/20th the size of the damn thing.
It looked so awesome as a kid.
Oh the nostalgia, I loved this show so much. Yet another show canceled due to horrible circumstances.
[QUOTE=Rubs10;25644404][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc8hzAp11bg[/media][/QUOTE]
post-last but not beast
ergo its terrible and not worthy of anyones consideration ever.
Last but not Beast was a good episode.
The ones that came [I]after[/I] it were terrible.
[QUOTE=professor cool.;25639193]ummm there were two more seasons after that. like, they started up again a few years later with a new voice for dexter and new uglier animation and complete bastardization of pretty much all the characters.
it is an incident better left forgotten.[/QUOTE]
They did [I]what?![/I] Is nothing sacred?
I love the episode where for some reason he has to get to the back of his lab. And it's filled with just all crazy stuff that he doesnt remember inventing.
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