Dexter's Laboratory
Webpages concerning "Dexter's Laboratory"
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Wikipedia-Article "Dexter's Laboratory"
| Dexter's Laboratory | |
 Dexter's sister Dee Dee wreaks havoc. |
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| Format | Animation/Comedy/Science fiction |
| Run time | 30 Minutes |
| Creator(s) | Genndy Tartakovsky |
| Starring | Christine Cavanaugh Candi Milo Allison Moore Kathryn Cressida Eddie Deezen Kath Soucie Jeff Bennett |
| Country | USA |
| Network | Cartoon Network |
| Original run | April 28, 1996 – 2003 |
| No. of episodes | 137 |
Dexter's Laboratory (Dexter's Lab for short) is an American animated series created by Genndy Tartakovsky. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera for Cartoon Network from 1996 to 1998, and by Cartoon Network Studios from 2001 to 2003. The original pilot appeared as the second of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons (later called the What-A-Cartoon Show), the series was the first spin-off from that anthology program and Cartoon Network's first all-original program.
Directors and writers on the series included Genndy Tartakovsky, Rumen Petkov, Craig McCracken, Seth MacFarlane, Butch Hartman, and Rob Renzetti.
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Premise
The premise of the series involves a 10-year old genius named Dexter (originally voiced by Christine Cavanaugh, later Candi Milo), who has a secret laboratory filled with highly advanced equipment and machines underneath his bedroom. He is almost always in conflict with his ditzy, obnoxious older sister, Dee Dee, who delights in invading her brother's lab and smashing his creations just for fun.
Dexter also has an arch-nemesis in Mandark (voiced by Eddie Deezen), another child genius with an unusual evil laugh ("A-ha-ha! A-ha-ha-ha-ha!"). Often Mandark, through fraud or (rarely) by coincidence, gets or attempts to take credit for Dexter's achievements. Mandark is also "secretly" in love with Dee Dee.
The show's humour derives in part from Dexter's essentially one-sided and intense rivalry with his sister, and from exaggerated stereotyping of his high intelligence and social awkwardness.
An hour-long special, Ego Trip, aired on the Cartoon Network in 2000, 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.
Characters
- Dexter - the central protagonist, creator and owner of the laboratory; red-haired. He speaks with an Eastern European or German accent which is not explained; none of the other members of his family have distinctive accents, except for his Uncle O' Riley. He considers his sister Dee Dee to be stupid and inferior, not to mention clumsy.
- Dee Dee - Dexter's blond-haired older sister. Loves ballet, dolls, ponies, unicorns and messing around in Dexter's laboratory. She is two to three times taller than Dexter and has peculiar body proportions; a minuscule torso with a large head and gangly limbs. Dexter once compared her to a stick and subsequently threw her to entertain a dog. Dee Dee's hair is always in bunches, which go upwards in a gravity defying manner. Her best friends in the series are Mee Mee and Lee Lee. Her catchphrase is "Ooooooo. What does this button do?".
- Mom - Dexter and Dee Dee's red-haired mother; a mysophobe who has trouble being around the rest of the family without her rubber gloves. Although a stereotypical housewife, a few episodes imply most of Dexter's personality comes from her, including their perfectionist streaks.
- Dad - Dexter and Dee Dee's blond-haired father. Is the stereotypical husband and head of the household, falling directly above his wife in authority. Loves bowling, golf, fishing, and has an unnatural affinity for his wife's muffins (as one episode suggests).
- Mandark - Dexter's mind-reading arch-nemesis. Possibly equal in intelligence to Dexter, he too possesses his own laboratory. He has a crush on Dee Dee. He has a characteristic evil laugh "Haa-haha, Haa-haha-haha!". He was originally referred to as 'Astronomonov' (possibly his last name) though his "true" name was revealed to be 'Susan' (due to his parents being hippies) after becoming a recurring character. However, since this occurred after the show's re-vamp, many fans consider it to be untrue. In one episode called Dee Dee's Rival, it is revealed that he has a sister named Olga Astronomonov, but prefers to be called "La-la Vava". Despite it to be her only appearance in the show, it also reveals that she can exert control over her older brother if need be.
- Mr. Luzinsky - Dexter's school teacher whom Dexter is eager to impress.
- Douglas Mordechai - One of Dexter's few friends apart from his computer. He attends school with Dexter and is similarly geeky. His full name is Douglas E. Mordechai, III.
- Quadraplex T-3000 computer - Dexter's computer that oversees the running of the lab and has a personality of its own. Dexter refers to his computer as "my love" or "my dear", given that the computer's voice and personality is female.
- Robots - A number of mostly unnamed robots assist Dexter in the laboratory. The most consistently appearing is the Robotron, also known as the Robo-Dexo 2000. It is a several stories tall combat robot used for fighting Mandark, aliens and natural disasters, and its appearance mimics Dexter's somewhat in build. Entrance is through one of the feet, and its weaponry includes lasers, missiles and its rocket-powered detachable fists. Another robot, called the F6IT, is a repairing robot that repairs the Dex-o-tron.
- Lee Lee and Mee Mee - Dee Dee's best friends. Nearly identical to Dee Dee, except that Mee Mee is African-American, and Lee Lee is Asian. In an episode, after watching a lecture in school the three open a Charlie's Angels-like detective agency, G.I.R.L. Squad.
- Pony Puff Princess - Dee Dee's idol (A horse or a unicorn, parody of My Little Pony).
- Koosalagoopagoop - A multi-colored dinosaur-like creature (voiced by Dom DeLuise) that originates from Dee Dee's imagination. Among imaginary friends, only Dee Dee and Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls actually like him. The character is a combined parody of H.R. Pufnstuf and Barney the Dinosaur.
- Monkey - Dexter's caged monkey which secretly has superpowers, unbeknownst to Dexter. He stars in the back-up Dial M for Monkey cartoons.
- Windbear and Oceanbird - Mandark's hippy parents, who don't understand Mandark's love for evil and science, not to mention his affections for Dee Dee. They appear only in the re-vamp and are not part of the original series.
- Action Hank - A television action hero; essentially a combined parody of Mr. T, G.I. Joe, and Shaft. The name may be a pun on Action Man, a doll/character very similar to G.I. Joe. Along with Major Glory and Albert Einstein, he is an idol in Dexter's eyes.
- Major Glory - A caped superhero with overaffected American patriotic costume and mannerisms, Dexter's personal hero. Appears in back-up segments as leader of the Justice Friends (see below). Major Glory also appears in several Dexter's Laboratory episodes, by himself and with the other Justice Friends. Basically, he is a combined parody of Captain America and Superman.
- Grandpa - Dexter and Dee's grandfather and Mom's father. As another proof that Dexter's intelligence comes from his mother side, Grandpa discovered the self-generated energy, but since he doesn't have a high-tech lab like his grandson (he works with everyday tools in his garage) he failed to impress Dexter.
- Gertrude and O' Reilly - Dexter and Dee's great aunt and uncle. O' Reilly is an Irish magician.
Back-up segments
Dial "M" for Monkey
Early seasons of Dexter's Laboratory featured a back-up segment entitled Dial "M" For Monkey. The Dial "M" for Monkey shorts feature Dexter's lab monkey, Monkey, who (unknown to his master) secretly has superpowers, fights evil, and has human partners; the Commander (who seems to only exist inside display monitors), and Agent Honeydew, a character inspired by The Avengers' Emma Peel. She also seems to be romantically involved with Monkey. Monkey seems to be on call to save mankind at any time, and has battled enemies Quackor The Foul (the duck belonging to Dexter's nemesis, Mandark), Rasslor (voiced by Randy "Macho Man" Savage), Huntor (a character inspired by Predator), Simion, Magmanamus, Barbequor, Orgon Grindor, and Peltra among others. The character has also appeared in the What-A-Cartoon! short "Dial "M" For Monkey."
The Justice Friends
Later seasons featured The Justice Friends as a back-up segment. These shorts featured the comical misadventures of the superheroes Major Glory, Val Hallen, and the Infraggable Krunk, as they attempted to live together peacefully as roommates.
This segment is a clever spoof of the superhero and sitcom genres. The title Justice Friends recalls the Justice League and Super Friends. Major Glory, a semieffective caped stars-and-stripes hero given to overdramatic patriotic dialogue, is an obvious combined parody of Captain America and Superman. Val Hallen (Valhalla + Van Halen), an axe(guitar)-wielding Viking rock star with Southern Californian mannerisms, is a melding of the Mighty Thor and rock and roll guitarist Eddie Van Halen. The Infraggable Krunk (Krunk for short), an overgrown muscle-man with arrested mental development, caricatures the Incredible Hulk. He wears green shorts and has purple skin -- a parody on Hulk's purple shorts and green skin.
The Justice Friends are part of a larger superhero organization, which includes other parodic superheroes such as White Tiger (parody of Black Panther), Sam R I (Samurai, name may be a play on Sam-I-am or Toys R Us), Living Bullet (possibly the live-action movie hero Rocketman), Phan Tone (The Phantom or Vision), Silver Spooner (Silver Surfer), Ratman (Batman), Tiki Torch (The Human Torch), Miss Spell (Scarlet Witch), Capital G (Ultraman), and others, as well as Monkey (from Dial "M" for Monkey, see above). This organization sometimes battles equally parodic enemies, such as Comrade Red (Omega Red), She-Thing (She-Hulk), Rasslor (Champion of the Universe), Heckhound (Hellhound), Barbequor and others.
The Justice Friends make an appearance in the "Members Only" episode of The Powerpuff Girls, with Major Glory as head of the "Association of World Super Men," which includes a different set of superheroes caricaturing national stereotypes.
Krunk's favorite show is the Sesame Street-like Puppet Pals show; "Puppet Pal Mitch" and "Puppet Pal Clem" appeared irregularly in their own vignette segments during the latter part of Dexter's Laboratory's original run. The segments consisted of only a single running gag that Krunk, and at least one other child, found delightfully funny. It involved any variety of questions or jokes Puppet Pal Mitch would pose to Puppet Pal Clem, but no matter what the question or answer, it would always involve the word "bonk" and Clem getting hit on the head with a rubber mallet by Mitch.
"The Justice Friends" is known to be a parody of Friends and Justice League/Super Friends, since it's a mixture of a sitcom and silly superhero action. Each character has its own strange personality like Friends and added with a laugh track.
Trivia
- Dexter's Laboratory ended its initial run in 1998, but re-entered production in 2001. The new episodes which ran for two more seasons, had a different production team than the originals, and were heavily criticized for sporting altered character designs, changing character names and personalities, and for plot holes in the stories. Tartakovsky had very little to do with the new series, as he was busy doing Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars.
- In the Japanese version of the series, Ayumi Kida provides the voice of Dexter, even during the revamp. She would later go on to do the voice of Dib from Nickelodeon's Invader Zim (Japanese version).
- In one Dexter's Laboratory episode, Betty Rubble is shown to be one of Dexter's mother's close friends. Her husband Barney is Dexter's dad's friend.
- Cartoon Network refused to air the episode Dexter's Rude Removal because it contained coarse language. It has only been shown in animation conventions. It has been rumored that the episode might air on Adult Swim. However, this is only speculation. The word "crap" was used in a previous episode where Dexter submits his excuse letter from gym to his coach.
- In the movie Signs, the daughter of Graham Hess was watching the episode of Dexter's Lab where Dexter was experimenting with super powers.
- Dexter has already made cameo appearances in The Powerpuff Girls, I Am Weasel and Time Squad.
- In a chapter of the series Dexter wins a golden diskette and the right to see to a scientific genius: The story recalls to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory novel.
Titles in other languages
- Chinese
- Taiwan: 德克斯特的實驗室; dé kè sī tè ·de shí yàn shì; literally: "Dékèsītè's Lab"
- German: Dexters Labor
- French: Le Laboratoire de Dexter
- Hebrew: המעבדה של דקסטר; Hama'abada Shel Dexter
- Hungarian: Dexter laboratóriuma
- Italian: Il Laboratorio di Dexter
- Japanese: デクスターズラボ (dekusutāzurabo) (Dexter's Labo)
- Korean: 덱스터의 실험실 (R.R.: dekseuteoui silheomsil)
- Macedonian: Лабораторијата на Декстер
- Portuguese: O Laboratório de Dexter
- Spanish:
- Latin America: Similar to English
- Venezuela: El Laboratorio de Dexter
- Spain: El Laboratorio de Dexter
- Latin America: Similar to English
- Polish: Laboratorium Dextera
- Russian: Лаборатория Декстера (Laboratoriia Dekstera)
- Latvian: Dekstera Laboratorija
Voice cast
- Christine Cavanaugh - Dexter (Season 1 - 3)
- Kath Soucie - Dexter's Mom, Computer Voice, Agent Honeydew, Oceanbird, Lee Lee
- Candi Milo - Dexter (Season 3 onward), Aunt Gertrude
- Allison Moore - Dee Dee (Seasons 1 and 3)
- Kathryn Cressida - Dee Dee (Seasons 2 and 4)
- Kimberly Brooks - Mee Mee
- Jeff Bennett - Dexter's Dad, Windbear, Additional Voices
- Eddie Deezen - Mandark, Dexter's Grandpa
- Frank Welker - Monkey, Mr. Luzinsky, The Infraggible Krunk
- Rob Paulsen - Major Glory, Puppet Pal Mitch, Additional Voices
- Tom Kenny - Val Hallen, Narrator, Puppet Pal Clem, Additional Voices
- Sirena Irwin - Dexter's Grandma
External links
- Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory site
- Dexter's Laboratory at the Internet Movie Database
- Dexter's Laboratory at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- The Dex Files - large list of facts and trivia for almost every episode of Dexter's Laboratory.
- Dexter's Laboratory at TV.com