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Dexter's Laboratory (commonly abbreviated as Dexter's Lab) is an Annie Award-winning American animated series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios (also co-produced with Hanna-Barbera in 1996-2001), about a boy genius named Dexter, who has a secret laboratory hidden behind a bookshelf in his bedroom. His enemy and rival is a boy named Mandark, but he feuds even more often with his older sister Dee Dee.
[edit] ProductionDexter'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 The Cartoon Cartoon Show. In March 1996, the first season began airing. 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 1999, with the series finale being the TV movie Ego Trip, but 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.) The second series featured new character and background designs, alternative storyline and character backgrounds, and different sound effects. [edit] PremiseThe series revolves around a boy genius named Dexter, who has a secret laboratory (which he pronounces "la-bore-a-torrey" instead of the American pronunciation "lab-ra-torrey") filled with highly advanced equipment hidden behind a bookshelf or under a rug in his bedroom. Access to this never-ending laboratory is achieved by speaking various passwords or by activating hidden switches on the bookcase (such as pulling out a specific book). Dexter is normally in conflict with his ditzy older sister, Dee Dee, who has an uncanny talent for gaining access to Dexter's lab despite his best efforts to keep her out. Dee Dee eludes all manner of security and, once inside, delights in playing in the lab, often destroying his inventions and creations. For reasons left unexplained, Dexter manages to keep the lab a secret from his clueless, cheerful parents, and in the beginning of the show, Dee Dee is the only other character to know about his lab. In several episodes, however, he is forced to reveal his lab to his parents, although such episodes almost always end with his parents' memories being wiped clean. Dexter has an arch-nemesis, a boy named Susan "Mandark" Astronominov. Often Mandark, through fraud or (rarely) by coincidence, attempts to take credit for Dexter's achievements. Mandark is also secretly in love with Dee Dee. In the later seasons, after the revamp, Mandark becomes significantly more evil, his laboratory dark-looking and spiky (instead of the bright, bio-mechanical looking lab featuring a massive spherical structure that strongly resembles the Death Star from earlier seasons) and his plans more diabolical and nasty - though he still retains feelings for Dee Dee. It was shown in an episode that when Mandark was referred to as "Susan" Dexter mocked Mandark for looking like a girl and this sparked his hatred toward Dexter. However, this may not be canon, as Mandark was introduced as a new student at Dexter's school, implying no previous contact. The show's humor 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. Much absurdist and surrealist humor is used as well. The show breaks the time-honored TV rule of returning the characters and situation to the status quo at the end of each episode; most episodes end in an unresolved state with no easy solution offered for returning the characters to normal; e.g. Dexter is a mutated mass of protoplasm, a large tentacled monster attacks the house, there are multiple clones of Dexter and Dee Dee running around, the entire lab self-destructs and is completely gone, Dexter destroys the lab and is later turned into a sandwich, Dexter's brain is switched with a mouse's, the earth is destroyed, etc. However, each episode always begins from the accepted "normal" premise of the program. An hour-long special, Ego Trip, aired on Cartoon Network in 1999, 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. [edit] Backup segmentsTwo short segments ran in between episodes during 21-minute slots called Dial M for Monkey and The Justice Friends. These segments existed within the Dexter's Laboratory universe and main characters from either "show" appeared in actual episodes regularly. The episodes of the first half of Season 1 of the show included the Dial M for Monkey segment in between two Dexter shorts. The second half of Season 1 included a Justice Friends segment in between the two Dexter shorts. Monkey often appeared in the Justice Friends segments and vice versa, teaming with his fellow superheroes. [edit] Dial M for Monkey The Dial M for Monkey shorts feature Dexter's lab monkey, Monkey (played by Frank Welker), who (unknown to Dexter) has superpowers and fights evil with his partners. One episode, "Barbequor," caused a controversy and eventually led to that episode's banishment because of its portrayal of gay stereotypes. Monkey revealed his secret to Dexter in the all-star episode "Last But Not Beast", only to erase his memories afterward. The segment's title derives from Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder and DC Comics' Dial H for Hero. [edit] The Justice Friends Major Glory, The Infraggable Krunk, and Valhallen 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. They have also appeared on at least one episode of The Powerpuff Girls, thereby tying the "universes" of those two shows together. 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 (itself the Marvel equivalent to the Justice League). The three main characters are based on the Marvel Comics characters of Captain America, Hulk, and Thor, each of whom belonged to the original Avengers comic team. Valhallen's name is a portmanteau of Valhalla (the spiritual plane of Norse mythology) and Van Halen. Valhallen frequently refers to himself as the "Viking God of Rock". Both of 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 amount of Justice League members in "Challenge of the Superfriends". A TV series seen in the apartment of Major Glory, Valhallen, and Krunk called "The Puppet Pals Show" (or simply "TV Puppet Pals") is seen as a few small segments with live-action puppets. One of the cartoons featuring Dom DeLuise's character Koos-A-La-Goop-A-Goop has an opening similar to the two main back up segments. However, this is merely a one-off episode, and the credits run into the episode. [edit] CharactersMain article: List of characters in Dexter's Laboratory [edit] Media[edit] Ego TripMain article: Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip Ego Trip is an Annie Award-winning one-hour animated television special spawned from the Cartoon Network animated television series Dexter's Laboratory, produced by Hanna-Barbera (now Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network, and aired in 1999. [edit] Music videosFour music videos were made in 2002 and had occasional airings between shows on Cartoon Network. One was a mock-anime video sung by They Might Be Giants called Dee Dee and Dexter. The other three were rap songs which were released on a compilation album:
[edit] Dexter's Laboratory: The Hip Hop Experiment
Dexter's Laboratory: The Hip Hop Experiment, a compilation album featuring songs by various hip hop artists inspired by the series, was released on August 20, 2002 on Columbia Records. The track listing for the CD are as follows:
[edit] Video gamesFour games were released to tie in with the series, Dexter's Laboratory: Robot Rampage for the Nintendo Game Boy Color (a licensed version of Elevator Action), Dexter's Laboratory: Chess Challenge for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Dexter's Laboratory: Deesaster Strikes! for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, and Dexter's Laboratory: Mandark's Laboratory? for the Sony PlayStation all developed and produced by the now defunct[1] publisher BAM! Entertainment. Dexter, Mandark, Dee Dee, and Dexter's computer are in the MMORPG FusionFall.[citation needed] [edit] DVD release
[edit] References[edit] External links
Categories: 1990s American animated television series | 1990s American television series | 1996 television series debuts | 2000s American television series | 2003 television series endings | DC Comics titles | English-language television series | Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network Studios superheroes | American animated television series distributed by Madman Entertainment | Television shows set in California | Television spin-offs | YTV shows | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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