Dexter's Laboratory

Still being a kid at heart, I'm a large fan of animation. I grew up in the eighties on Scooby Doo, Looney Tunes, and the original Tom and Jerry and can remember a time before so many cartoons were just toy advertisements or committee-designed slush meant for mass appeal or message preaching that wound up completely lacking in passion. Fortunately, I'm not alone. Artists with the same sense of nostalgia as I have seen to it that animation began a slow revival in the 1990's. The Simpsons really led the way for intelligent cartoons that can appeal to adults without forgetting that animation should be a playground for the imagination. Certainly, there's still plenty of slush out there, but the ratio of quality stuff to filler has grown considerably in recent years.

As a case in point there is Dexter's Laboratory. It's the best thing I've seen come out of Cartoon Network's originally produced efforts so far. Dexter is a red headed third grader with a super keen intelligence that allows him to build contraptions and devices quite fantastic by our 21st century standards, but all still firmly grounded in our science fiction culture that began in the 1950's (and this is sure to appeal to any fan of sci-fi who can appreciate humor). While being smart, he is still very much a child, and prone to all of the problems that would plague your average third grader. His normal attire is a white lab coat, large rubber gloves and boots, and he speaks in a quasi-German accent (it's never explained why, which makes it all the more fun). His dress and accent are no doubt an homage to the superintelligent "mad genius" character popularized by so many horror and b-films over the years, and fits his character perfectly. He has a gigantic laboratory filled with incredible technology that, while mostly being background scenery, looks the part perfectly (think Frankenstein's lab). All of this is hidden in and under his house, and he somehow manages to keep his fantastic playground hidden from his parents, who are replicas of the 1950's sitcom blissfully married perfect couple. They love their children, but are thankfully not beyond discplining lapses in good behavior (when they see them anyway). While he keeps his lab hidden from his parents, he can't seem to keep anything safe from his sister. Deedee is the free spirited spoil to Dexter's scientific rationalism with blond hair and gigantic blue eyes. She's not the least bit malicious, just terribly curious. She always seems to inadvertantly foil Dexter's latest grand invention or scheme with her propensity to press every button she sees or randomly dance about, crashing through the scenery. Together they form a sort of ying and yang, their differences in nature successfully driving many stories along. They're still very much brother and sister, however, and sibling rivalries are constant, but hilarious against the backdrop of sci-fi plots the two are thrown into. While the show does have plenty of action, adventures, and fantastic gadgets, it would still be pretty stale without such well fleshed out characters to enjoy. They are all caricaturistic enough to be funny, yet human enough (they all have theirs flaws and foibles) that you will want to see how they act and react to the latest crisis, typically brought on by Dexter's dabbling with science.

While Dexter may deeply resent his sister's propensity for unintentional destruction and her "older sibling" status, he still cares for her and never fails to bail her out of a tight spot. While the characters might occasionally display fondness through their actions (Dexter builds a robotic likeness of his mother, the father arm wrestles truckers to defend family honor), emotions are never handled in a sappy or overly sentimental manner. The ability to display heart so subtly without having to hit audiences over the head with it is difficult and rarely done so well. The show abounds with references to popular culture any child of the 80's will be familiar with. From giant monsters to fighting robots and even to an episode dedicated to spoofing Dungeons and Dragons which is quite funny.

And while there's the occasional brawling and fighting, nothing is ever graphically depicted (the reason I don't let my son watch the Powerpuff Girls). Slapstick abounds, certainly, but I've never seen anything here I wouldn't let my two year old watch. To sum it up, the series really just aims to entertain against a sci-fi backdrop. And in that respect it succeeds greatly. When an episode is done, you probably haven't learned any great lesson, you've just had a good time, much like watching an old Looney Tune or Tom and Jerry short. The episodes are apparently out of production, which is a shame. I sincerely hope that Dexter and Deedee get to make a comeback someday.

Dexter's Laboratory is about as good as it gets. It stars a little boy named Dexter, who is incredibly brilliant and has a secret laboratory attached to his room. Often times his experiments are interrupted by his sister Dee Dee, who will come in his lab whenever she feels like it. Often times Dexter will use his intelligence to stop dilemmas (which at times he or Dee Dee may be at fault for.) Despite Dexter's intelligence, the creators of the show remember Dexter is just a kid, and have given him many traits found in an everyday kid. For example, Dexter isn't too fond of vegetables, he's afraid of being grounded, and doesn't get along with his sister well. The writers also added some drama to the show, as well as some everday situations a kid must go through. Dexter isn't the coolest kid at school, and at times he feels very alone. I'm sure we can all relate to this. At times Dexter's Lab can illustrate childhood as well as Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold! can. I recommend everyone give this show a try. Oh by the way, did I mention all of the spoofs this show has?

Dexter's Lab is one of those cartoons that can be enjoyed by adults and kids. It is has a very original premise and is filled with clever jokes. At times, the series also pays homage to Star Trek, Star Wars, G.I. Joe and Anime. They even spoof popular comic super heroes from DC and Marvel. This is a must see show.

Dexter's Lab is one of Cartoon Network's best shows ever. I saw this as far back as when the pilot debuted in February 1995 on The World Premiere Toon Show (later known as The What a Cartoon Show, now The Cartoon Cartoon Show), and I remember seeing the series premiere on TNT in April 1996 (back when CN's shows were being shared on TNT & TBS). At the time the cartooning industry was making a comeback, this was one of Cartoon Network's best programs ever.

Dexter is a boy-genius who lives in the depths of suburbia, and often works in his secret laboratory (pretty big place for such a small house). But his quest for ultimate knowledge (on par with Einstein, Newton, etc.) is often squandered by his sometimes annoying sister, Dee Dee. Other characters include Mom & Dad (no real names, thus no last name for the family), Mandark (Dexter's worst enemy), plus Mee Mee and Lee Lee (Dee Dee's friends), and several more.

There are two sub-cartoons to this series. The first was Dial "M" for Monkey, a cartoon about Dexter's lab monkey, who's actually a superhero (unknown to Dexter) who saves the world from intergalactic villains. The second (and better) sub-toon is The Justice Friends. It was a cartoon about three (of total eight) superheroes living together. They were Major Glory, Valhallen, and Krunk. Both of these sub-toon were funny and cool, but I think The Justice Friends was better.

Back to Dexter's Lab, it marked the start of this "Cal-Arts" style, in where, unlike previous Cal-Arts graduates, the artists create cartoons with UPA-esque drawings (most of which are okay on their own level), mixed with emotionally compelling stories, complete with endless action movie spoofs. All thanks to Genndy Tartakovsky's brilliant supervision, and the excellent artwork of Craig McCracken & Paul Rudish. I think this show was at its best between late 1996 and late 1997, in where its art, writing, and humor was at its peak.

However, Dexter's Lab joins the list of several cartoons with a waning franchise. Its original run was from 1996 to 1998, but its new run began in November 2001.

Tartakovsky is now the executive producer, with Chris Savino now running the show. Sorry to say, but Savino is a better artist than director. These new episodes have some of the cheapest designs; unlike the older episodes, they actually look as if they've been cribbed from Kindergarden drawings! David Smith is Chris Savino's unofficial assistant, but he also makes a better artist than art director. Sorry, but even for a beginner, his designs are terrible. Plus, aside from the major character re-designs, a lot of the minor character designs are horrible. Smith has just recently been replaced by Paul Stec, whose designs are better, but not as good as the likes of McCracken or Rudish. The stories are mostly reworks of much of the classic episodes, and the jokes are few and far between. And the sub-cartoons are, if ever seldom mentioned. But some of them thankfully pick up on several concepts originally left untouched in the classic series.

Dexter's Lab had a TV movie released in December 1999, which was fine, except that its artistic quality could've/should've been better. Overall, Dexter's Lab joins Rugrats and Johnny Bravo in the list in where a cartoon had a solid run, but made an unnecessary revival, which ruins the franchise on a whole. To be fair, the new episodes did cover some lost concepts (as I said earlier). But the generally stellar material of the older episodes is sadly missing in the new Dexter's Lab episodes. Probably because most of the original artists are hard at work on the series' sister toon, The Powerpuff Girls.

The new episodes are weakening what was once a clean production. But I still enjoy watching the classic episodes of Dexter's Laboratory.

Perhaps cartoons are futile in two respects. The first being that the level of detail often overwhelms the target audience--think of how the Simpsons remained popular after almost 15 years. The second is that the remaining public ignores them as "childish" despite this semi-sophistication.

Dexter's Lab, at one time the best thing on CTNW, is one of those shows, perhaps the best one since Rocky and Bullwinkle. Even the crude art styles are radically similar. Sadly, it is falling out of the inventive mode and into formula.

Overall, if you taped the earlier episodes...keep them. Animation sophistication might soon become a reality.