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Dexter's Laboratory

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File:Dexterslab.jpg
Dexter making a discovery

Dexter's Laboratory (Dexter's Lab for short) is an American animated series which was created by Genndy Tartakovsky and first produced by Hanna-Barbera for Cartoon Network. The original pilot appeared as an episode of the series; What-A-Cartoon!, featuring various cartoon shorts, and a series soon followed. The premise of the cartoon involves a short child genius named Dexter (originally voiced by Christine Cavanaugh), who has a secret laboratory connected to his bedroom. He is almost constantly in conflict with his ditzy, obnoxious older sister, Dee Dee.

Dexter's arch-nemesis is Mandark, another child genius with an unusual evil laugh (Ahaha! Ahahahaha!). Often Mandark, through fraud or rarely by coincidence, gets credit for Dexter's achievements.

Also appearing regularly in the series are Dexter's mom and dad.

The endings are usually very strange, and there is little sense of continuity between episodes.

In addition to the series there is an hour-long short TV movie entitled Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip, in which Dexter travels through time and meets several of his future selves.

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, as none of the other members of his family do.
  • Dee Dee - Dexter's blonde-haired older sister. Loves ballet, dolls, ponies 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. In the episode Double Trouble, Dee Dee's games with an X-ray machine reveal the secret – each bunch contains a bone. It is not revealed whether these are a genetic abnormality or a hair accessory.
  • Mom - Dexter and Dee Dee's red-haired mom; 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 dad. 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 refered to as 'Astronomonov' (possibly his last name) though his true name was revealed 'Susan' (due to his hippy parents) after becoming a reoccurring character.
  • Mr. Levinsky - Dexter's school teacher whom Dexter is eager to impress.
  • Douglas Mordechai - Possibly Dexter's only friend apart from his computer. He attends school with Dexter and is similarly geeky.
  • Quadraplex T-3000 computer - Dexter's computer that oversees the running of the lab and has a (female) personality of its own. Dexter refers to his computer as "my love".
  • Robots - A number of unnamed robots assist Dexter in the laboratory.
  • Lee Lee and Mee Mee - Dee Dee's friends. Nearly identical to Dee Dee, excepts that Mee Mee is black, and Lee Lee is asian.
  • Pony Puff Princess - Dee Dee's idol. (A horse or a unicorn, parody of My Little Pony)
  • Monkey - Dexter's caged monkey which secretly has superpowers, unbeknownst to Dexter. Monkey has a self-contained series "Dial-M-for Monkey" where he has a lady (human) partner, being an agent working in space (What A Cartoon! short Dial M For Monkey).
  • Quackor - Mandark's caged duck which also has superpowers that Mandark is unaware of.
  • Windbear and Oceanbird - Mandark's hippy parents, who don't understand Mandark's love for evil and science.
  • Major Glory - A superhero with a distinctly American philosophy. Curiously, in the world in which Dexter lives, superheroes like Major Glory and Action Hank exist both in fiction and reality at the same time. Major Glory has a self-contained series "Justice friends" with two superhero roommates.
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