Dexter's Labratory was an animated television series that aired for two seasons from 1996 to 1998 before getting a finale movie in '99, "Dexter's Labratory: Ego Trip".....and then getting revived in only 2 years in 2001. The revived series lasted two more seasons, ending in 2003.
The series focused on the exploits of a young boy genius named Dexter who has a labratory in his basement. He carries out scientific experiments there and somehow manages to keep it's existence a secret from his parents.......but not his annoying older sister Dee-Dee. Dee-Dee managed to sneak into his lab almost every episode and would usually try to play with something and end up wrecking it. Dexter's family makes for a funny bunch, his parents are traditional: his mother does the cleaning and is pretty much a neat freak, and his father is a working man who values manliness, family, and paying the bills; and yet they produce the odd pair that is Dexter and Dee-Dee. Dee-Dee adores her little brother, she just is very bad at showing it. Dexter on the other hand seems to despise his sister for being unintelligent, nothing like him, and a danger to his studies.
But, even though they're the focus, it's not just all about this one family. Dexter is a genius however there is one boy his age who can rival him and that is Susan (or as he prefers to be called, Mandark). Mandark parallels Dexter in that, while Dexter uses his gifts to further humanity's knowledge, Mandark is only in science for the potential power it could give him, but he's not gonna go anywhere in the world so long as he has a rival, which is why he's always scheming up ways of disposing with Dexter.
Besides Dexter's family (which never gets a name) and Mandark, there is a recurring cast. Mordecai is a geek and Dexter's only sorta friend, not quite as smart as him but just as nerdy. Action Hank is the stereotypical action hero and also one of Dexter's biggest role models, that is after the Justice Friends.
The Justice Friends are a blatant parody of the Avengers. You have Major Glory (Captain America), Valhallan (Thor), and Grunk (Hulk). But the absolutely hilarious part about it all is that you almost never actually see them fighting crime, instead their segments focus on their home life, such as picking a TV show to watch, or trying to get a bee out of the apartment they share (yes, they're roommates). It's interesting to note however, that they would later cameo in a couple episodes of the cartoon I reviewed last week (the Powerpuff Girls) and to this day, they serve to many, as evidence that the two shows take place in the same universe or are at least connected.
Dexter's Lab, like a couple cartoons I've reviewed before, followed the format of 3 7 minute segments per episode (and a 1 minute short to round it off). In the first season, the beginning and ending segments of each episode was about Dexter and the middle one would be "Dial M for Monkey" which followed the adventures of Dexter's test monkey.....who also happened to be an international spy with a smoking hot girlfriend.
In the second season, the middle segment switched to following the Justice Friends. But in the revival series, the middle segments tended to just be about Dexter's parents or Mandark or Dee Dee. To be honest, I think that that was a mistake. Having a second show within the show was a really fun concept and though the 2nd half of the series was alright, that was one of the reasons why I and many others don't really consider it as good as the 1st. Now, don't get me wrong, the 2nd half still had the character chemistry that made the original so clever and hilarious (I actually think they did Mandark better than before, elaborating more on his backstory of having hippie parents that don't approve of his evil). However, the middle segments were always a let down, and the biggest mistake of all was not having a grand finale.
In Ego Trip, Dexter travels through time to the future, where Mandark has taken over the world and he has to team up with several future versions of himself to stop it. This is a very dramatic concept and yet they still get a roar out of you. Honestly, this was a perfect finale and it was made less important by adding 2 more seasons afterwards. The episode the series ultimately did end on was just a boring old run of the mill episode about Dee-Dee and Dexter going to the zoo. Nothing special.
Overall, though the second two seasons weren't as good as the first, it was still an ingenious kids' cartoon and definitely worth checking out if you haven't already. 90/10. And if you're an old fan, try the new comic book series by IDW, they're adapting all of the original Cartoon Network Cartoon Cartoons (including epic crossovers that I'll talk more about later).
Not sure what I'll be reviewing next week, so be prepared for anything!
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