The show started out as a short on the What a Cartoon Show. It was so popular, they gave it its own half-hour time slot.
It is about Dexter (Christine Cavanaugh), his overly annoying sister, Dee Dee (Kat Cressida, aka Cheryl Chase), and his parents (Kath Soucie and Jeff Bennett), who are even less observant than those of Rugrats. I mean, they don’t even realize their son has the world’s biggest laboratory, equipped with several high powered laser beams, microscopes, nuclear missiles, robots, and a talking computer (Kath Soucie) in their house. They also don’t realize the difference between Dexter and a garden gnome.
Dexter is a great character (even Kelly agrees), but, unfortunately, he is plagued with a terrible writing team and animators who draw all of the women with gargantuan thighs and make them tiptoe around, washing dishes and cleaning house.
Clearly, the best part of the show is the voice acting (duh! This is Robin!). Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, Rob Paulsen, Tom Kenny, and Jeff Bennett (I still can’t believe he’s Johnny Bravo!) are notable regulars, and an appearance by Jim Cummings as “Red Eye” was top of the line.
The funniest parts of the show are the parodies that the writers occasionally incorporate into the sketch. Some of the best were the Peanuts, Star Trek, and Roadrunner ones.
In addition to Dexter’s Lab, you get to see “Dial ‘M’ for Monkey” and “Justice Friends”, two really bad 5-8 minute segments about four violently retarded superheroes (Frank Welker, Rob Paulsen, and Tom Kenny).
Dexter’s Laboratory is a Hanah-Barbara production and was created by Genndy Tartakovsky. It is in its third season and comes on Cartoon Network at 6:30 PM on weekdays.
