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Dexter's Laboratory: Difference between revisions
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Dexter is a very young scientist with a Central European accent, thick-rimmed glasses and a gigantic laboratory in his bedroom. For all his genius, Dexter is never able to keep his sister, Dee Dee, out of his lab.
Do '''NOT''' confuse with that other ''[[Dexter]]''; [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|much tragedy will come of it]]. Well, ''[http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs41/f/2009/017/d/c/dc8eb09e513535ba09701e0eb641d177.jpg some]'' tragedy.
This show follows a fairly standard "[[Three Shorts]]" format, with a ''Dexter'' cartoon at the start and end, and another series in between. Throughout its run, this slot was filled by spinoff series ''Dial M for Monkey'' and ''Justice Friends'', both of these [[Superhero]] parodies. ''Dial M For Monkey'' followed Dexter's eponymous pet monkey, who fought aliens and monsters behind Dexter's back. ''The Justice Friends'' provided a domestic sitcom take on ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'', exploring the apartment life shared by three superheroes. Outside the US the filler shows were sometimes dropped and the ''Dexter'' cartoons shown in a different order.
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* [[Actor Allusion]]: Koosalagoopagoop is voiced by [[Large Ham|Dom DeLuise]] and is a parody of the increasingly saccharine [[Don Bluth]] movies DeLuise had been in, like [[A Troll in Central Park]].
** Rasslor from the ''Dial M For Monkey'' episode of the same name was voiced by [[Randy Savage]]. His last line in the episode was, naturally, "''OH '''YEAAAH!'''''".
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: Dexter finally manages to one-up Dee Dee in the episode "[[Sdrawkcab Name|sdrawkcaB]]." Their parents would also get episodes like this entitled, appropriately enough ''A Dad Cartoon'' and ''A Mom Cartoon''.
** In a real-life example, a kid named Tyler Samuel Lee won a contest that aired an [http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/?episodeID=8a250ab02926f4b501299488c7270590 episode] he wrote, entitled "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Dexter And Computress Get Mandark]]"
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: The episodes ''[[Speed Racer|Mock 5]]'', ''[[Die Hard|Trapped With a Vengeance]]'', ''[[Apocalypse Now|Dee Dee's Room]]'', ''[[Tron|Game Over]]'', [[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory|The Golden Diskette]], [[Charlie's Angels|G.I.R.L. Squad]]... there are a few. Then there are the [[G.I. Joe|Action Hank]] and [[My Little Pony|Pony Puff Princess]] [[Show Within a Show|franchises]], and the entire [[Marvel Comics|Justice]] [[Superfriends|Friends]] cast.
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* [[Big Red Button]]: "What does THIS button do~~?"
* [[Boredom Montage]]: In "Space Case", after the aliens kidnap Dee Dee, Dexter has one of these in his lab.
* [[Brought Home the Wrong Kid]]: Dexter [[Invoked Trope|invokes]] this when he find an [[Identical Stranger]] with parents who are science geniuses like him. They swap temporarily and the parents never know the difference (despite the kids looking quite distinct from each other).
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Who else? Dexter.
** Especially his backbone-lacking teenage/young adult self in "Ego Trip", who works for Mandark designing cubicles in the future.
* [[Cartoony Eyes]]
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Dee Dee's "Ooooh, what does THIS button do?"
** "DEE DEE! GET OUT OF MY LAB'''O'''RATORY!"
** "AT LAST! MY ''GREATEST CREATION'' IS COM''PLE''TED!"
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* [[Combining Mecha]]: Dexter builds one in ''Last But Not Beast'' to battle Bedaxtra, which requires the help of his family to use.
** Cue [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM9liWZMfPk&feature=related theme song]
* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: This happened to Dexter in the episode "The Old Switcharooms".
* [[Crapsack World]]: The future in "Ego Trip".
* [[Creepy Child]]: One falls in love with Dexter in "Aye, Aye, Eye".
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* [[Depending on the Writer]]: Sometimes Dee Dee is an insufferable [[The Scrappy|Scrappy]] who causes nothing but deliberate pain for Dexter, while other times she's a sweet girl who cares for her brother and either helps him or is innocently unaware of the trouble she causes him.
** That said, this is quite justified, as anyone with brothers or sisters will tell you. Even in the show, Dexter would be overly spiteful towards Dee Dee, or be just plain petty for little to no reason at all. However, there was also a few times where he'd show compassion towards Dee Dee and right any wrongs that happened to her. Yeah, that's sibling rivalry for you.
*** To show you just how valid the above two points are, watch the "Down in the dumps" episode. It did a pretty good job of showing Dex's and Dee Dee's positive and negative personality traits.
** Mandark can either be a hammy and morally ambiguous rival to Dexter, or genuinely villainous.
** Dexter can go from being woobie to an [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]], sometimes even within the same episode.
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* [[The Ditz]]: Dee Dee.
** [[Genius Ditz]]: There are rare moments when Dee Dee shows a surprising level of insight.
* [[Ditzy Genius]]: Dexter, while a phenomenal genius, has moments where he misses obvious insights. Though it could be attributed to his lack of common sense that sometimes goes with intelligence, it seems to be more related to the fact that he's still very much a boy, considering his personality.
* [[Do Not Call Me Paul]]: <s> Susan</s> Mandark.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The Muffin Episode. Drug addiction or sex (muff-a-holic?) addiction, take your pick.
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* [[Fractured Fairy Tale]]: A story Dee Dee tells in "Dee Dee Locks and the Ness Monster", starring [[Mary Sue|Dee Dee Locks]], [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|sentient bagpipes]], [[Three Little Pigs|a brick pig]], the Big Bad Wolf as [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]], a foppish fish, and The Three Evil Blind Mice!!
* [[Freaky Friday Flip]]: Played with in "The Old Switcheroo", where Dad forces Dexter and Dee Dee to switch places.
* [[Funny Foreigner]]: In the episode "The Bus Boy" there's a German boy in lederhosen. His story involved him dancing around eating food and commenting how good it was.
* [[Fun with Flushing]]: Spirits from the dead hold Dee Dee hostage unless the dead Goldfish is flushed down the toilet.
* [[Future Badass]] / [[Future Loser]]: Dexter has ''both'' in [[The Movie]].
* [[Generation Xerox]]: Just... ''look'' at the first scene between Mom and Dad in the Muffin episode.
** For that matter, Dexter's grandpa and old Dexter himself from the movie look nearly identical.
* [[Genius Ditz]]: Dee Dee, for all of her goofiness, can break through any security measure Dexter comes up with. Also, when she's not wrecking them, can use Dexter's inventions with instant mastery, like a hovercraft Dexter himself crashed or an incredibly complicated giant mech.
* [[Genki Girl]]: Dee Dee.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLJ6DaD4fd0 SUZY SUZY SUZY SUZI SUZI!]
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* [[Gross-Out Show]]: At times, particularly when people/animals get diseases.
* [[Gross Up Close-Up]]
* [[Hanna-Barbera]]
* [[Hartman Hips]]: Dexter's mom and the Touchy-Feely Neighbor Lady from "Nuclear Confusion" have the biggest butts in the whole series.
** Thus beginning many forays into [[Perverse Sexual Lust]]...
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* [[It Runs on Nonsensoleum]]: Maybe to the same level as ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' but your mileage may vary as to how much...
* [[It's Personal]]: After Dexter had Dee Dee destroy Mandark's lab, only ''then'' did Mandark swore revenge on Dexter and became rivals since.
* [[Kaiju]]: Several. More memorable ones involve an extra-dimensional horror with many eyes and tentacles (that's start of a stable time loop) and iconic Dexter "oops". Another episode involved Dexter and Dee Dee becoming giant monsters by drinking a mutation-causing formula and having an all out battle (complete with [[Calling Your Attacks]]). Finally, there's Badaxtra, the monster of the original Finale who nearly destroyed the world.
* [[Kiddie Kid]]: Dee-Dee
* [[Killer Game Master]]: Dexter is one, which is why his friends readily insist that Dee Dee be given a chance to run the game.
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* [[Mid-Air Bobbing]]: The episode where Dexter visits Mars.
* [[Mini-Mecha]]: Dexter's backpack can become one.
* [[Missing Episode]]: ''Dos Boot'' (the name being [[A Worldwide Punomenon]] on [[Das Boot]]) sometimes goes missing due to complaints about it [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] (the [[Creepy Crossdresser]] ending involving a Photoshop [[Expy]] and accusations the episode was a full-on criticism of the IT world).
** It is still available as [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]] via [[YouTube]] and Eastern European video sites.
* [[Mockumentary]]: "Blackfoot and Slim", which ends with {{spoiler|Dexter being tranquilized, tagged and released back into his natural environment.}}
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* [[No Knees]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|"Hello, knees!"]]
* [[No Name Given]]: Dexter's parents.
* [[Non
* [["No Respect" Guy]]
* [[Noodle People]]: Dee Dee. The fact that her eyes are larger than her torso contributes to it.
* [[Not a Morning Person]]: Dexter's parents, again.
* [[No Sense of Personal Space]]: Pretty much the defining premise of Dee Dee's character.
* [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]]: In 'Ego Trip', Mandark goes from simply antagonizing Dexter to ''conquering and stupidifying the entire world.''
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Lisa the Babysitter from the episode, Babysitter Blues.
** Lalavava.
* [[One-Sided Arm Wrestling]]: Dad vs. a Trucker... before the arm gets upgraded from truck parts.
* [[Out-of-Genre Experience]]: "Cracked" feels more like an episode of a slice-of-life show. It's also dialogue-heavy, and Dexter's titular lab isn't even ''mentioned''.
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* [[Parental Bonus]]: In addition to everything listed under [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] above, the show takes delight in constantly implying that Dexter's parents are not only very much still in love, but have a ''very'' healthy [[Good People Have Good Sex|sex life]].
* [[Perspective Reversal]]: Dee Dee crushes a bunch of ants, because she thinks they're filthy. Dexter, who find ants interesting, shrinks them both down to ant size so Dee Dee can get a better idea of their society. After some adventures, they return to normal size, at which point Dee Dee happily thanks Dexter show showing her just how cool ants really are - while Dexter is squashing them.
* [[Pink Girl, Blue Boy]]: So much so that they did an [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to the ''[[Pink Panther]]'' with Dee-Dee as the eponymous and vexing feline.
* [[Ping-Pong Naivete]]: Dexter, having gas cramps isn't going to make you ''explode''. [[Like You Were Dying|You can calm down now.]]
** He ran a test to see what the cramps would do to him. [[No Control Group|On a balloon]].
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** Referencing [[Dr. Seuss]]'s works doesn't end on ''[[The Cat in the Hat]]'', though. Does ''Green Eggs &'' ''<s>Ham</s>'' ''Bacon'' book remind you of anything?
** [[Ghostbusters|"Who ya wanna call?"]]
** In "Golden Diskette", everyone escapes Professor Hawk's crumbling laboratory in the [[Yellow Submarine]].
** Dee Dee and Dexter are obviously playing [[Primal Rage]] at one point.
* [[Show Within a Show]]: Shaft-esque ''Action Hank'', one-note puppet comedy ''TV Puppet Pals'', obvious send-up ''Pony Puff Princess'', plus a few less noticeable one-shot parodies of ''[[Soul Train]]'' and ''[[Star Trek]]''.
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* [[Suck E. Cheese's]]: Chubby Cheese's. Run by MiB, no less.
* [[The Faceless]]: Earl in "Hamhocks And Armlocks".
* [[The Fundamentalist]]: Let's just say that both the ''Darbie'' doll fans and ''Star Check'' fans in episode "Star Check Unconventional" are really, REALLY into their hobby. And what every you do, do NOT remove a classic figure from its box.
{{quote|''"[[Madness Mantra|NRFB! NRFB! NRFB!]]"''}}
* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
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** Dad in ''The Muffin King,'' since he's technically the villain there.
* [[Voice Changeling]]: Dexter adopted this ability. Some kind of machine enabled him to copy the exact voices of others. This was in the babysitting episode, where he used the voices of the babysitter and her boyfriend to sever their relationship, so that he could move in himself.
* [[Wacky Racing]]: "Dexter's Wacky Races."
* [[What Does This Button Do?]]: [[Trope Namer]], because Dee Dee made this into an art form.
* [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?]]: Dexter can acquire whatever parts he needs to build whatever he wants without even having any suspicious shipments of mail arrive at his house. Sometimes he gets robots to assemble everything for him.
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** In "Barbequor", if you look closely, Agent Honeydew was about to [[Erotic Eating|eat a whole hotdog]], while a fellow agent stares with glee.
** That whole episode was banned for gay stereotyping and a pseudo-drunk Krunk. It can still be found occasionally on Cartoon Network Video, though, and is pretty damned funny.
*** There is ''so'' much radar stuff going on in that episode.
* [[Hartman Hips]]: Agent Honeydew. The bodysuit helps!
* [[Heroic Spirit]]: Even though Monkey can't beat Rasslor, he never gives up, and that convinces Rasslor he has finally found a worthy opponent.
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* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Monkey and Agent Honeydew
** In another Monkey-related cartoon, Monkey and {{spoiler|[[Foe Yay|Quakor]]}}.
* [[Kaiju]]: The moon monster "Meteor" and "Magnanamous" (who just wants to get some sleep).
* [[Magma Man]]: Monkey fights one in his first episode.
* [[Missing Episode]]: "Barbequor" never airs on Boomerang, since it features a [[Camp Gay]] character. On the "''Dexter's Laboratory'': Season One" DVD, it was replaced with a ''Dexter'' short from the second season and the original [[What a Cartoon]] short.
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* [[Everything's Better with Spinning]]: The cyclone-producing Justice Frenzy attack.
* [[Expy]]: Of [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]
** Major Glory - [[Captain America (comics)]] combined with [[Superman]]
** Val Hallen - [[Thor]]
** Krunk - [[Hulk]]
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*** Capital G - Black Goliath
*** Living Bullet - [[Iron Man]] + [[The Flash]]
*** Comrade Red - Red Skull
*** Mental Mouse - M.O.D.O.K.
*** Snowman - Abominable Snowman
*** The Silver Spooner - A [[Camp Gay]] Silver Surfer
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