I have fond memories of watching numerous cartoons on Cartoon Network when I came back home from school and had finished my homework. Of these, only a few stick out in my mind and given my apparent pre-midlife crisis I have attempted to re- live these memories. Of those on my list, Dexter's Lab ranked pretty high up, mainly due to the fact that I could remember various snippets that I desperately wanted to watch!Dexter's Lab is truly representative of a time when cartoons were not just good, they were great. Creators could truly create and were under less restrictions by regulatory authorities, various social pressures and so on. Sure, cartoons of the time were considerably more senseless, violent and lacked learning points. But, why should all cartoons have to be harmless fun filled with learning when schools, parents and real- life scenarios should be doing this already? A cartoon should give the watcher a chance to be entertained and that is what Dexter's Lab does.The series follows the antics of Dexter, his annoying sister Dee-Dee, his competitor Mandark and their respective parents. Dexter is a boy genius who ends up in the craziest of situations, whether it be travelling back in time or shrinking down to battle a virus inside a dog. Seriously, this cartoon covers all the bases without becoming repetitive. The episodes themselves were entertaining in the sense that they did not rely on the same jokes, since the creators did have more freedom. This did result in quite a few adult jokes slipping through that I could not appreciate as a child. Boy oh boy was I laughing!The animation style is quite iconic of the time. It is simple on the surface, but the true talent is shown in Dexters bespoke inventions, battle scenes etc. Whether it be giant robots or ray guns, you could see that each component was really well thought out. It certainly beats the cartoons currently being pumped out, where the animation is so needlessly complex, ugly (in my opinion) and distracting from the cartoon itself. The success of Dexter's Lab can be seen by the career trajectories of its animators, of which Seth Macfarlane is the standout example.In a nutshell, nostalgia did not disappoint here. Dexter's Lab is even better watching it as an adult, as the jokes that used to make me giggle still make me giggle, with the added naughty adult jokes! If you are a parent wondering whether this cartoon is 'safe' for your child, believe me it is. It is great fun and certainly blows current cartoons out of the water!

Dexter's Laboratory was a favorite cartoon of mine as a kid. It was about a 8-year old called Dexter. Dexter was a very intelligent child for his age and loved making zany experiments in his secret laboratory. However his dumb sister Dee Dee loves breaking into his lab and causing chaos and mayhem. It also had references to Star Trek, James Bond,Star Wars and many other elements of pop culture so the show still holds up almost 2 decades later. The show even had a TV movie in 1999 that was incredibly entertaining and funny although it wasn't as good as the cartoon. I guess Dexter works best in small doses.I give Dexters Lab a 10/10. I also recommend The Powerpuff Girls which the creator of Dexter's Laboratory worked on.

"Dexter's Laboratory" is an odd duck of a cartoon. It's strangely schizophrenic; on the one hand, it's a cartoon about a mad scientist who's full of vainglorious ambition and who goes on zany sci-fi adventures. On the other, it's a cartoon about a little boy and his turbulent relationship with his big sister. The titular hero of the toon, Dexter, is both those characters. He's a brainy kid with a secret lab that his sister, Dee Dee, constantly invades and sometimes damages, not out of meanness, but because she's fascinated by her brother's inventions and wants to "play" with them. She also wants to pal around with her little brother, whom she sometimes teases but also loves. As for Dexter, he finds her invasions annoying and frustrating, yet, if she's not around wreaking playful havoc, he soon goes to pieces and seeks her out for company. The siblings are like two halves of a whole brain; Dexter is the logical left side while Dee Dee is the creative, free-spirited right side. They're an endearing pair, and while the show has a lot of funny moments (including Dexter's and Dee Dee's first experience with coffee, and a snowball fight that their dad takes much more seriously than they do), it's the affection between the brother and sister that sticks with you; that is the REAL chemistry found in Dexter's Lab. All in all, "Dexter's Laboratory" is worth a look, although it's probably best to avoid the special "Ego Trip" (in which Dexter comes off as highly unpleasant) and the revival episodes released in 2000/2001; a new production team and new voice for Dexter were employed for those, and unfortunately as a result the series lost much of its heart and humanity. But the early seasons are golden. If you're in need of a laugh with a touch of heart, it's worth paying "Dexter's Laboratory" a visit.

When I first tuned in to watch Dexter's Laboratory many years ago, I was expecting the typical, low-rate cartoon that was rampant during the 1990s. Quite the contrary; the show was far more reminiscent of the early days of Hanna Barbera, and at the level of Ren & Stimpy, a top-rated cartoon series at that time. Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised.The show's format is the old Hanna Barbera "3 cartoons per half hour" format; two episodes of the show's main characters sandwiched around a shorter episode of a different character, which changes from show to show. This was also the Rocky & Bullwinkle and Bugs Bunny Show format. I suppose it was a natural one back in the 1950s, as cartoons were frequently 6-8 minutes long and easily fit into a 30 minute time slot (leaving plenty of time for commercials).The first episode I saw was "Jurassic Pooch" and I laughed out loud at several points. It's quite clever in a old-fashioned cartoon way, but it's also contemporary, so there is something there for kids of all ages. Simply put, it's downright funny, well-written and can appeal to everyone ... a simple theme with a lot of creative and well-timed slapstick humor.The story centers around never-ending sibling rivalry between an older sister whose goal in life is to annoy her kid brother, Dexter ... a super genius who has an amazing laboratory in the basement of their parents' home filled with the most fantastical things he created and built. His older sister, DeeDee, is just a normal kid, and while he masterminds incredible inventions and conducts intricate experiments (sometimes to do away with DeeDee, or at least, foil her plans or stop her from annoying him), he winds up, more often than not, being outwitted by his average-brained sister.The Russian accent was a little off-putting in the beginning, mostly because you don't understand why he has one, but you get used to it. I rationalized it might be a throwback to Boris Badinoff, but I found out later on that Genndy Tartakovsky, who is the creator, was born in Russia, and it is based on his experiences as a child with his older brother. When you know this, it's surely understandable. He must have been a huge fan of mid-20th century cartoons because he has many obvious and purposeful visual references to them in almost every show.Note: Don't miss "Topped Off," about the two siblings' first experience with drinking coffee ... it's the "laugh so hard you cry" kind of funny. (I know the Seth McFarland character, Stewie, from Family Guy, is based on Dexter ... he's a genius child with equipment like a time machine, and is the only one in his family who has a British accent.)I would've given it a 9, but the show waned in the later years ... so goes the life expectancy of the average TV series of any kind, but the first 2 seasons are highly recommended.