The Genius of Dexter’s Laboratory

there are a few shows as important to a single medium as textures lab was for televised animation think that's conjecture if I take away Dexter from this picture well you might also be saying goodbye to Timmy Danny Jenny Jack bubbles and maybe just maybe an entire network Dexter's Lab was so much more than a manic piece of animation about an adolescent scientist it was a breakthrough moment for a network and a creator who would go on to create works that literally reshaped the way we would view animation this is a story of one experiment gone right and everything that came after Once Upon a Time Cartoon Network was a relatively unknown quantity it was a station that you'd fit to to get one thing and that thing only reruns of hanna-barbera cartoons the network aired no original contents instead it focused on preserving the worlds of the Jetsons and Flintstones this is big sister it's a second of two shorts the one that would lead to the green lighting of Dexter's Lab show would be the very first entirely animated block of original programming for Cartoon Network there never was struggling to make a name for itself and identify its approach to original programming Dexter's was its compass the series was a massive success both validating the network's foray into animated programming and giving the network of foundation to build upon in some ways Dexter's was the birth of the Cartoon Network II you probably grew up with but extra himself was proof of another reality yes yes I am handsome I know when genndy tartakovsky sat down to create Dexter's Lab he didn't create Dexter he created DeeDee he drew his tall dancer with an engorged head and then in an attempt to create her polar opposite he drew a small block as he says that small block was Dexter animation specifically children's animation had fallen into a bit of a rut in the early these a formula had developed in an attempt to recreate the icons of the previous hanna-barbera generation genndy created an icon by throwing the playbook out the window in fact Dexter as one culture network exec put it was created to well literally be an icon he is short Square an extremely simple in design the spatial structure being limited in an effort to make him easier to animate with his giant glasses juxtaposing his stout frame Dexter is extremely idiosyncratic in design his age is intentionally imperceptible he was given an accent because as gandhi put its all great scientists have accents and most importantly the way he's animated borrows from anime in japanese influences seen literally in the sky you reference melded together with classic anna barbara techniques close your eyes and i guarantee you can identify dexter open them and you can identify him with your ears taped shut give him a beard and you could find him in a Where's Waldo book turn him into a cocoon and the same can be said with the traditional hand-drawn cel animation that the series used for the first two seasons adding to the characters aesthetic dexter showed a team of very important people that creating an animated icon in the children's space no model required you to follow a template it simply required you to do things differently this lesson wasn't lost on the people that created the show either Dexter's impact is probably the best felt in the careers but the show shaped ever wonder why Dexter's is still remembered so fondly today well it's because it was phenomenal sure and that's because it was the start of the careers of people who go on to define talent in the industry what are you doing in my laboratory craig mccracken he was getting his right-hand man on Dexter's he going to create the Powerpuff Girls and later phosphors Home for Imaginary Friends where he take the same idiosyncratic approach to character design and apply it to people like wilt and Eduardo Seth MacFarlane would get a big break in the industry writing and supporting gen Deon Dexter's Lab as well that's right the man behind Family Guy Dexter's was one of the first shows that paved his eventual path to Peter and the Griffins Butch Harmon would also write in storyboard for Dexter's a show in which he would learn a lot of the lessons that led to the creation of Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom eva's of this day we're still seeing the impact of that team like Chris Savino who would eventually create the Nickelodeon show loud house the people creating Dexter's Lab most of which were working on their first big show for a bigger network our people that weren't just talented they were the talent the talent that would go on to define an entire generation of animation and all of them at one point in time sat at the same table creating writing animating the adventures of these two but more importantly those adventures helped shape and mold the very adventures they'd create long after Dexter's and Deedee's ended and yet Dexter's most important accomplishment is one that's much harder to miss [Music] the other 90s animation was attempting to break new kind of mold the hanna-barbera era presented a style of animation and narrative that was aimed mostly at children with very little concern for adult viewers a nd in Dexter set out to assist in breaking the mold for animation that was layered created with viewers of all ages in mind that just wasn't a simple children's show the action scenes were built with purpose and nuance in a way that was extremely rare to see in western animation at the time staged in cinematic in ways as a kid I don't even think I noticed textures when visualizing action used techniques for pacing and framing that were typically reserved for Japanese animation or more cerebral live-action films and yet here Dexter's is providing us with fights that very few shows have ever in will ever be able to stylistically replicate in the animation space of the West the training wheels for Dendy would eventually accomplish with Samurai Jack the writing was consistently elevated beyond traditional slapstick as well like this joke a little word scramble and you'll see what dee dee just called Dexter this here is a play on a drug deal and this well I think you're smart enough to get that one on your own the most difficult hurdle of the jump however when working animation is understanding the breadth of your audience and in doing all of these things Dexter's push the limits of what animation was at the time they're both humor writing and action and it did so well proving that there could be substance with an animation of all kinds regardless of concept a lesson that every modern piece of subversive or even slapstick animation of today can trace back to shows like Ren & Stimpy and Texters by the time season 2 of Dexter's Lab wrapped up Andy was burnt-out exhausted as he put its ready to move on from the weight of the series this wasn't a bluff he left it behind ending the show then and there and it isn't hard to see why it's for the very same reasons that Cartoon Network would revive the show for two more seasons down the line Dexter's was a clear and obvious labor of love from its hand-drawn animation to the attention to detail and both the writing and the visuals the show was unlike anything else on television at the time but I don't think even genndy as he walked away after season two never to return understood the legacy the show would carry and the impact it would have on both the network and the people who had a hand in creating it but I think it's clear the biggest impact the show had was on us the viewers Dexter's Lab was the first time I felt like it was seeing something I had never seen before splash across my television screen this guy was the first animated character whose voice I tried to imitate whose figure I wanted to learn how to draw not just because he was unique but it felt like I could by keeping it simple and deceptively hiding the show's complexities in plain sight Dexter's was able to make millions of kids for the very first time feel like animation was something within their grasp then as we got older and revisited the show we understood that there was so much more to grab onto this was the entry point for so many into how weird how strange and how far the limits of the animation that had come before it could be stretched my childhood rest in the house that Dexter's Lab built I'm willing to bet some of yours does too [Music] that is a wrap behind today's episode of nerd stoic if you enjoyed this one press the like button down below this was the most fun I had revisiting a series for this channel in a long time so I hope you guys enjoyed it as well also hit that subscribe button down below as well that I'll make sure you always know when a new video goes up in the channel happy it the Bell next that subscribe button you'll actually be notified when I upload which is super helpful for both me and you to press subscribe in the little bell next to it as always let video here on your screen are two more episodes of Neurology you can click on either of those to continue watching stuff from this very channel and I'll see you guys in the next video [Music]

Channel: Nerdstalgic

Views: 1,207,711

Keywords: dexter's laboratory, dexters lab, dexter's lab, dexter's lab episodes, best dexters lab, dexter's laboratory episodes, cartoon network, dexters lab intro, nersdstalgic, dexter's lab dee dee

Id: XExfn-e61uk

Length: 10min 14sec (614 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 08 2019