The first original Cartoon Network animated series, Dexter's Laboratory started off really strong. Created by Genndy Tartakovsky, who would later create revered animated programs such as Samurai Jack, Sym-Bionic Titan and Primal, Dexter's Lab was funny, action packed, had a colorful cast of characters and stellar voice work. Yet despite a strong first impression and even a decent TV movie, Dexter's Lab went from being a good show with some flaws to a bad show with few redeeming qualities.
To start of with what worked about Dexter's Lab in the first 2 series was the sense of variety. It had comedy, action, the occasional romance, and some slice of life thrown in. Among the best episodes of the show were the series pilot, Changes, Dexter Dodgeball, Dexter's Rival, Beard to Be Feared and Mom and Jerry, all of which emphasized the absurdity of the show and excelled in comedy, action and suspense. In addition to that the show brought on 2 segments: The Justice Friends and Dial M for Monkey. Justice Friends is basically the precursor to what Teen Titans Go is now, only it uses parodies of famous Marvel heroes and they trio live in an apartment. Dial M for Monkey, though, is a straight up action show and despite each episode being 7 minutes, every single one of them is dedicated to Monkey saving the world. The main driving force of the show are it's colorful cast of characters. Dexter being the super intelligent genius yet naive when it comes to common sense makes him relatable, likable and entertaining to watch. Contrast that with his older sister, Dee Dee, who's playful nature makes her a pest to Dexter but entertaining to watch for the audience due to her sense of innocence. Their parents, simply referred to as Mom and Dad, are a bit ditzy but well meaning parents who are both entertaining in their own right. Then there's Mandark, Dexter's main adversary; he's a maniacly, cunning, and his infamous cackle makes him the perfect rival for Dexter.
Every now and then during the first 2 seasons, episodes would succumb to rather bad writing that could've been remedied with a simple rewrite. That Crazy Robot, Book 'Em, Labels, Golden Diskette, Techno Turtle, all make the common mistake of making Dee Dee more insufferable to the viewer than she is to Dexter. Meanwhile episodes Dexter Detention, Let's Save The World You Jerk!, Dad Is Disturbed, and Dexter vs. Santa's Claws suffer from forced conflict and would've been better had the story played out as intended with the conflict coming naturally. Dexter vs. Santa's Claws in particular should've been about Dexter battling Santa after being mistakingly given the wrong toy or accidentally be given coal, not Dexter trying to prove he's not real. As bad as these episodes are, they could be forgiven because the notable alumni of the crew, including Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti and Seth McFarlane (yes the same guy who created Family Guy) would later go on to improve their craft and the series as a whole was still entertaining...until it was picked up for 2 more seasons and it took a nose dive in terms of quality.
The most common problem with Dexter's Lab Seasons 3 and 4 is the writers taking a legitimately good idea and botching it in the execution. You'd think Mind Over Chatter would be about Dexter trying to take his mind off of the location of his secret lab and him trying not to offend his friends with his nastiest thoughts. Nope, instead it's just Dexter being an unintentionally unlikable jerk who has nothing nice to think about anybody and it's a painful 7 minutes to sit through. Copping an Aptitude should've been about Dexter making new friends in college, but instead it's him being an unintentionally unlikable jerk who ruins everybody's studying. It's telling that the only good episodes in either season are The Mock Side of the Moon, A Boy Named Sue, A Mom & Dad Cartoon, Lab on the Run, 2Geniuses 2Gether 4Ever, Dexter's Wacky Races, and Chicken Scratch. That is 7 out of 74 segments. How did this happen? Simple, the showrunner for these seasons (Loud House creator Chris Savino) decided to make the show more gag focused instead of story focused, because comedy is more of his strong suit than storytelling. I respect that sentiment, but I don't agree that it was the right direction for the show. I especially don't agree with making the characters more unlikable and get off Scott free for the sake of a gag. Dee Dee and her father especially succumb to this flanderization as episodes like Beau Tie, Head Band, A Silent Cartoon, Opposites Attract and Faux Chapeau make her the most annoying pest and A Third Dad Cartoon, Dad Man Walking, Tee Party, and Father Knows Least make her father Homer Simpson levels of incompetent. The biggest waste of an opportunity though is with the character of Mandark. In addition to his sister, Lalavava (who only appeared in Dee Dee's Rival) being completely absent, Mandark's real name being Susan and his parents being hippies isn't completely taken advantage of. Mandark has a distinctive reputation to uphold and if his real name is revealed to the world, his reputation would be ruined. Instead it's just treated as a joke in Babe Sitter and that's it. The show also just ends on a mediocre episode, Comedy of Feathers, which finds Dee Dee trying to take an ostrich from the zoo. No grand finale, no proper swan song, no riding into the sunset; just a lame episode of Dee Dee being an annoying pest while Dexter watches hoping to see her get in trouble. She doesn't by the way, she very much get's off Scott free and brings the ostrich home.
Overall Dexter's Lab isn't so much an outright terrible show, but it is unfortunately a bad case of seasonal rot. Despite starting off strong with a memorable cast of characters, clever writing, funny jokes, lively animation and stellar voice acting, it slowly but surely dropped in quality with the characters becoming insufferable, the writing being terrible, the jokes being unfunny and repetitive, the backgrounds looking too simplistic (though they get better in Season 4) and the voice acting ranging from adequate to grating. The best recommendation I can give this show is just stick with the first 2 Seasons, which while flawed, are much better in terms of quality.
To start of with what worked about Dexter's Lab in the first 2 series was the sense of variety. It had comedy, action, the occasional romance, and some slice of life thrown in. Among the best episodes of the show were the series pilot, Changes, Dexter Dodgeball, Dexter's Rival, Beard to Be Feared and Mom and Jerry, all of which emphasized the absurdity of the show and excelled in comedy, action and suspense. In addition to that the show brought on 2 segments: The Justice Friends and Dial M for Monkey. Justice Friends is basically the precursor to what Teen Titans Go is now, only it uses parodies of famous Marvel heroes and they trio live in an apartment. Dial M for Monkey, though, is a straight up action show and despite each episode being 7 minutes, every single one of them is dedicated to Monkey saving the world. The main driving force of the show are it's colorful cast of characters. Dexter being the super intelligent genius yet naive when it comes to common sense makes him relatable, likable and entertaining to watch. Contrast that with his older sister, Dee Dee, who's playful nature makes her a pest to Dexter but entertaining to watch for the audience due to her sense of innocence. Their parents, simply referred to as Mom and Dad, are a bit ditzy but well meaning parents who are both entertaining in their own right. Then there's Mandark, Dexter's main adversary; he's a maniacly, cunning, and his infamous cackle makes him the perfect rival for Dexter.
Every now and then during the first 2 seasons, episodes would succumb to rather bad writing that could've been remedied with a simple rewrite. That Crazy Robot, Book 'Em, Labels, Golden Diskette, Techno Turtle, all make the common mistake of making Dee Dee more insufferable to the viewer than she is to Dexter. Meanwhile episodes Dexter Detention, Let's Save The World You Jerk!, Dad Is Disturbed, and Dexter vs. Santa's Claws suffer from forced conflict and would've been better had the story played out as intended with the conflict coming naturally. Dexter vs. Santa's Claws in particular should've been about Dexter battling Santa after being mistakingly given the wrong toy or accidentally be given coal, not Dexter trying to prove he's not real. As bad as these episodes are, they could be forgiven because the notable alumni of the crew, including Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti and Seth McFarlane (yes the same guy who created Family Guy) would later go on to improve their craft and the series as a whole was still entertaining...until it was picked up for 2 more seasons and it took a nose dive in terms of quality.
The most common problem with Dexter's Lab Seasons 3 and 4 is the writers taking a legitimately good idea and botching it in the execution. You'd think Mind Over Chatter would be about Dexter trying to take his mind off of the location of his secret lab and him trying not to offend his friends with his nastiest thoughts. Nope, instead it's just Dexter being an unintentionally unlikable jerk who has nothing nice to think about anybody and it's a painful 7 minutes to sit through. Copping an Aptitude should've been about Dexter making new friends in college, but instead it's him being an unintentionally unlikable jerk who ruins everybody's studying. It's telling that the only good episodes in either season are The Mock Side of the Moon, A Boy Named Sue, A Mom & Dad Cartoon, Lab on the Run, 2Geniuses 2Gether 4Ever, Dexter's Wacky Races, and Chicken Scratch. That is 7 out of 74 segments. How did this happen? Simple, the showrunner for these seasons (Loud House creator Chris Savino) decided to make the show more gag focused instead of story focused, because comedy is more of his strong suit than storytelling. I respect that sentiment, but I don't agree that it was the right direction for the show. I especially don't agree with making the characters more unlikable and get off Scott free for the sake of a gag. Dee Dee and her father especially succumb to this flanderization as episodes like Beau Tie, Head Band, A Silent Cartoon, Opposites Attract and Faux Chapeau make her the most annoying pest and A Third Dad Cartoon, Dad Man Walking, Tee Party, and Father Knows Least make her father Homer Simpson levels of incompetent. The biggest waste of an opportunity though is with the character of Mandark. In addition to his sister, Lalavava (who only appeared in Dee Dee's Rival) being completely absent, Mandark's real name being Susan and his parents being hippies isn't completely taken advantage of. Mandark has a distinctive reputation to uphold and if his real name is revealed to the world, his reputation would be ruined. Instead it's just treated as a joke in Babe Sitter and that's it. The show also just ends on a mediocre episode, Comedy of Feathers, which finds Dee Dee trying to take an ostrich from the zoo. No grand finale, no proper swan song, no riding into the sunset; just a lame episode of Dee Dee being an annoying pest while Dexter watches hoping to see her get in trouble. She doesn't by the way, she very much get's off Scott free and brings the ostrich home.
Overall Dexter's Lab isn't so much an outright terrible show, but it is unfortunately a bad case of seasonal rot. Despite starting off strong with a memorable cast of characters, clever writing, funny jokes, lively animation and stellar voice acting, it slowly but surely dropped in quality with the characters becoming insufferable, the writing being terrible, the jokes being unfunny and repetitive, the backgrounds looking too simplistic (though they get better in Season 4) and the voice acting ranging from adequate to grating. The best recommendation I can give this show is just stick with the first 2 Seasons, which while flawed, are much better in terms of quality.