Dexter (Dexter's Laboratory)

Infobox character
name = Dexter


first = "Changes"
last = "Comedy of Feathers"
alias = Dexstar
species = Human
gender = Male
age = 8
zodiac = Capricorn
hair = Orange
occupation = Boy Genius
Student
Scientist
Astronaut
family = "Dad" (Father)
"Mom" (Mother),
"Dee Dee" (Sister)
“Grandpa” (Grandfather)
Fergle O’Reilly (Uncle)
residence = Suburban unnamed city in California
voiced by = Christine Cavanaugh (1996-2001),
Candi Milo (2001-2003)

Dexter is the main character and protagonist of the Genndy Tartakovsky animated series Dexter's Laboratory, originally run on Cartoon Network from 1996-2003. He was originally voiced by Christine Cavanaugh, and later by Candi Milo. Dexter is a boy genius who maintains a lab behind his bookshelf, in which he invents strange chemicals, robots (many of whom eventually band together and turn on him), rockets, and a giant fighting robot (reminiscent of machines from the Gundam anime) which he pilots and uses to fight his arch-nemesis Mandark, who owns a similar machine. Most of his notable inventions are destroyed by his sister Dee Dee, whose favorite pastime is playing with his inventions. His birthday is unknown, although it was revealed in the episode "A Hard Day's Day" that Dexter is a Capricorn. Despite being American, he speaks with a French accent.

Appearance

Dexter is very short, wears thick semi-circular glasses, and has short orange hair. He is normally shown wearing black pants, a white lab coat, purple gloves, and black boots. On occasion, and in certain circumstances, he is shown naked (with a leaf covering his genitals) or wearing briefs, and in these situations, more often than not, he appears in front of a large or unfriendly crowd which laughs at him (pointing and jeering) until he runs away or the episode ends.

Personality

Dexter is the class know-it-all, and prides himself on seldom being proved wrong. This is contradicted by his experiments, many of which are frivolous creations used to achieve ends presented in the show, such as a machine built to render him invisible so as to sneak a look at his birthday presents. He is prone to believing urban myths that he is fed by Dee Dee, which often cloud his judgement, as well as superstitions. It also appears that he knows very little about common illnesses such as Chickenpox. He has many phobias, namely his fear of bugs and clowns. He also struggles to fit in, and the hysteria that potential social situations cause in him constantly gets him in trouble. He has no tolerance for Dee Dee's disregard for his personal space, and will often bellow "Dee Dee, get out of my laboratory!", among other, more extreme measures. Dexter, when shown working, is usually tightening a single nut on an otherwise blank piece of metal or a random machine. He is sometimes shown mixing two chemicals carefully (attempting to pour a single drop into the concoction below), at which point he is interrupted by Dee Dee (usually causing the chemicals to explode). It was revealed that his favorite equation is $\%pi\; div\; sqrt\; abc\; imes\; E\; frac\; 1000$. Dexter’s favorite character (who, within the show, is a real-life superhero) is Major Glory.

Relationships with other characters

Dee Dee

Dexter considers his sister Dee Dee to be stupid, clumsy, and inferior to him, most ironically when Dee Dee tricks him with urban myths and false information about certain diseases. Dee Dee also enjoys succeeding where Dexter fails, whether its beating him at an unnecessary game or skill (such as beating him in a snowball fight or basketball), or entering a contest just because Dexter is in it and winning (such as finding the "golden diskette" to win a tour of professor Hawk's laboratory). On rare occasions Dee Dee and Dexter work together, he also rarely shows affection to her. While Dexter seems harsh to Dee Dee his feelings are generally quite justified as Dee Dee continually destroys parts of his lab, sometimes blowing up the whole lab which forces Dexter to have to rebuild everything countless times.

Mandark

Mandark is Dexter’s Arch-nemesis, and often attempts to humiliate him amongst the scientific community (normally just himself and Dexter), or to get a higher grade than him. Mandark also owns a robot similar to Dexter’s, which he uses to fight him with in an anime-style fashion. Besides the robot, Mandark in depicted as the virtual opposite of Dexter: he has an enormous lab and an equally impressive number of inventions. Mandark is slightly less clever than Dexter.

Dad

Dexter's father normally tends to show favoritism to Dee Dee for her athletic prowess, but will occasionally side with Dexter when facing a challenge between the sexes (such as the snowball war between Dee Dee and Dexter, which he treats as a life-and-death matter in which Dexter must avenge his father being hit with a snowball thrown by Dexter's mother back in college). Dad is also depicted as unreasonably hostile towards Dexter when he interferes with a sports-related activity such as watching the "biggest golf match of the year" or breaking his bowling trophy.

Other Appearances

Dexter has made cameo appearances in "The Powerpuff Girls", "I Am Weasel", "Time Squad," and "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy". He has also been seen as a balloon in "". A thinly disguised version of Dexter appears in the "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" episode "Eddie Monster".