Dexter's Laboratory

Enter at your own peril,
 Past the bolted door
 Where impossible things may happen
 That the world's never seen before!

One of Cartoon Network's earliest original series, Dexter's Laboratory originated as one of the World Premiere Toons, a series of short cartoons solicited through a contest for nonprofessional animators. (The Powerpuff Girls was also brought in through this contest, and note that the two shows seem to take place in the same universe, and seem to share similar styles. Craig McCracken and Genndy Tartakovsky collaborated on both shows.)

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; much tragedy will come of it. Well, 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, 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.

Tropes used in Dexter's Laboratory include:

Did you say... snowballs?

    • And God help you if you make Dee Dee seriously angry.
  • Bigger on the Inside: Dexter has a humongous lab so big that there are some parts of it Dexter has forgotten about, yet it is somehow able to fit in the closed-off space of his relatively small house. Sometimes this is Handwaved as the lab being underground, but this doesn't make a whole lot of sense either, since Dexter often walks directly into it from his second-floor bedroom.
    • Parodied in an episode where Dexter shrinks the house to observe it inside his lab, leaving Dexter's lab of normal size on the inside, but a disembodied door on the outside.
    • Also parodied in an episode where Dexter draws a map of the house. Guess which is the smallest room.
  • Non Sequitur Episode: Dexter and Computress get Mandark. Created by a 6½-year old. And it shows, what with the exploding heads and Mandark's exploding heads exploding the Earth. Yep.
  • Big No: Dexter, numerous times. Including the scene where he's surrounded by cooties.
  • 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 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 LABORATORY!"
    • "AT LAST! MY GREATEST CREATION IS COMPLETED!"
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: A machine factory, complete with Golden Diskettes in order to enter and singing, and owned by a guy who is most certainly not Stephen Hawking.
  • The Chew Toy: Dexter, sometimes. Though he has nothing on the ice-cream man in "Ice Cream". Turns out ever since Dexter bought ice cream from him, and paid him in pennies, a series of unfortunate events had happened to him since, including chipping his tooth trying to put them in the safe but tripping on his laces after counting them, dumped by his girlfriend, having his car towed away, getting kicked out of his apartment and being forced to live under a highway because of this one act.
    • And to add insult to injury, once the Ice Cream Man forgives Dexter and allows him to purchase ice cream, Dexter pays the Ice Cream Man with a 100 dollar bill.
  • Child Prodigy: Dexter and Mandark. Dexter could even be called a baby prodigy; he was making scientific-sounding obvservations about his family and his house when they got back from the hospital then night he was born. And DeeDee, for all her kookiness, is a really good dancer. She can dodge lasers while doing ballet!
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Mandark's sister Olga (Lalavava) appears in one episode as a rival to Dee Dee and is never seen again.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Dee Dee.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: There is a rumor of an episode, called "Rude Removal", that was only shown at at least 3 panels. The episode consisted of Dee Dee and Dexter creating evil twins of themselves, after Dexter makes a "Rude Removal" device. The episode consists of their twins cursing.
    • The episode does exist but was only ever shown at a handful of animation conventions. It has not been aired or released on DVD to date and may become a Missing Episode.
      • That episode in question was actually made as a joke, and as such was never intended to be publicly shown on TV.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: Mee-Mee and Lee-Lee (Dee-Dee's friends) wear green and purple versions of her outfit.
  • Combining Mecha: Dexter builds one in Last But Not Beast to battle Bedaxtra, which requires the help of his family to use.
  • 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".
  • Crisis Crossover: Last But Not Beast had the Dexter and Monkey segments connected via the giant monster destroying Japan. The Monkey segment even skips its usual opening credits to continue the story.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices: Dexter was voiced by two women in English.
    • In Mexican Spanish, German, and Danish; Dexter is voiced by a man.
  • Crossover: Dexter, Justice Friends and Monkey with each other, but also one episode with Dynomutt Dog Wonder.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Dexter's dad.
  • Cryptid Episode: There's both a Bigfoot episode and a Chupacabra episode.
  • Curious as a Monkey
  • A Day at the Bizarro: The episode "Dexter and Computress Get Mandark!" was drawn in crayon and features voice work done by a six year old fan named Tyler Samuel Lee, who sent in a tape of his idea. It then gets extremely weird from there, involving exploding Mandark heads.
  • Deconstructive Parody: The episode where Dexter tries out different superpowers.
  • Depending on the Writer: Sometimes Dee Dee is an insufferable 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.
  • DIDIJUSTSAYTHATOUTLOUD!?
  • 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: Susan Mandark.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Muffin Episode. Drug addiction or sex (muff-a-holic?) addiction, take your pick.
  • Downer Ending: In one episode Dexter and Mandark fail to stop an asteroid from destroying the world due their refusal to work together. The two fail to notice this, still bickering inside their mechs in outer space. Thankfully, that doesn't mean much here.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: Episode 32: "Dexter Detention".
    • The new Phys-Ed teacher, who forces Dexter to compete in the most brutal sport of all: DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODGE. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL.
  • Dumb Blonde: Dee Dee... though she has her moments.
  • Dumb Is Good: Dee Dee is generally more laid back and cheerful than her brother.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?
  • Dysfunctional Family: Dexter's.
  • Eggshell Clothing: Dee Dee really spoofed this.
  • Elaborate Underground Base
  • Eldritch Abomination: The monster in "Dee-Dimensional" definitely counts.
    • The interdimensional beast "Jojo" in "Mandarker". He apparently helped Mandark write the book The Magic of Science by Mandark and Jojo, but when Mandark summons him as part of a science fair project, he goes berserk and tries to eat Dee Dee.
  • Embarrassing First Name: Mandark's parents named him Susan. This drove him to villainy in the the later episodes in his retconned backstory.
  • Emergency Broadcast
  • Ending Theme: Narrated by Mako, no less!
  • Enfant Terrible: Dexter's dad, apparently, when he and Dexter's mom turned into toddlers. During that time, Dexter's dad took pleasure at beating up Dexter's mom as a baby. Using Dexter's inventions to torture her.
  • Evil Chef: In the episode where Dexter ended up teamed up with Action Hank, one of these was the main villain.
  • Eyecatch: On Boomerang.
  • Eye Glasses: Dexter and his dad's glasses, which can change shape depending on expression.
  • Expy / Captain Ersatz: Action Hank IS Mr. T, Chuck Norris and G.I. Joe at the same time.
  • Fantastic Time Management: There's an episode where Dexter has only 1 minute before the school bus arrives and he hasn't done his homework yet, so he use a time extending helmet to make it 30 minutes for him get everything done. ...it turns out to be a snow day.
  • Fartillery: This happens in Episode 25/Part 1: "Critical Gas"
  • FiveThree Token Band: Dee Dee (white) and her posse, Mee-Mee (black) and Lee-Lee (Asian)
  • Fetish Fuel Future: "Ego Trip" shows a world where a CEO has a harem in his office and strips his employees to their underwear for a whipping when they're not productive.
  • Flanderization: Mandark in the post-finale seasons was pretty much defined by his hamminess and crush on Dee-Dee.
  • For Science!: Much of Dexter's motivation.
  • Foot Focus: For Dee Dee. In two episodes, and it was plot-relevant.
  • Fractured Fairy Tale: A story Dee Dee tells in "Dee Dee Locks and the Ness Monster", starring Dee Dee Locks, sentient bagpipes, a brick pig, the Big Bad Wolf as 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.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: This show has earned its own page.
  • Girls Have Cooties: The so-called cooties Dexter encounters are in the form of butterflies which inhabit Dee Dee's bedroom.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck: In "Book ′Em," Dexter has a nightmare where he's being judged by the Devil for not returning his library book on time:
    • "Welcome... to library... HECK!"
  • Grand Finale / Series Fauxnale: Two, actually; "Last But Not Beast" is the final episode of the series (or was intended to be) and wraps up the running plot about Dexter trying to hide his lab. "Ego Trip," meanwhile, is a film and definitively wraps up the Dexter/Mandark rivalry.
  • Granola Girl: Mandark's Mom, Oceanbird.
  • Gratuitous French: "Omelette du fromage! Omelette du fromage!" Although it's a subversion because that's all he can say.
  • Greasy Spoon: In an episode with a truck stop.
  • Groin Attack: Dexter in "Dexter Dodgeball". Guess what was used.
  • 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...
    • Due to the art style, lots of women in the series have Hartman Hips. Such as Agent Honeydew from the Monkey cartoons and the salesgirl from the episode with Dexter's bike.
      • Not surprising since Hartman actually worked on the show.
  • Heroic BSOD: Dee Dee falls into this when her teddy bear, Mr. Fuzzums, is taken away by the garbage truck.
  • Heroic Mime: In one episode, Dexter gets bitten by a clown and becomes a were-clown. To rescue him, his sister Dee-Dee becomes a mime.
  • Herr Doktor: Dexter has the obligatory German accent required by the Mad Scientist Code.
    • It's more of a Russian accent, as the creator himself is Russian. It can even be argued that Dexter is a cartoon version of Tartakovsky himself
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Eddie Deezen is Mandark.
  • Hobbits: while playing a Captain Ersatz version of Dungeons & Dragons, Dexter, DeeDee, and some of their friends are playing. DeeDee gives her brother a character named "Hodo the Furry-Footed Burrower", who digs tunnels à la Bugs Bunny. His only deadly "weapon" is a...mandolin?
  • Hollywood Law: This is most relevant in the end of Season 2, Episode 32, Part 3: "Dexter Detention".
  • Hollywood Science: But what do you expect? It's a funny cartoon.
  • Hot Mom: Dexter's mom. Don't deny it.
    • Mandark's mom, to a lesser extent.
  • Hurricane of Puns: This match at Flushing Meadows is just whizzing by! But urine luck, the tension is swelling, no relief in sight. He's in the lead now, but will. he. hold. it?
  • Hypocrite: Dee Dee once got on Dexter's case for experimenting on one of her dolls. Ignoring her own frequent(ly destructive) visits to his lab.
    • Pretty much anytime Dee Dee meets someone of her own clingy and destructive level she finds them intolerable and inconsiderate. Ironically subverted one time Dexter loses it and completely destroys her room and all her personal belongings. Her response?

Dee Dee: Dexter! You're naked!!!

    • Dexter himself occasionally shows No Sense of Personal Space and can be equally intrusive and annoying. His father has to trick him into leaving when his badgering interupts a golf game for example.
  • I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: A variation occurs in "The Old Switcharooms": Dexter tries to sneak into his lab from Dee Dee's room to ensure that she isn't trashing it. Dexter's dad, who is somehow aware that Dexter is doing this even without looking at him, casually mentions (in a very stern tone) that if he were to catch anyone trying to escape their punishment, that person would find themselves suffering an even greater punishment.
  • Inconvenient Itch: Dexter at one point gets the chicken pox and is told not to scratch the pox, or he'll turn into a chicken. He tries ways of keeping from scratching, even restraining himself completely, but nothing works and he eventually goes on a scratching spree... after which he indeed turns into a chicken.
  • Incredibly Lame Fun: At an Amish community, when Dexter tries to explain "fun," the closest thing they can think of is churning butter.
  • Innocently Insensitive: Dee is usually just a playful Keet who wants to play with her little brother. However her notions of fun include playing around with his pretty looking (and somewhat delicate) toys, and no amount of ranting at her to leave him alone ever seems to faze her.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: Dexter's default response to almost any physical threat is to build a mech and go shoot the danger to bits. Eventually he ends up with a hangar full of mecha, which he walks through, pondering which one to use for playing dodgeball.
  • In the Future We Still Have Roombas: Dozens of helper robots working for Dexter. Two of them even get A Day in The Spotlight.
  • It Runs in The Family: Dexter believes that his grandfather's dinky lab is just child's play, but Dexter doesn't see his grandfather create free energy with it - the one thing Dexter himself couldn't achieve.
    • Scenes of Dexter's mother cooking show her using the same scientific precision and unbridled glee as Dexter in the throes of creation.
    • Likewise, his father acts much the same as Dee Dee does when disturbing Mom in the kitchen. She even ends up shouting at him in much the same way.
  • 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.
  • Killer Rabbit: The cute little Pony Puffs try to kill Dee Dee when they think she's an Action Hank fan in "Decode of Honor".
  • Labcoat of Science and Medicine
  • Last Day to Live: "Critical Gas".
  • Lens Flare / Audible Sharpness: Mostly when Dexter uses his Mecha.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Dexter is shown at one point to have his closet filled with nothing but the same labcoats and boots he always wears.
  • Literal Genie: One episode ended with Dexter telling Computer to make him a sandwich. And she did.
  • Lock and Load Montage: Used when Dexter suits up and boards his Humongous Mecha.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Hilariously parodied in "The Muffin King".

Dexter: [gasps] That is not possible! No, wait, no, you're right.

  • Man On Fire: "My hair is on fire! My hair is on fire!"
  • Manipulative Bastard: Dexter's dad is this when he wants to be in "The Muffin King" and "Snowdown".
  • 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).
  • Mockumentary: "Blackfoot and Slim", which ends with Dexter being tranquilized, tagged and released back into his natural environment.
  • Motor Mouth: Everyone in 'Mock 5'. Then again, it's a Speed Racer homage, what did you expect?
  • Mundangerous: In the episode "Sports a Poppin", Dexter is completely incompetent in sports, and despite his best efforts lets his father down who was trying to teach him to be good at sports. Then at the end of the episode, as his dad goes back inside, a monster let loose by Dee-Dee attacks Dexter. he proceeds to fight it, using skills that obviously should have made him be more capable at the sports than he was.
  • Musical Episode: "Hellooo, dear brother! What have you got there?"
    • "Nothing, nothing! You only see air!"
      • "Don't be silly, I love you very much... [explosion sounds] ...guess I shouldn't touch."
    • "Ooooooh what does this but-ton dooooo?"
      • "Boo-hoo. Whatever did I do to youuuuuuu?"
  • My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Dee Dee tries to speak Spanish to an angry Mexican crowd while she and Dexter are searching for "La Chupacabra". Her nonsense only serves to infuriate the crowd.
    • Though to be fair, talking about meat to a group of people who suspect you of poaching, is not a very good idea.
  • Naked People Are Funny
  • NameTron: A few of his gadgets.
  • Negative Continuity: Used, but not consistently. Dexter's Lab is destroyed in every other episode, but when Mandark's is destroyed in his first appearance, it actually stays that way until the next time we see the character.
  • Never Say That Again: Dexter about Mandark.

Kid: Mandark ain't got nothing on y-
Dexter: Do not say that name!
Kid: What, Mandark?
Dexter: hisses

  • Never Trust a Hair Tonic: Dexter makes a hair tonic for Dee-dee after she accidentally cuts off one of her pigtails. Despite repeated warnings to use only one drop, Dee-Dee uses the entire bottle. Three guesses what happens next.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Dexter is the cause of a lot of bad stuff that happens. However, bonus points go to Last But Not Beast. Dexter got one when he accidentally awakens the incredibly powerful Badaxtra trying to impress his new friends. Then Mandark gets it later when he actually tries to stop Bedaxtra as well and instead makes him grow.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Professor Hawk, anyone?
  • No Knees: "Hello, knees!"
  • No Name Given: Dexter's parents.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: Dexter travels back in time to the discovery of fire in one episode. The caveman he meets and brings back is drawn in the semi-realistic style that some Hanna-Barbara cartoons used to use. (Think Jonny Quest or The Herculoids, not The Flintstones) Another episode guest-stars Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon, but their character designs actually fit in pretty well with everyone else.
  • "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.
  • Overly Long Gag
  • The Other Darrin: Dexter's VA went from Christine Cavanaugh to Candi Milo when the former retired from voice acting early on in the last two seasons.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Multiple episodes
  • 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 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. You can calm down now.
    • He ran a test to see what the cramps would do to him. On a balloon.
  • Played for Laughs
  • Powered Armor: Dexter wore one to win at dodgeball.
  • Pygmalion Snapback: Dexter and Dee Dee have conversely done this with each other.
  • Road Runner vs. Coyote: One episode they paid homage to Road Runner and Wile. E. Coyote when Dexter tried to catch a rollerskating Dee Dee with his new bike (plus various upgrades).
  • Rule of Funny
  • Running Gag
  • Sanity Slippage: This happens a few times to Dexter. One episode memorably had him thinking he was a "little piggy" and reverted to babyhood.
    • What about his dad? When he's insane, he's really insane.

Those muffins that your mother bakes...

    • Mom too for that matter, on the occasions when her cleaning obsession and fear of germs come to the front. Most notable is one episode where Dad takes her trademark dish gloves while she's asleep, and then wont let her clean the house next day, since its Mothers Day, and the family will take care of the housework for the day. Unfortunatly, its such a messy disaster, that Mom basically has a nervous breakdown and begins to have disturbing hallucinations. It ends well though, as her Mothers Day gift is a brand new pair of gloves.
  • Satellite Character: Dexter's friend Douglas.
  • Say My Name / Rocky Roll Call: The climax of "Mandarker" slips into this, with Dexter, Dee Dee and Mandark all shouting each other's names in place of complete sentences as Dexter and Mandark work together to save Dee Dee.
  • Scenery Censor: On occasions where Dexter is shown naked from the front, his naughty bits are covered by a floating leaf.
  • Science Hero: Dexter, though he causes at least as many problems as he solves. Or more.
  • The Scottish Trope: Saying Mandark and Lalavava.
  • Second-Person Attack: Subverted in "Beard To Be Feared". Action Hank is about to punch an enemy through the POV of that enemy, and just when he's throwing the punch, it cuts to a TV showing the episode of Action Hank that Dexter was watching. Dexter is then shown wincing at the punch.
  • Secret Keeper
  • Selective Obliviousness: In 'Mock 5' Dexter's dad mentions Dexter's sister, 'Racer D' dying in a tragic soap box derby racing accident...when she's sitting right next to him, alive and well, trying to get his attention.
  • Series Continuity Error: While Negative Continuity is in full effect, a couple of examples are still pretty egregious:
    • In "Sports a Poppin'" Dad was trying to teach Dexter how to golf, but in the later episode "Tee Party" Dad is a Small Name, Big Ego who acts like he's a pro but doesn't even know the basics. He insisted on a do-over because "the ball almost fell into this little hole".
    • Also, in the episode "Figure Not Included", Dexter asks for a Major Glory action figure from his mom. She tells him he she'll get him one for his birthday. However, in the episode "Surprise", when a Major Glory "somehow" manages to make it's way into Dexter's mom's cart when she goes birthday shopping for him, she takes it out, claiming that "Dexter doesn't need this junk". Though that may have just been neglect.
  • Serious Business: Dodgeball, snowball, and others.
    • "Did you say... snowballs?"
  • Shadow Discretion Shot: Inverted in "Picture Day" when Dexter goes out of his way to make himself gorgeous for school photos.
  • Shapeshifter Showdown: The pilot episode, with "The Button".
  • Shout-Out: All over the place, from the various Shows Within The Show to a giant mecha that needs five people to control.
  • 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.
  • Shrunken Organ: Dexter decides to put a genius-level brain in Dee Dee's head. He needs a pair of tweezers to remove her old one.
  • Signature Laugh: Several, notably Mandark (especially in the no-dialogue episode).
  • Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Dexter's Dad and Windbear.
  • Slippery Swimsuit
  • Snap Back: Dexter's lab and house have been destroyed many, many times.
    • In one episode, it was implied he actually died.
    • And don't forget when the earth was destroyed by meteors.
  • Spanner in the Works: Dee Dee keeps ruining things. Enough said.
  • Squee: Dee Dee.
  • Stable Time Loop: In Ego-Trip, the robots that invaded from the future were actually created by Dexter at the end of the film with the help of the later versions of himself to destroy Dee Dee in retaliation for her being the one to (unwittingly, as usual) defeat Mandark.
  • Stand-In Parents: Dexter uses Mad Science to make Dee Dee impersonate his mother for a parent-teacher meeting.
  • Staring Kid: Dexter gets a little girl with huge eyes following him around for an episode.
  • Status Quo Is God: There is nothing that can stop Dexter from starting an episode either in his lab or his bedroom.
  • Strapped to An Operating Table
  • Stuff Blowing Up: With at least half attributed to Dee Dee.
    • It's in the outtro: "... In Dexter's Laboratory, lives the smartest boy you've ever seen, but Dee Dee blows his experiments to smithereens! There is gloom and doom while things go boom, in Dexter's lab!!!!"
  • 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.

"NRFB! NRFB! NRFB!"

Mom: "Why is the carpet all wet?"

  • Took a Level in Badass: Dexter's dad goes from average middle class guy and sports enthusiast to daredevil stuntman in one episode of the later seasons.
    • We see it happen to Dexter in Ego Trip.
  • Took a Level In Dumbass: Dad, as part of the Seasonal Rot. Dee Dee might have gotten dumber too, but it's harder to tell with her.
  • Uncancelled: Season 3, made without creator Genndy Tartarkovsky (and writers Butch Hartman and Seth MacFarlane, who had left to make The Fairly OddParents and Family Guy, respectively) and thus a point of much contention.
  • Unexplained Accent: Dexter.
  • Villain Protagonist: Dexter could get rather villainous sometimes (such as in Game For A Game and Used Ink)
    • Villain Episode: "Sun, Surf, And Science" is focused on Mandark, and he's portayed in a more sympathetic light than usual.
  • Villain Song: Mandark's Plan
  • Villainous Crossdresser: Once Mandark replaced Dexter's mom. No one in the family noticed it, until the real mom came by.
    • 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.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: "Trapped with a Vengeance" is pretty much a kid-friendly version of Die Hard.
      • "Kid-friendly" in that it takes place in a school and feature no shooting. It's still about a psychotic man trapping a small child in his school late at night an torturing him.
    • Professor Hawk's episode was a Whole-Plot Reference to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
  • Wig, Dress, Accent: Mandark, when he kidnaps and impersonates Dexter's mother in "Momdark".
  • Wildlife Commentary Spoof
  • William Telling: Subverted when Dexter and Dee Dee go on a sibling vs. sibling game show. Dexter's just there for the prize, and starts one of the challenges before the host finishes explaining the rules, knocking an apple off of Dee Dee's head with a cream puff. He loses, as the host reveals that the challenge was to hit your sibling without making the apple fall.
  • Wraparound Background: Lampshaded and then subverted during the Wacky Racing episode. Dee-Dee notices the background repeating after the racers come out of a tunnel, and Koosie describes the animating technique in detail, referring to it as a "Repeat Pan". Then it turns out they're still inside the tunnel, in a trap set up by Mandark.
  • X-Ray Vision: A whole episode is dedicated to this backfiring on Dexter when he sees Dad, Mom and Dee Dee naked.
  • You Are Grounded: Episode 42 Part 2 "The Old Switcharooms"
  • Younger Than They Look: Mandark's the same age as Dexter, but he's as tall (if not taller) as Dee-Dee.

Dial M for Monkey provides examples of


Justice Friends provides examples of

Val Hallen: I don't get it. Weren't the rats the ones who scared your parents away? And what's the motivation? Are you trying to avenge your parents or something?
Ratman: What do you mean? I got the costume, and the belt! What's not to get?

  • Laugh Track: Used to resemble the sitcoms it parodies.
  • Multilayer Facade: Krunk tries to take off the mask of Major Glory, only to reveal several layers of masks beneath it.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: The entire series is built on this. The opening theme shows just how epic changing a lightbulb can be, and at least once they give Death Note a run for its money in the chip-eating stakes.
    • "Krunk stop Kat's reign of terror! Here kitty-kitty-kitty!"
  • Only Sane Man: Val Hallen, especially in 'Pain in the Mouth'.
  • Played for Laughs
  • The Power of Rock: Val Hallen.
  • Pro Wrestling Episode: "Rasslor" in Dial M For Monkey.
  • Punny Name: Val Hallen is both a pun on Valhalla and rock group Van Halen.
  • Rob Paulsen: Major Glory
  • "When I say 'Secret Identity', I mean 'Secret Identity'!" (Major Glory after having his mask removed eight times, each one revealing another copy of the same mask)
  • Shout-Out: In "Can't Nap", after Major Glory gets locked out of the apartment by White Tiger...

Major Glory: Wiiiiiiiilllmaaaaaaa!!! I mean, KRUUUUUUNK!!!

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