
In November 2000, the series was renewed for two seasons containing 26 total episodes, which began airing on November 18, 2001, and concluded on November 20, 2003. On December 10, 1999, a television film titled Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip aired as the intended series finale, and Tartakovsky left to begin working on Samurai Jack. Viewer approval ratings led to a half-hour series, which consisted of two seasons totaling 52 episodes, airing from April 27, 1996, to June 15, 1998. Four pilots aired on Cartoon Network and TNT from 1995 to 1996. Tartakovsky pitched the series to Fred Seibert's first animated shorts showcase What a Cartoon! at Hanna-Barbera, basing it on student films he produced at the California Institute of the Arts. Prominently featured in the first and second seasons are other segments focusing on superhero-based characters Monkey, Dexter's pet lab-monkey/superhero, and the Justice Friends, a trio of superheroes who share an apartment. Dexter has a bitter rivalry with his neighbor and classmate Mandark, a nefarious boy-genius who attempts to undermine Dexter at every opportunity. Dexter is at constant odds with his older and more extroverted sister Dee Dee, who always gains access to the lab and inadvertently foils his experiments.




The series follows Dexter, an enthusiastic boy-genius with a hidden science laboratory in his room full of inventions, which he keeps secret from his clueless parents, who are only referred to as "Mom" and "Dad". Dexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros.
