Dexter’s Laboratory: The Complete Series [DVD]

Cast: Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, Jeff Bennett (VOICES)

Release Date: June 25, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 6/10

 

Synopsis:

Dexter’s Laboratory is about half-Einstein, half-third grader, Dexter. This boy genius creates the most amazing inventions in the top secret and highly advanced laboratory attached to his room. But his genius can’t stop his space-brained sister Dee Dee from messing up and his work and pushing his buttons. Or his annoying rival Mandark from constantly trying to one-up him. Can Dexter use his intelligence to solve his problems? Time to fight fire with…SCIENCE!

Welcome back to the world of ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ where the unapologetically brilliant boy Dexter works tirelessly in his secret lab to create unique and groundbreaking experiments. Unfortunately he also ends up spending much of his time trying to stop his older sister Dee Dee from getting in the middle of his work and trashing his lab in one way or another, as well as trying to keep his parents in the dark and combat the moves from his arch nemesis Mandark who is always attempting to show up Dexter, not to mention win the affection of his sister. It’s all just part of an average day for this boy genius.

‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ was created by Genndy Tartakovsky and features the voice talents of Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, Jeff Bennett, Kat Cressida, Candi Milo and more who each contribute nicely to the fun and shenanigans on hand. The behind the scenes names including the series creator in addition to various voice cast members do shift and change along the way, but for the most part the fun always remains intact.

‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ began its run on Cartoon Network in 1996 and ran through 2003, with the animation style changing in 2001 (along with many individuals behind the scenes) and while many favor the earlier episodes prior to series creator Genndy Tartakovsky’s departure, the last batches of episodes are still fairly fun in their own right, although there’s an obvious shift noticeable nonetheless in style, tone and appearance. The series still delivers a great deal of fun today and does a splendid job of finding a balance for young and adult audiences to appreciate including some slightly dark humor and moments that will elicit laughs from adults while never pushing boundaries too far so that it becomes problematic for younger viewers. It’s a clever show that’s loaded with fun gags, characters and situations and fans should be thrilled to see it finally arriving home to own in one convenient DVD collection after all of these years.

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment brings home ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ in its entirety (or at least close; I believe one episode that was originally cut and later aired on Adult Swim is not included) on DVD at last. The 12-disc DVD release of ‘Dexter’s Laboratory: The Complete Series’ features all 78 episodes of the beloved animated series with the majority sporting very solid and nicely detailed video and audio presentations (although the first season’s episodes do have more imperfections than the rest), especially within the limits of the DVD format, while also including the special episode/movie ‘Ego Trip’ on top of it.

It is worth noting that the episode numbering seems off based on the information I was able to find; both in the fact that it lists the series as six seasons and that the majority of the first season’s order numbers don’t appear to match the broadcast or airing order. One example being that the series pilot ‘Changes’ is the final segment of Season One Episode Thirteen here in the set, so if you’re looking for a specific episode be sure to check the episode guide included within to be safe. For fans of the series who have been awaiting a complete series release, this one will almost surely be worth picking up but you may want to determine when to purchase it based on the price and your budget.

VIDEO:

The DVD release of ‘Dexter’s Laboratory: The Complete Series’ features a 4×3 presentation utilizing the show’s original 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio on every episode of the animated series as well as the Special Episode/Movie. The video presentations look great for the most part and deliver sharp, clean and richly detailed presentations that are vibrantly colored and look pretty fantastic, especially within the limits of the aging DVD format. The first season’s episodes are somewhat rougher than the subsequent seasons with noticeable video noise, odd blocks and imperfections visible on screen for most of the season, although everything after the first thirteen episodes look substantially cleaner and sharper with only a few hairs and lines to be found on the edges of the picture on occasion. Overall, these are very nice standard definition video presentations as a whole that should have fans who don’t mind the format altogether pleased with the result provided on the majority of episodes.

AUDIO:

The DVD release includes a 192 kbps 2.0 channel Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack on every episode in all six seasons (or four based on most sources but the DVD set lists six seasons). These stereo soundtracks hold up very well and provide clean, crisp and nicely balanced presentations throughout. The two channels capably balance the various audio elements within and keep all of the dialogue, music and effects sounding sharp and fully audible; never allowing any elements to contradict with others that might be occurring simultaneously. Overall, these are pretty great 2.0 Dolby Digital soundtracks that should have fans very satisfied as a whole.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The DVD release of ‘Dexter’s Laboratory: The Complete Series’ includes one extra; the bonus Special Episode (aka Movie) ‘Dexter’s Laboratory: Ego Trip’ (running approximately 50 minutes in length) which is included on the last disc as the final episode.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the DVDs and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Disc Rating: 6/10

–

 ‘Dexter’s Laboratory: The Complete Series’ is Now Available to Own in a 12-disc DVD set from Warner Bros Discovery Home Entertainment.

–

You can purchase your copy of ‘Dexter’s Laboratory: The Complete Series’ on DVD at Amazon HERE!

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases