Editing Dexter's Laboratory (section)

=== Character conception ===
[[File:Christine Cavanaugh.jpg|thumb|right|[[Christine Cavanaugh]] provided the voice of Dexter for the first two seasons and part of the third season.]]
''Dexter's Laboratory'' has its origins in a drawing of a tall, thin girl dancing next to a short and blocky boy that Tartakovsky made while at CalArts.<ref name="Davenport" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wilkinson |first=Alec |author-link=Alec Wilkinson |date=May 27, 2002 |title=Moody Toons |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/05/27/moody-toons |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109112138/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/05/27/moody-toons |archive-date=November 9, 2018 |access-date=May 14, 2011 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |page=76 |issn=0028-792X}}</ref><ref name="Woulfe" /> These two characters would eventually develop into Dee Dee and Dexter respectively, although they went unnamed until Tartakovsky started expanding the concept for Cartoon Network.{{sfn|Neuwirth|2007}} To further contrast the two characters, Tartakovsky determined that Dee Dee would be artistic, while Dexter would be focused on science.<ref name="Woulfe" /><ref name="Davenport" /> In an interview, Tartakovsky said, "Dee Dee came first. She was really the star of the show to me. She was so much fun. Later on, I started on Dexter and he took over."<ref name="Woulfe" />

The names Dexter and Dee Dee were both found in name books; "Dexter" caught Tartakovsky's attention for sounding scientific, while "Dee Dee" appealed to him because of its uniqueness and because he felt that it complemented that character's two [[pigtail]]s. Before settling on these options, Tartakovsky had considered titling the series ''Dartmouth and Daisy''. Explaining why he discarded this idea, Tartakovsky said that "Dartmouth doesn't exactly roll off the tongue" and that the name [[Daisy Duck|Daisy]] was already heavily associated with [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]. The title ''Dexter's Laboratory'' was not settled on until around midway through production of the series' pilot episode, "Changes".{{sfn|Neuwirth|2007}}

{{Quote box |align=right |width=24em |style=max-width:40%
|quote=I really don't like to answer those questions because it's a question that should forever exist. You kind of make your own mind up about it.
|author=Tartakovsky, on whether or not there is an [[Fictional universe|in-universe]] explanation for Dexter's accent.
|source=''[[Den of Geek]]''<ref name="Sokol" />
}}

The ages of Dexter and Dee Dee are meant to be nebulous. Although Tartakovsky suggested that Dexter is intended to be about six to eight years old and that Dee Dee is "a couple years older", he stressed that he would "never want" to specify Dexter's exact age.<ref name="Woulfe" /> Tartakovsky wrote Dexter as a hardworking, unspoiled "[[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] kid" who loves food and explained, "I'm not saying he's from Chicago, but there's a reason he's got his own [[burrito]] palace, just like I had growing up in Chicago."<ref name="Davenport" />

The sibling dynamic in ''Dexter's Laboratory'' was partially modeled on Tartakovsky's relationship with his older brother, Alex.<ref name="Woulfe" />{{sfn|Lenburg|2006}}<ref name="Davenport" /> Comparing himself to Dee Dee and Alex, who became a [[computer engineering|computer engineer]], to Dexter,<ref name="Woulfe" /><ref name="Davenport" /> Tartakovsky acknowledged that he was most likely a "pest" to his older brother while they were growing up.<ref name="Woulfe" /> Another time, he reminisced that as kids, he and his brother could each be a "pain in the ass" to the other.{{sfn|Neuwirth|2007}} To illustrate one of the parallels between his childhood and the series, Tartakovsky noted that Alex had kept him from playing with "intricate" [[toy soldier]]s in those days, much like Dexter attempts to keep Dee Dee away from his inventions.<ref name="Woulfe" /><ref name="Davenport" />

Tartakovsky determined that Dexter should have an accent because the character "considers himself a very serious scientist, and all well-known scientists have accents."<ref name="Adams">{{Cite news |last=Adams |first=Thelma |author-link=Thelma Adams |date=August 19, 2001 |title=The Way We Live Now: Questions for Genndy Tartakovsky; The Big Draw |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-questions-for-genndy-tartakovsky-the-big-draw.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002205134/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-questions-for-genndy-tartakovsky-the-big-draw.html |archive-date=October 2, 2013 |access-date=May 31, 2011 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> During one interview, Tartakovsky suggested that viewers should decide for themselves whether or not the character's accent is an affectation, saying that "[n]obody knows" whether the character is "pretending to be a German scientist" or is speaking naturally.<ref name="Sokol" /> Although Tartakovsky noted in a separate interview that Dexter's accent is not meant to denote any specific nationality,<ref name="Woulfe" /> he revealed in a 2012 [[Reddit]] [[r/IAmA|AMA]] that it was partially inspired by "a funny French accent" done by his college roommate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tartakovsky |first=Genndy |author-link=Genndy Tartakovsky |date=October 2, 2012 |title=I Am Genndy Tartakovsky, the Director of Hotel Transylvania. AMA. |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/10l1an/i_am_genndy_tartakovsky_the_director_of_hotel/c6gkoyt/?context=3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190313201031/https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/10l1an/i_am_genndy_tartakovsky_the_director_of_hotel/c6gkoyt/?context=3 |archive-date=March 13, 2019 |access-date=December 5, 2018 |website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref>{{efn|Tartakovsky's roommate at CalArts was ''Dexter's Laboratory'' collaborator Rob Renzetti,{{sfn|Perlmutter|2014|p=322}} whom he first met through his brother, Alex.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mallory |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Mallory |date=August 30, 2012 |title=Tartakovsky and the Road to Transylvania |url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/2012/08/tartakovsky-and-the-road-to-transylvania/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240707061712/https://www.animationmagazine.net/2012/08/tartakovsky-and-the-road-to-transylvania/ |archive-date=July 7, 2024 |access-date=December 5, 2018 |website=[[Animation Magazine]]}}</ref>}} When Candi Milo took over the role of Dexter in season 3, she had trouble replicating Cavanaugh's performance until she met Tartakovsky and realized Cavanaugh was imitating his Russian accent (albeit some exaggeration).<ref>{{Cite AV media |last1=Verité Entertainment |title=Candi Milo - Talking Voices (Part 1) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IyI_XgKmug |via=[[YouTube]] |date=September 30, 2019 |access-date=14 October 2024}}</ref>