Editing Dexter's Laboratory (section)

=== Critical reception ===
''Dexter's Laboratory'', particularly its first two original seasons, received critical acclaim and became one of Cartoon Network's most successful original series. [[Betty Cohen]], then Cartoon Network's president, called it one of her favorite animated programs, stating, "It shows little guys can be powerful."<ref name="phyllis" /> Rapper [[Coolio]] stated in an August 2002 ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' interview that he is a fan of the series, stating, "I watch a lot of cartoons because I have kids. I actually watch more cartoons than movies."<ref name="coolio">{{Cite magazine |last=Hay |first=Carla |date=August 3, 2002 |title=TV Themes and 'Dexter' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwwEAAAAMBAJ&q=dexter's+laboratory&pg=PA12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929005434/https://books.google.com/books?id=AwwEAAAAMBAJ&q=dexter%27s+laboratory&pg=PA12 |archive-date=September 29, 2021 |access-date=May 26, 2012 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |page=12 |via=[[Google Books]] |volume=114 |issue=31 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref>

Shortly after the premiere of its first season, ''Dexter's Laboratory'' was hailed as one of the best new series on Cartoon Network by Ted Cox of the ''[[Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois)|Daily Herald]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Ted |date=June 14, 1996 |title=Check Out Disney Channel's 'Hunchback' for Free |work=[[Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois)|Daily Herald]]}}</ref> In the lead up to its second season, ''Dexter's Laboratory'' was called the most imaginative series on Cartoon Network by Nancy McAlister of ''[[The Florida Times-Union]]''.{{efn|Writing in 1997, McAlister mistakenly claimed that ''Dexter's Laboratory'' was about to start its third season;<ref name="McAlister" /> the series was actually about to start its second season,<ref name="Ward" /> which would mark its third year on television.<ref name="Moore" />}} Although McAlister critiqued the [[gender role|gender stereotyping]] of Dexter's parents, she acknowledged that she was only applying such scrutiny to the series because ''Dexter's Laboratory'' had helped convince her that "viewers should take animated programming seriously".<ref name="McAlister">{{Cite news |last=McAlister |first=Nancy |date=July 14, 1997 |title=Network's Animated Series Not Just for Kids |work=[[The Florida Times-Union]]}}</ref>

In 1997, Bill Ward of the ''[[Star Tribune]]'' named ''Dexter's Laboratory'' to his Critic's Choice list, recommending it for the "young of all ages".<ref name="Ward">{{Cite news |last=Ward |first=Bill |date=July 16, 1997 |title=Critic's Choice |work=[[Star Tribune]]}}</ref> In 2012, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' ranked ''Dexter's Laboratory'' fourth in its list of "10 Best Cartoon Network Shows".<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 1, 2012 |title=10 Best Cartoon Network Shows: We Rank 'Em! |url=http://www.ew.com/gallery/10-best-cartoon-network-shows-we-rank-em/579314_4-dexters-laboratory |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123194051/http://www.ew.com/gallery/10-best-cartoon-network-shows-we-rank-em/579314_4-dexters-laboratory |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |access-date=January 15, 2013 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref> In 2009, ''Dexter's Laboratory'' was named 72nd best animated series by ''IGN'', whose editors remarked, "Aimed at and immediately accessible to children, ''Dexter's Laboratory'' was part of a new generation of animated series that played on two levels, simultaneously fun for both kids and adults."<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 23, 2009 |title=72. Dexter's Laboratory |url=http://www.ign.com/top/animated-tv-series/72.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009020114/http://www.ign.com/top/animated-tv-series/72.html |archive-date=October 9, 2015 |access-date=June 30, 2011 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[News Corporation]]}}</ref> In his 2015 book ''Animation: A World History Volume III: Contemporary Times'', [[Giannalberto Bendazzi]] called ''Dexter's Laboratory'' "visually and verbally innovative".<ref name="Bendazzi">{{Cite book |last=Bendazzi |first=Giannalberto |title=Animation: A World History Volume III: Contemporary Times |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-317-51988-1 |location=Boca Raton |pages=8–9 |chapter=North America}}</ref> He considered the series to be a groundbreaking work of [[pop art]], likening its visual style to both [[street art]] and the designs of [[Takashi Murakami]].<ref name="Bendazzi" />

David Perlmutter wrote in his 2018 book, ''The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows'', that all three segments of ''Dexter's Laboratory'' (the main scenario, along with ''Dial M for Monkey'' and ''The Justice Friends'') elevate stereotypical ideas through an approach that contains "verve and originality".{{sfn|Perlmutter|2018|p=153}} Perlmutter called the series more "complex" than it first seems.{{sfn|Perlmutter|2018|p=153}} He praised the staging of action sequences throughout the series and wrote that ''Dexter's Laboratory'' is "much more effective (and funny) than it would have been under a director less committed to the project [than Tartakovsky]."{{sfn|Perlmutter|2018|p=153}}