text: Linda Simensky, who served as senior vice-president of Original Animation for Cartoon Network during the production of Dexter's Laboratory, wrote in 2011 that Dexter was designed "to be more of an icon in some ways"; she continued, "his body was short and squat and his design was simple, with a black outline and relatively little detail... Since Tartakovsky knew he was developing Dexter for television, he purposely limited the design to a degree, designing the nose and mouth, for instance, in a Hanna-Barbera style to animate easily." This simplistic style was influenced by UPA shorts, as well as by the Merrie Melodies cartoon The Dover Boys at Pimento University. Simensky noted though, that in contrast to those cartoons, Dexter's Laboratory is "staged cinematically, rather than flat and close to the screen, to leave space and depth for the action and gags in the lab". Tartakovsky was influenced by Warner Bros. cartoons, Hanna-Barbera, and Japanese anime.
  Original run
  Dexter's Laboratory premiered on TNT on April 27, 1996, and the following day on Cartoon Network and TBS. It became the first in a brand of Cartoon Network original cartoons, later including Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Johnny Bravo, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, and Courage the Cowardly Dog, collectively known as Cartoon Cartoons. A second season was ordered, which premiered on Cartoon Network on July 16, 1997. This run of the series includes the episode "Dexter and Computress Get Mandark!", whose author was a seven-year-old boy from Long Island named Tyler Samuel Lee, who submitted his story to Tartakovsky as an audiotape. Tyler's recorded narration was used in the episode, and Tartakovsky (who often received letters and comments from other fans) said that Tyler had "a great understanding of the show and genuinely captured the imaginative kid perspective we're always striving for." Composers Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker, and Gary Lionelli provided the musical score for the series.