Fred Seibert's Blog

In anticipation of the publication of our book, I thought it might be interesting to pull out a few of the memorable pieces and tell my side of the stories behind them.

This promotional poster is for the original short of Dexter’s Laboratory from 1995.

The first series I greenlit after coming to Hanna-Barbera in 1992 was based on a half-drawn storyboard, a bodacious personality, and a firm belief that the studio could only be resurrected by a large injection of young talent. 2 Stupid Dogs creator Donovan Cook took me at my word and started turning the studio upside down to fulfill his vision, and his first move was to populate his crew with a bunch of young ‘uns from his classes at CalArts. All of whom proceeded to start pitching shorts to us the next year when we instituted What A Cartoon!.

Truth be told I didn’t pay much attention to Genndy Tartakovsky or Dexter’s Laboratory until the final film came in, but then, geez, what a stunner! Genndy was (and is) a guy who doesn’t call attention to himself; he’s just dedicated, hard working, and determined to turn out the best work he is capable of. That was clear when he told me in order to make Dexter’s come alive he had had to throw out the entire second half of the short’s score and sound effects, and completely re-work them. That’s rarely done in television, no less in a short cartoon, no less from a ‘filmmaker’ who had never completed his own film before, even in college. However, the stellar results speak for themselves.

Genndy’s gone on to over 100 Dexter epsiodes, oversee the production of The Powerpuff Girls (which never would have gone to series or success without his dedication and talent), Samuri Jack, and now as the founder of the feature film producer Orphanage Animation.

Dexter’s Laboratory
Created by Genndy Tartakovsy
Art Direction by Craig McCraken & Paul Rudish
Poster art direction by Jesse Stagg & Kelly Wheeler