Ego Trip (Dexter's Laboratory)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip is a one-hour animated television special spawned from the Cartoon Network animated television series Dexter's Laboratory, produced by Hanna-Barbera (now Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network, and aired in 1999.

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After routinely chasing Mandark out of his Lab when he tries to steal the "Neurotomic Protocore", Dexter is confronted with a group of robots that have appeared from his time machine. They declare that they are here to destroy the one who saved the future, and make ready to attack Dexter. Dexter easily destroys them with the use of various tools and gadgets from his lab (including a black and white suit never seen before in the television series). However, news that he is "The One Who Saved the Future" intrigues him, and he decides to travel through time to discover how cool he is.

In the first time period he visits, Dexter finds a tall, skinny, weak version of himself working in office-designing cubicles, with Mandark as his rich, successful boss. The child Dexter unwittingly reveals the existence of blueprints regarding the "Neurotomic Protocore" from the beginning of the movie, and Mandark steals it after the two Dexters move forward in time.

In the second time period, Dexter meets his much older self, a bald, senior citizen Dexter about the same height as the child Dexter (and Mandark's brain in a vat who cannot do anything than complain about his situation). All the technology from the blueprints has been implemented, creating a utopian society where anything can be materialized with the power of the mind. The old Dexter can't remember how he saved the world, so they travel back in time to find out.

In the third time period, they find a dystopic world where everyone is stupid and fire and technology are forbidden, controlled by Mandark thanks to the "Neurotomic Protocore". They meet action hero Dexter, who is tall, muscular and bald (senior citizen Dexter, it turns out, wears a wig), as well as having grown a large beard from digging underground after Mandark stole the plans. They go back to Dexter's laboratory and build a giant robot to invade Mandark's fortress. Reaching there each Dexter fight the Mandarks of their own time period.

Ironically, after an epic battle between the Dexters and Mandarks, Dee Dee saves the world by pressing the button to reverte the waves of the "Neurotomic Protocore", thus creating the utopian world. The Dexters - overcome with rage - create a group of robots and tell them to "destroy the one who saved the future", and send them back through the time machine to take care of Dee Dee, unwittingly setting the whole series of events in motion. When Dexter notices, he decides to ignore it and go eat lunch.