Editing Dexter's Laboratory (section)

=== Background ===
Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of ''Dexter's Laboratory'', was born in [[Moscow]], where his father, a [[dentist]], served in the [[government of the Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Lenburg|2006}} Although relatively wealthy and well-connected, his family feared racial persecution due to their [[Jewish culture|Jewish heritage]] and moved from Russia to [[Chicago]] when Tartakovsky was seven.<ref name="Aushenker" /> Along with his older brother, Alex, Tartakovsky learned English by watching cartoons<ref name="Aushenker" /> and taught himself how to draw as a child by copying [[comic book]]s.<ref name="Woulfe" />{{sfn|Lenburg|2006}}<ref name="Davenport">{{Cite news |last=Davenport |first=Misha |date=November 24, 2002 |title='Dexter' Creator Draws on His Youth |url=http://www.suntimes.com:80/output/television/sho-sunday-nowplay24.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021201044019/http://www.suntimes.com/output/television/sho-sunday-nowplay24.html |archive-date=December 1, 2002 |access-date=July 24, 2019 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |department=Television |publisher=[[Wrapports]]}}</ref>

Tartakovsky initially went to [[Columbia College Chicago]] to study advertising and took an animation class as an elective.<ref name="Davenport" /> After he transferred to the [[California Institute of the Arts]] in 1990 to study animation full-time, Tartakovsky wrote, directed, animated, and produced two student [[short film]]s, one of which was a precursor to ''Dexter's Laboratory''<nowiki/>'s [[television pilot]], "Changes".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=People Staff |date=March 3, 1997 |title=In Toon with Tots |url=https://people.com/archive/in-toon-with-tots-vol-47-no-8/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128075237/https://people.com/archive/in-toon-with-tots-vol-47-no-8/ |archive-date=November 28, 2018 |access-date=November 27, 2018 |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |volume=47 |issue=8 |issn=0093-7673}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Animator Profile: Genndy Tartakovsky |url=http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/ap/gtartakovsky.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619095331/http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/ap/gtartakovsky.html |archive-date=June 19, 2009 |access-date=May 31, 2011 |website=[[CartoonNetwork.com]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Manley|2008|p=136}} A two-and-a-half-minute [[Traditional animation#Animation|pencil test]],{{sfn|Manley|2008|p=136}}{{sfn|Neuwirth|2007}} this short film was included in a university screening for the producers of ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', who were impressed and hired Tartakovsky to move to Spain to work on ''Batman'' at a studio in [[Madrid]].{{sfn|Manley|2008|p=136}}{{sfn|Lenburg|2006}}

After ''Batman'', Tartakovsky moved back to California to work for [[Hanna-Barbera]] on the production team of ''[[2 Stupid Dogs]]''.{{sfn|Neuwirth|2007}}{{sfn|Manley|2008|p=138}}<ref name="Jubera">{{Cite news |last=Jubera |first=Drew |date=August 12, 2001 |title=Watching TV: Is 'Samurai' One for the Ages? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal-is-samurai-one-for/161511715/ |work=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |department=Arts |location=[[Burbank, California]] |page=L12 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Lenburg|2006}} His co-workers on that series, Craig McCracken, [[Rob Renzetti]], and Paul Rudish, had been classmates of his at Cal Arts{{sfn|Simensky|2011|pp= 286–287}} and went on to collaborate with him on ''Dexter's Laboratory''.<ref name="NYTimes">{{Cite news |title=Dexter's Laboratory Credits |url=https://www.nytimes.com/tv/show/154958/Dexter-s-Laboratory/credits |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206114629/https://www.nytimes.com/tv/show/154958/Dexter-s-Laboratory/credits |archive-date=February 6, 2015 |access-date=May 31, 2011 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Seibert |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Seibert |date=November 3, 2004 |title=Original Premiere >My Life As a Teenage Robot |url=http://frederatorstudios.blogspot.com/2004/11/original-premiere-my-life-as-teenage.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071239/http://frederatorstudios.blogspot.com/2004/11/original-premiere-my-life-as-teenage.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=May 31, 2011 |website=Frederator Blogs |publisher=[[Frederator Studios]] |orig-year=June 23, 2003}}</ref> Tartakovsky's last job before developing ''Dexter's Laboratory'' into a television series was to serve as a [[exposure sheet|sheet timer]] on ''[[The Critic]]''. During his time on that series, Tartakovsky received a phone call from [[Larry Huber]], who had been a producer on ''2 Stupid Dogs''. Huber had shown Tartakovsky's unfinished student film to a then-nascent Cartoon Network and wanted Tartakovsky to develop the concept into a seven-minute [[storyboard]].{{sfn|Neuwirth|2007}}{{sfn|Manley|2008|p=138}}