Dexter's Laboratory "Rude Removal" (found unaired Cartoon Network animated series episode; 1997)

This article has been tagged as NSFW due to its discussion of profanity.

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Title card originally released by Adult Swim.

Status: Found (censored version)
Lost (uncensored version)

Date found: 22 Jan 2013

Found by: Adult Swim

"Rude Removal" is a 1997 episode of the 1996 animated series Dexter's Laboratory. The episode revolves around one of Dexter's inventions separating both himself and Dee Dee into respective rude and polite versions of themselves, resulting in a tirade of swearing (albeit censored) and general rudeness. It was originally intended to be aired but was pulled after Cartoon Network got cold feet, fearing backlash due to the amount of bad language present. Incidentally, the episode ended up being screened at several conventions in the late 1990s (sometimes even, allegedly, in the uncensored form), before shrinking into obscurity for over a decade, finally receiving a mass release by Adult Swim in early 2013.

Original Rediscovery

Before "Rude Removal"’s relatively recent unearthing, many dismissed it as fake until 2010, when Frederator's Fred Seibert (who served as president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons from 1992 to 1996) confirmed its existence and the fact that it was indeed pulled before airing via his Tumblr page, after consulting Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of the show) during a senior animation class, in which the episode's existence was brought into question by a student.

In 2015, cartoonist Craig McCracken, who worked on Dexter's Laboratory as art director and storyboard artist for seasons 1 through 4, also attested to the episode's existence via his DeviantArt account. Shortly after that, in September of 2012, Tartakovsky conducted an IAmA session on Reddit to promote his then-upcoming, animated feature film directorial effort Hotel Transylvania. Eventually, a comment regarding "Rude Removal" came up and quickly gained traction, rising to become one of the thread's top comments. After giving a first-hand account quite similar to Seibert's and McCracken's, when asked if the episode would ever find its way online, he replied "it might", also stating that he would bring it with him to his next public appearance.

Adult Swim's Involvement

In the weeks following Tartakovsky's IAmA session, Adult Swim, realizing the increasing amount of public interest in "Rude Removal", began airing bumpers suggesting that they were going to attempt to acquire the episode and have it aired on TV. After a handful of bumpers regarding the episode, Adult Swim went quiet on the issue until December 1st, when they sent out a tweet asking if there was still interest in the episode. Following an overwhelmingly positive fan response, Adult Swim aired a follow-up bumper the next day stating that they had succeeded in obtaining a copy and were in negotiations to get it put online "in the next week or so", advising users to "remind us to tell Jeff to put it up" by using the Twitter hashtag #tellJeff.

Weeks passed with no word from Adult Swim whatsoever; people started becoming bitter, some suggesting that Adult Swim never actually had the episode in the first place and that the whole thing was nothing more than a cruel publicity stunt. However, on January 21st, 2013, Adult Swim ended any doubts by tweeting a picture of the episode's title card, along with the notification that the episode was to be uploaded the afternoon of the following day. Keeping to their word, Adult Swim uploaded a (censored) high definition rip of "Rude Removal" to their YouTube account on January 22nd, 2013, at around 1:00 PM Atlanta time (Atlanta is the location of Adult Swim's Williams Street headquarters), along with a tweet simply stating "With love, from Adult Swim"., also containing a link to said YouTube video (albeit embedded on a page via Adult Swim's official website).

The episode's unearthing was generally well-received despite some people's disappointment at the fact that it was censored, and Adult Swim's efforts were met with mass praise. The episode, however, was removed from Adult Swim's YouTube channel just a few weeks after it had been uploaded, with no explanation, although by that time, many mirrors had popped up, ensuring that the episode can still be watched by the general public.

Unedited Audio

Ever since the episode's original resurfacing, rumors of an alleged uncensored version actually existing, possibly on a VHS tape in possession of one of the show's former crew members, float on the web. It's unknown if the copy Adult Swim obtained had the censoring on it originally or if they added it themselves, and none of the rumors have been confirmed or denied. On July 15, 2017, Craig McCracken officially confirmed via Twitter that uncensored audio was originally recorded for the episode. In another tweet, Craig said that he doesn't know if Cartoon Network has the original uncensored version, only knowing that Adult Swim uploaded one of the versions in 2013 – the censored version.

The unreleased nature of the unedited audio eventually attracted the attention of fans trying to earn an advantage from the situation. Forgeries coming from people claiming to own copies of the uncensored episode arose, with the most famous one being sourced from a "YouTube Poop" published by mrSimon (at the time known as electricthecheese) shortly after the episode's airing in early 2013. In this edit, the censored episode has its bleeps replaced with audio clips from other episodes altered to resemble profanity, giving the illusion of uncutness. Users abusing of bad faith took advantage of this and reuploaded the video without proper credits, passing it as the official uncensored version.

Gallery

"Rude Removal" (censored version)

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See Also

Anthology Series

• Cartoon Network "Cartoon Network Responds!" (partially found interstitials from TV channel; 1997-1999)
• Big Bag (partially found Cartoon Network live-action/animated/puppet series; 1996-1998)
• The Moxy Show (partially found episodes of Cartoon Network CGI animated anthology series; 1993-2000)
• Sunday Pants (partially lost Cartoon Network animated anthology series; 2005)
• ToonHeads (partially lost Cartoon Network animation anthology series; 1996-2003)
• ToonHeads "A Night of Independent Animation" (partially lost special of Cartoon Network animation anthology series; 1996)
• What A Cartoon! (found Cartoon Network animated anthology series; 1995-1997)

Bumpers and Interstitials

• The Big Game XXVI: Tom vs. Jerry (found Cartoon Network marathon special; 1998)
• Cartoon Network (partially lost "CN City" bumpers from TV channel; 2004–2007)
• Cartoon Network (partially found "High Noon Toons" bumpers from TV channel block; 1994-1996)
• Cartoon Network (partially lost "Nood" bumpers from TV channel; 2008-2010)
• Cartoon Network NBA All-Star Slam (partially found interviews of marathon; 2003)
• Cartoon Planet (partially found bumpers of revival block of Cartoon Network animated variety series; 2012)
• Cartoon Planet (partially found "Live from Cartoon Planet" bumpers of Cartoon Network animated variety series; 1995)
• Codename: Kids Next Door Mission Weekend (partially found marathon bumpers for Cartoon Network animated series; 2003)
• Fridays aka "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" (partially found interstitials from Cartoon Network channel block; 1999–2007)
• Hotdog TV (partially found Cartoon Network interstitial series; 2010)
• JBVO, Toon FM & Viva Las Bravo (partially found interstitials from Cartoon Network channel blocks; early-mid 2000s)
• Lumpus and Slinkman's Cabin Fever (partially found Cartoon Network program block segments; 2005)
• Teen Titans Go! Top 5 (lost promos for Cartoon Network weekend morning block; 2015)
• Tickle-U (partially found Cartoon Network preschool block; 2005-2006)

Pilots

• Ben 10 (partially found unaired pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; early-mid 2000s)
• Billy and Mandy in Trepanation of the Skull and You (found prototype short of "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy" Cartoon Network animated series; 1995)
• Camp Lazlo "Monkey See, Camping Doo" (lost unaired pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; 2004)
• Captain Sturdy (found Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2001)
• Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe (partially lost pilots from animation studio; 2008-2011)
• Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (found unaired pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; 2003)
• IMP, Inc. (found Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2001)
• Jeffrey Cat: Claw and Order (found Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2002)
• A Kitty Bobo Show (found storyboard of cancelled second animated pilot for Cartoon Network; 2002)
• Major Flake in "Soggy Sales" (found Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2001)
• The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (partially found "Wedgies pilot" of Cartoon Network animated series; 2007)
• Mess O' Blues (partially found prototype short of "Johnny Bravo" Cartoon Network animated series; 1993)
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey (lost unaired pilots of Cartoon Network animated series; 2003/2004)
• Nikki (found Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2000)
• The Powerpuff Girls (lost pilot of Cartoon Network animated series reboot; 2016)
• Project Gilroy (lost Cartoon Network animated pilot; 2007)
• Regular Show (non-existent Flash pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; late 2000s-2010)
• Squirrel Boy "Kite Makes Right" (lost unaired pilot of Cartoon Network animated series; 2004)
• Uncle Gus (partially found original English audio of Cartoon Network animated pilots; 2000-2001)

Live-Action

• Bobb'e Says (partially found Cartoon Network live-action clip series; 2009)
• BrainRush (partially found Cartoon Network live-action game show; 2009)
• Track Rats (partially found Cartoon Network reality short series; 2010)
• The Othersiders (found Cartoon Network paranormal reality series; 2009)
• Out of Jimmy's Head (partially lost original English dub of Cartoon Network teen sitcom; 2007-2008)

Other Cartoon Network Series

• The Amazing World of Gumball "The Downer" (lost original draft of episode of Cartoon Network animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2012-2014)
• Chowder (lost production material of cancelled Cartoon Network TV film; 2009)
• Class of 3000 (found original English dub of Cartoon Network animated musical series; 2006-2008)
• Codename: Kids Next Door (lost production material of cancelled episodes of Cartoon Network animated series; 2002-2008)
• Droopy's Guide to the Cartoon Network (found launch preview of TV channel special; 1992)
• Ed, Edd n Eddy "Luck Be an Ed Tonight"/"A Room with an Ed" (rumored/lost unfinished episodes of Cartoon Network animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2005)
• Ed, Edd n Eddy "Special Ed" (non-existent unproduced episode of Cartoon Network animated series; late 1990s/early 2000s)
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy "Matinee Mandy" (lost original English audio of Cartoon Network animated short; 2007)
• I Heart Tuesdays (lost production material of cancelled Cartoon Network animated series; 2011-2012)
• I-10: The Ben 10 User Generated Experience (found Cartoon Network TV special; 2008)
• OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes "Crossover Nexus" (partially found original 22-minute version of Cartoon Network animated series episode; 2010s)
• Skatoony (found original British version of Cartoon Network quiz show; 2006-2008)
• Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (partially lost unreleased original voice audio and unfinished/unknown episodes of Cartoon Network animated series; 2002-2003)

External Links

• Adult Swim's first bumper regarding the episode.
• Adult Swim's second bumper regarding the episode.
• Adult Swim's third and final bumper regarding the episode.