Dexter's Laboratory "Rude Removal" (found unaired Cartoon Network animated series episode; 1997)
Created in 1997 was an episode of Dexter's Laboratory entitled "Rude Removal".[1] The episode, which sees one of Dexter's inventions separating both himself and Dee Dee into respective naughty and nice versions of themselves (resulting in a tirade of swearing, albeit censored) was originally intended for airing, but was pulled after Cartoon Network got cold feet, fearing a backlash due to the amount bad language present. Incidentally, the episode ended up being screened at several conventions in the late 1990s, before shrinking into obscurity for over a decade (finally to receive a mass release by Adult Swim in early 2013).
Before "Rude Removal"’s relative recent unearthing, many dismissed it as fake
References
- ↑ United States Copyright Office entry for "Rude Removal".Last retrieved 11 Oct 2014.
The short's validity was questioned for a while, until Craig McCracken reported online that he had storyboarded the episode, and that it did indeed exist. This was re-confirmed by Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of the show), who, in a 2012 Reddit IAmA, stated that the short indeed does exist in its complete form, and that he would bring it to his next public appearance. When asked if the short might find its way online, he replied "it might".
After Tartakovsky's Reddit AMA, Adult Swim aired bumps regarding the episode, stating that they had plans to try and get it on the air. Months passed, until December 1, when Adult Swim sent out a tweet[1] asking if there was still interest in the the episode, to which many have replied favourably, indicating that Adult Swim did have intentions to air the episode at some point. They then confirmed, through a bump, that they did indeed have the episode, and that they would put it online "in the next week or so". Six weeks passed, and many believed Adult Swim to have been lying about ever having the episode at all. However...
On the 21st of January, 2013, Adult Swim posted the title card for the episode on their Twitter account, along with a statement saying that "Rude Removal" would be uploaded the following day, sometime in the afternoon. At around 1:00 PM (Atlanta time) on January 22, Adult Swim sent out a final tweet that simply stated "With love, from Adult Swim" and contained a YouTube link to the episode, much to the delight of fans, who responded with praise en masse to Adult Swim.
UPDATE 10 Feb '13: Adult Swim have made the YouTube video private for some reason, and have also removed the streaming link from their site, but that hasn't stopped people spreading it around.
- ↑ The first tweet sent out by Adult Swim regarding "Rude Removal". Retrieved 01 Dec '12.