Nickandmore!

I’m not a big fan of Fanboy & Chum Chum but I’m glad I tuned in Tuesday. I only did so because I’ve been recording all the new episodes that have been airing weekday mornings (at 7am) on Nickelodeon. Yes, they’re burning off the remaining episodes of the show, if you (likely) didn’t know. Why record them if I don’t like the show? Well, I mainly want to make sure they air (Nick is notorious for last-minute changes), plus I like to make sure episodes titles match my episode list and schedule records (yes, I’m a little obsessive). Anyway, why don’t I just get to the point of why I’m writing this article…

The first part of Tuesday’s new episode was “Slime Day.” Surprisingly, it was about the green, trademarked stuff that Nickelodeon has. The episode paid homage to the sticky (and apparently sweet) goo and actually included quite a few throwback phrases that only older fans will likely get.

The episode starts out with Mr. Mufflin, the boy’s teacher, telling viewers that today is “slime day” and everyone can get slimed if they know the secret phrase. He doesn’t know it but is handed (literally) a card saying “I Don’t Know.” He says it and is slimed!

The episode then continues with Fanboy and Chum Chum both excited about the slime holiday and are eagerly anticipating the green goo to be deposited over their bodies. Of course, the two brainless boobs are clueless to the real secret phrase, despite the fact that every other classmate gets it right and gets the slime.

Mr. Mufflin and the class try and help the two get the phrase, but they can’t tell it to them, so they act it out in charades. Mufflin uses Dollar-nator’s eyeball for “I,” a doughnut (stretched out) for “don’t” and points to his nose (shorter) for “know”. Of course when the two put the words together they get: “Dollar-nator doughnut nose!” (I have to admit, that gave me a chuckle.)

So, the boys continue to wonder why everyone else knows the phrase but them. They come up with a completely illogical reason (involving aliens). Then they spot some slime on the floor and decide to examine it for clues. The slime morphs into “I Don’t Know” but the brainless duo still doesn’t get it. So Chum Chum pulls out the even bigger magnifier for an even closer look.

Upon closer inspection, the slime reads “© Nickelodeon”. Fanboy has trouble pronouncing Nickelodeon at first and utters the famous phrase/song “Nick Nick Nick Nick Na Nick Nick Nick – Nickelodeon.”

Fanboy has a revelation – if they can’t get the slime to come to them, they’ll go to the place where slime was born – Hollywood. Now, immediately, true fans (or anyone who reads into the history of Nick and slime) will know that the slime started on the Canadian TV series You Can’t Do That On Television, which Nickelodeon aired in the States. So it wasn’t truly “born” in Hollywood, but whatever… (I guess you could say the form in which slime is made today was born in Hollywood, but that’s splitting hairs).

So the duo then travel (in a cartoony way) to Hollywood to Nickelodeon Animation Studios (hey, the old Nickelodeon logo is still atop the building!) and meet with the “Nickelodeon President”. The building security guard lets them pass and they enter the president’s office. The odd and very cartoony man (this part is mostly live-action) is on the phone and tells someone that he loves something but that “you can’t do that on television” (giving the proper wink to the show that started the slime in the first place!). After some goofy moments, he gives Fanboy and Chum Chum a card with the secret phrase and the two get the biggest, largest sliming ever dropped on them inside the studio, overflowing out the doors.

Fanboy says it was “worth it” and the episode ends with the signature song (in its original form): Nick Nick Nick Nick Na Nick Nick Nick – Nickelodeon!

All in all, it was quite a nice episode that paid a lot of honor to the network and the tradition of slime. Sad to say, the network didn’t really “honor” this show by burning these episodes off in the early AM hours with little promotion, but hey, what are you going to do?

Sorry to say, if you weren’t fortunate enough to catch this episode on-air, then I’m not sure what to tell you. It’s hard to guess if or when it’ll ever air on Nick again. (Likely not.) Maybe at some point it’ll repeat on Nicktoons, or maybe they’ll post it on Nick.com at some point, but I don’t currently see any full episodes there.