It's Slime Day at school and Fanboy and Chum Chum are ready for some sliming, but they don't know the secret phrase to get the slime to appear. Because no one can tell them the phrase and they have to find out themselves, they seek help.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: The answer to your problem can come from even the place where you'd least expect it. It might even be with you all along.
- Big "NO!": By both Fanboy and Chum Chum when they finally manage to say the secret phrase and get the biggest slime ever, though it comes in the form of the last word "know".
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The episode begins with Mr. Mufflin addressing the audience and giving them the secret slime phrase and that you can't tell anyone else.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Although Fanboy's prediction story is fake, the mind-erasing chips part was somewhat real as they have them on the back of their heads.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: The titular boys have no idea what the slime phrase is (they have to learn it themselves), and whenever they hear their friends say it, they just assume they don't know the phrase themselves and are getting slimed out of the blue. Even when the slime spells out the phrase, Fanboy just assumes even the slime literally doesn't know without even reading it out.
- Dramatic Irony: The audience knows from the start that the slime phrase is "I don't know", but Fanboy and Chum Chum think their friends literally don't know it.
- Eye Scream: During the Charades scene, Mr. Mufflin repeatedly pokes Dollarnator in the eye to get the boys to say "I".
- Irony:
- FB and CC don't know the secret phrase to get slimed; the slime phrase is literally "I don't know".
- People are not allowed to tell the secret phrase as they have to find out for themselves; yet they are allowed to say it out loud in the open, even before others who don't know it.
- Loophole Abuse: On Slime Day, you can't tell anyone the secret phrase as they have to discover it themselves; the Nickelodeon president gets around this restriction by writing down the phrase on a slip of paper.
- Medium Blending: The final act mixes animation with live action as the boys fly to Nickelodeon Studios.
- Mundane Made Awesome: The phrase to get slimed is "I don't know." Seriously.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Among the kids who were excited about Slime Day, Kyle is one of them.
- Poor Communication Kills: Fanboy and Chum Chum are not really good at Charades, and it shows.
- Series Continuity Error: Both Fanboy and Chum Chum had no problem saying "I don't know" before.
- Shout-Out:
- The Trigger Phrase to activate the sliming is "I don't know!", which is the same exact phrase used in You Can't Do That on Television prior to someone getting slimed.
- At one point, the mosaic sequence from The Brady Bunch is parodied.
- Trigger Phrase: Saying a specific key phrase on Slime Day causes you to get slimed out of nowhere; the phrase for this year is "I don't know". However, you can't tell anyone the phrase; they have to learn it themselves.
- Victory and Defeat: Inverted. Mr. Mufflin manages to teach the boys the secret phrase through Charades, but when they put it all together, they use the things Mr. Mufflin used instead (Dollarnator Doughnut Nose).
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Nickelodeon! Slime is a common element used for the company, and the boys even visit the studios. Fanboy also utters the company's jingle when reading its copyright mark, and the episode ends with its original theme playing.
