Saying "I Dont Know" and NOT getting slimed

[MarcD]

How many times has it actually happened where a kid on the show said "I don't know" and didn't get slimed?

I was just watching the "Sleep" episode from 87 and Matthew Godfrey wakes up from a nightmare about the show and says "I don't want to say I don't know!" ...but nothing happens and the skit continues.

I also have vague memories of this happening at least one other time.

And of course in the 1989 "Age" episode Ross tells Vanessa that once in the "Adoption" ep she said "those words" and the "slime didn't come down". I have the "Adoption" ep on a disc somewhere, I have to remember to dig it out and see if they really missed sliming her.

Anyone else have instances where this happened? What about saying "Water" and not getting wet?

[ugotslimed]

it happened every now and then mostly because they forgot or missed it. What I wonder is if anyone knows how many times a kid was slimed for a reason other than saying I don't know. We know the reason they get slimed for saying that is to punish them for their ignorance and make them feel stupid, but it seems like the powers that be of the show could dump it on them whenever they felt like it. When Moose says "don't you mean prime time?" and she gets a huge sliming as a punishment for trying to be a know it all. Then when she says all the different color slime names she gets dumped with each one. And wasn't there a dungeon sliming once where a victim got it for no reason ? Although I always assumed being in the dungeon Nasty could slime you whenever he wanted just to torture you. Like when he comes in and tells Vanessa "todays the day I get to green slime you" it makes it seem like that is just a thing they do regularly to the prisinors (though he still makes her say I dont know)

[MarcD]

Well I watched the Adoption epsiode again the other day, I didn't hear Vanessa say "I don't know" and not get slimed.

HOWEVER...while rewatching a few other eps I came across the "Halloween" ep and Abby says "I don't know, Alasdair" in the pumpkin-carving skit and nothing happens. So it has happened at least twice. I will keep this thread updated if I find any more examples.

[ChrisInMI]

The very first kid to ever get slimed - Tim Douglas - didn't say "I don't know" beforehand. That may be the scene you're thinking of.

The audience "voted" for Vanessa to be slimed in the dungeon in the "Technology" episode, but she actually did say "I don't know" (though it got sort of buried in the canned laughter).

Some other instances I can think of in which someone got slimed without saying the magic words:

- Of course, the legendary opposite skit in "Culture Junk" in which Lisa gets a massive sliming for saying "I know". Kevin and Moose had both said "I don't know" in the same skit without anything happening, but of course, this WAS an opposite.
- In the Sexual Equality episode (1981), Brodie says "I don't know" twice without being slimed. Moose, on the other hand, says "I don't know" twice and is slimed both times, and gets an additional sliming for trying to get Brodie slimed by yelling "Cue the slime!" after he had said the magic words and gotten off scot free. At the end of the episode, Moose dumps a bucket of slime over Brodie's head; he hadn't said the magic words previously in that skit, but he was entitled since he had said them twice earlier with nothing happening. (At least in the Nickelodeon version; I understand the original skit in the local episode on CJOH was different. Can someone fill me in? The local version of that episode exists, but I haven't seen it or found it yet.)
- There was the incident in the Politics episode (1984) in which Justin pours a bucket of slime over Alasdair's head after Alasdair describes today's politicians as "slimy."

As far as someone saying "I don't know" and not getting slimed, I think a lot of times the actors may have simply said the words as an ad-libbed part of their lines. Moose says the magic words during her water scene in "Addictions" (1982) and during her and Lisa's water scene in which Lisa gets soaked for saying "Kool-Aid" (since Kool-Aid is mostly water) - I forget which episode this was though I know it was an '84 - and in her slime/water scene in "Ambition" (1984), she says "I don't know" twice but only gets the slime once. I can't say for sure of course, but I get the impression "Ambition" was an ad-lib but "Addictions" was not. I have to admit I felt cheated watching the show as a kid when someone said the magic words and didn't get slimed... now of course in retrospect, I can appreciate that the slime scenes weren't always the best scenes.

Off topic somewhat, but there was also Christian's "delayed-reaction" sliming in Excess (1989), in which he said the magic words during the intro to the opposites and nothing happened... until the opposites were over, and he was then treated to one of the most massive slimings in the show's history.

[MarcD]

there was also Christian's "delayed-reaction" sliming in Excess (1989), in which he said the magic words during the intro to the opposites and nothing happened... until the opposites were over, and he was then treated to one of the most massive slimings in the show's history.

I remember that! Christian says "Do you think it forgets?!" or similar, right?

Great post Chris. I will look for those other instances you mentioned. Combined with my two, that gives us five examples at least of times the kids said "I don't know" and didn't get slimed. Ad-libs aren't a great excuse. For a show most famous for slimings, and one in which only those three "magic" words can bring the slime down, to let ANY kid get away with saying the show's signature line without getting slimed is unconscionable.

For ad-libs: either reshoot the scene or add in a sliming! Better yet tell the kids to follow the freakin script!

[ChrisInMI]

Technically if you watch the 1979 and 1981 episodes and see the "kids on the street" interviews captured by the Roving Camera, the kids would often tell jokes, and whichever cast member was conducting the interview (judging from the voice, it was oftentimes Moose) would say "I don't know" in response to the joke. Of course nothing would happen then, as they weren't in the studio.

Actually. the scene in "Excess" went something like this (I just watched this episode this afternoon, serendipitously):

Christian: "Boy, was I ever glad I said those words in the introduction to the opposites. I bet they would have poured so much slime on me, I would've drowned in it almost!"
(The slime falls)
Jennifer: (laughing) "It NEVER forgets! It'll wait FOREVER if it has to, but it never, EVER forgets! I don't know how, but it always does! It re--"
(Jennifer is cut off by the slime falling on her as well, causing Christian to laugh hysterically - Jennifer's was a massive sliming too)

The scene you're thinking of with someone asking "Do you think it ever forgets?" was from either a 1986 or 1987 episode - I forget which one, but the scene involved Adam and Matthew both saying "water" in the introduction to the opposites. And then once the opposites are over, Adam asks "Do you think it ever forgets?" and soon learns that the answer is no, when he gets drenched. Adam then yells out "He said it too!" pointing at Matthew, and Matthew, despite his protests, then gets drenched also.

Speaking of opposite skits, I wonder why no one ever wrote a script (at least not that ever made it to air) in which the word "water" triggered the green slime and saying "I don't know" would cause one to get watered. That would have made the perfect setup for the opposites, I always thought.
Along the same lines, I'm surprised there was never a scene (filmed at least) in which someone tried to dodge getting slimed by saying "I don't know" in another language, especially since that happened a handful of times with the water (see Lisa's second drenching in the "Revenge" episode (Spanish), or Moose and Lisa's water scene in "Hobbies" ("oh" sounding like "eau," French for "water").

[ChrisInMI]

I just thought of two more scenes in which someone got slimed without saying "I don't know", both from 1989.
- Chris's first sliming in "First Times." He didn't say the magic words, but the subtitle read "I don't know," so he got the bucket. He then got another bucket for yelling, "That's not fair! I didn't even say 'I don't know!'" Shades of what happened to Vanessa in "Age."
- Also along the same lines... the group sliming in "Fantasies." Except in this case, Ted is the one who protests about having been slimed without saying the magic words, and only he gets the extra green bucket because of that.

[MarcD]

And of course, Alasdair's "we don't know" caused Vanessa to get it as well, even though she was innocent.

Strangely, though, when Dougie said "we don't know" a few seconds later, nothing happened. He did say "I don't know" moments later and got a bucketful.

[CappieGuy]

That Adam and Matthew's water scene was in City Life (1987).

[CappieGuy]

Why did Lisa get drenched with mud instead of slime in "Cosmetics"? Is it because she was talking about mud so she got drenched in it?