Pilot

Prototype designs for Shimmer. The pilot episode of Shimmer and Shine was produced in 2013. It has never been released, but was eventually reworked into the episode The Sweetest Thing. The show's creator, Farnaz Esnaashari-Charmatz, talked about the pilot in a 2017 interview (link here). She said: So, by December of 2012 I turned in my pitch and [Nickelodeon] called me and said, 'Okay start thinking about the next steps.' I thought I was going to have a couple months off. But by April 2013, they said, 'Okay, we’re picking you for pilot.' So, then we had to find writers and storyboard artists and basically take this whole thing into production and normally the process is that you make a pilot, you get it animated, you get it back, you test the heck out of it and then based on that they will either pick the show up for series or not. We got picked up for series before we had even shipped the pilot, so we were still in the works of figuring everything out and they gave us a writing pickup. So, by August 2013 we had a writing pickup, by November 2013 we had a full production pickup and I think in January 2014 we shipped the pilot. It happened so fast! - Link to interview On April 24, 2025, 42 seconds of the pilot were uploaded to YouTube. The animatic followed two months later on June 29. Trivia During the pilot's production, Zac's design was very different. He had the same hair, but was much shorter and wore a bear-shaped hat. He also had green eyes instead of blue. Later during production, Zac had blonde hair. This was likely changed so people don't mistake him and Leah for siblings. Andy Bialk designed the characters and the settings for the pilot. Shimmer was going to be called Mia and would be Zac's genie. Unlike in the finalized episode, the song The Sweetest Thing is sung by Leah, Shimmer and Shine themselves. Travel To, the Mistake Song and Travel Back were not in the pilot. In the finalized episode, Shine throws the eggs onto the conveyor belt and breaks them, while Shimmer gets the bucket of milk on her head. But in the pilot, Shimmer throws the eggs while Shine gets the bucket on her head. Gallery Shimmer and Shine Pilot 2013 (THE REAL ONE, CLIPS FOUND) Compilation of clips from the pilot, uploaded to Youtube in 2025 Shimmer & Shine Pilot The animatic of the pilot Genie turnarounds 2013 The genies' final designs 2013 (whatever remains of Brainy Smurf is in this image) 2012 development sketch/Generic genie design (pigtails) 2012 development sketch/Generic genie design (ponytail) Tala rough character exploration 2013 Tala's rough concept design and color 2013 2013 Nahal final turnarounds Nahal concept sketches 2013 Nahal's final design 2013 Zahramay Falls development 2014 The genies' palace interior 2013 Art director Andy Bialk working on the pilot 2010 Early Genie character Exploration 2010 Genie Character Exploration Original Background Painting Test 2013 Early concept of Zac from 2013 Note: Zac has blonde hair instead of his final "brown-haired" design. Early piece of development from 2010 Early Concept of Zac 2013 Zac Turnarounds and Character Expression Sheet 2013 Zac rough character exploration 2013 Zac rough character development 2013 Sources Kidscreen article Art director Andy Bialk's blog Episodes Pilot Season 1 "My Secret Genies" • "The Sweetest Thing" • "Dino Might!" • "Genie Treehouse" • "What a Pig Mess" • "Ahoy, Genies!" • "Lights! Camera! Genies!" • "Backyard Ballet" • "Abraca-Genie" • "Santa's Little Genies" • "Spaceship Wrecked" • "A Very Genie Halloweenie" • "Sleep-Over Party" • "Game On" • "Gone Bowlin'" • "The Great Skate Mistake" • "Dream Dollhouse" • "Escape Goat" • "Happy Wishaversary" Season 2 "Welcome to Zahramay Falls" • "All Bottled Up" • "Zoom Zahramay" • "A Tree-mendous Rescue" • "Flying Flour" • "Mermaid Mayhem" • "Snow Place We'd Rather Be" • "Starry Night Sleepover" • "Wild Carpet Chase" • "Lost and Found" • "Freeze-amay Falls" • "Bling, Bling" • "Staffinated" • "Dragon Pox" • "Lightning in a Bottle" • "Size of the Beholder" • "Zoomicorn Toss" • "Double Trouble" • "Zany Ziffilon"."Volcano Drain-o" • "Cleanie Genies • "Now You See Her" • "Untamed Talent" • "The Crystal Queen" • "The Glob" • "Pet Bedroom" • "Boom Zahra-Mom" • "Frosty Fun" • "Zeta in Training" • "Masquerade Charade" • "The Silent Treatment" • "Potion Control" • "Feel Better" • "The Pirate Genie" • "Trick or Treasure" • "Easy as Pie" • "Bungle in the Jungle" • "The Mysterious Tower" Season 3 "Underground Bound" • "Wishy Washy Genie" • "Carpet Trouble" • "Dragon Tales" • "Rainbow Zahramay" • "Hairdos and Don'ts" • "Flower Power" • "Samira and Zeta" • "The Zeta Touch" • "Genie for a Day" • "Zac the Clueless Detective" • "Abraca-Nope" • "Treehouse Retreat" • "Nazboo's Family Reunion" • "The Darpoppy" • "Hounded" • "The Sorceress' Apprentice" • "All That Glitters" • "Grab That Gem!" • "Dance Magic" • "Whatever Floats Your Boat" • "Waterbent" • "Snow Time to Spare" • "Pet Games" • "Zahramay Dreams" • "Careful What You Wish For" • "Glitter Glitch" • "Crystal Chaos" • "A Lightning Colt for Shaya" • "A Special Delivery" • "Zahra-Glitter, Zahra-Glow" • "Nila Out of Water" • "I Dream of Zeta" • "Brave-ish" • "Nazboo's Magic Kazoo" • "A Pirate Genie's Life for Me" • "Wacky Wishes" Season 4 "Oceans Collide" • "Par-Tea Time" • "Welcome to Zahramay Skies" • "Pets to the Rescue" • "Runaway Rainbow" • "Genie Babies" • "Zeta Sleeps Over" • "The Zahra-Star" • "Lightning Strikes Twice" • "Rainbows to the Rescue" • "Daydreams Come True" • "Costume Chaos" • "Potion School" • "The Painting Gem" • "Longest Day Ever" • "The Zahracorn Salon" • "Zahracorn Tickles" • "The Sky Garden" • "The Dragon Zahracorn" • "Boom Zahra-Bake" • "Rocket's Big Bark" • "Buddies in a Bottle" • "The Gem Hunt" • "Zahracorns on Parade" • "Nazboo's Magic Robe" • "Zeta's Sister" • "Sneaky Switcheroo" • "The Dragon Rider" • "Legend of the Dragon Gem" • "Sneaky Squeaky Chicken" • "Adara's Bracelets" • "Nazboo Come Home" • "Surfing the Skies" • "Journey to Zahramay Oceanea" • "The Sea Enchantress" • "Dance of the Jellyfish" • "Found You Day" • "Nazboo Loses a Tooth" • "Zeashell Surprise" • "The Zahramay Zuffer-Puff" • "Zadazzler Dizzaster" • "Hotdog Havoc" • "Ladybugs on the Loose" • "Zeta the Powerless" • "Zeacorn Cove" • "Lights of Oceanea" • "Zahra-Zkunked" • "The Sorcerenie"