Team Umizoomi is an American CGI-animated/live-action series that premiered on Nick Jr. on January 25, 2010. The show revolves around three tiny superheroes named Milli, Geo, and Bot, solving various problems in Umi City and teaching simple math concepts such as numbers, shapes, and measuring distances.
Between the spring of 2006 and early 2007, a pilot was made to pitch the show to the Noggin channel, then titled The Umizumiz. This pilot features numerous major changes from the final show, with the series originally slated to premiere in Spring 2008 during the 2007–08 television season on Noggin.
The 6 were, Milli, Geo, Bot, Zig Zag, Alphonse, and the Zipmobile. The original Milli and Geo were unknown before their debuts, though Milli would've probably have only the measurements talent. The original Geo represents a pen to draw numbers.
Bot made no vast changes but his mouth was green and had an audio wave. Zig Zag, was known for patterns and was changed for Milli. Alphonse was known for the "Super-shapes!" and was changed for Geo; UmiCar was originally the Zipmobile.
The characters look less like human and more like magic toys, hence the show was to be named The Umibots!. The only video proof that currently exists is a 10 second video (withoutaudio), uploaded to YouTube by the user The Official CompleteGamer in 2018. We can see the pilot here. This pilot was never aired and has not been seen worldwide anywhere ever since. Luckily, some images, the pilot’s theme song, and a 25 second video with audio has been found, making it Partially Found.
On September 15, 2020, a 25 second video showing clips with audio included of the pilot was posted by a channel named Yaili The Lost Media Boy onto YouTube.[1]
An unknown user found a PDF of Duke Burger on the Wayback Machine, confirming that the pilot was created around 2005 to 2006:
Description[]
Premiering on Noggin, The Umizumiz is an animated interactive series for preschoolers about a miniature urban repair squad that solves everyday problems with the help of the home audience.
The Umizumiz, which will feature foundational skills like counting, patterns and measuring, was created by Soo Kim and Michael Smith and is co-created and executive-produced by Jennifer Twomey.
History[]
In 2006, Team Umizoomi creators Soo Kim, Michael T. Smith, and Jennifer Twomey would draft the original concepts for the series, originally titled The Umizumiz. Production of a pilot possibly began in March 2006, and the name's trademark was filed shortly afterward on April 20, 2006.
The original concept had various differences, including different character designs, names (such as the Umi Car being called the Zipmobile), and two extra characters that were not incorporated into the final series; Zig Zag, a purple girl whose purpose is patterns, and Alphonse, an orange boy who, wearing the Shape Belt, presumably had a purpose similar to Geo in the show itself.
Development and production continued until the start of 2007 at the latest, when a pilot was pitched to Noggin, an educational channel operated by Nickelodeon. The show was planned to premiere on Noggin in Spring 2008 during the 2007–08 television season, according to a press release issued by C21 Media. Most of the differences in the original concept carried into this pilot, with the same characters and title.
The premise of the pilot remains unknown; however, the footage available seems to involve a dinosaur in a museum. This seems to match the description of the eighth episode of the series, "The Dinosaur Museum Mishap", where dinosaurs get frightened away by thunder, leaving Team Umizoomi to have to find them. Other than this, not much else is known about the pilot itself. The pilot would be greenlit into a full series, with production starting in February 2007. The show's concept was reworked, and was subsequently retitled Team Umizoomi by July 11, 2007, when a trademark for the name was filed. Afterward, sometime during production, the series was renewed for a second season in advance; the first season was completed in July 2009, with production for the second season starting that same month. The series eventually premiered on January 25, 2010, on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. morning block.
Plot[]
WARNING: This text contains spoilers.
In the animation reel, the dinosaur said to Milli, "Would you mind helping me with something?", and Milli said "Sure!" Then the dinosaur said to Milli, "I got that ticklish feeling at the end of my tail!" Another scene in the reel was the bug said, "Were you looking for me?" and Geo said, "Beetle, today is the big bug show! The kids are coming to see you!", and the bug said, "That show? Oops! I forgot!", Milli says, "Come on, we’ll take you back!" As the bug jumps on Milli’s hand, and another scene shows the Umizumiz jumping out the Zipmobile.
Lyrics (Unused Intro)[]
Driving in our Zipcar all over MetroCity
We can fix any problem even though we're itty bitty.
No one knows we're around!
We zoom in secret spaces!
Come on let's zoom around town!
To exciting hidden places!
We're a team and what we do…
Is umizumi round with you!
Ooh la la la Ooh la la la Umizumi zumi zumi zumi umi zumi zoom zoom zoom!
Let's find the pattern, let's measure stuff.
If we use our super smarts when the going gets rough.
We can help this city out,
That's what the Umizumiz are all about!
Ooh la la la Ooh la la la Umizumi zumi zumi zumi umi zumi zoom!
Ooh la la la Ooh la la la Umizumi zumi zumi zumi umi zoom zoom zoom!
Umizumiz!
Links[]
- Syr-Ivan Bennett's Profile (where you can find one concept picture of The Umizumiz)
- Jumping Tadpole (In the original version of the character animation reel, we can see some animated bits for The Umizumiz Clips, but they were later erased from the reel and the website has now been excluded from the Wayback Machine.)
- Alex Fogarty (In the Gallery, we can find two background pictures of The Umizumiz’)
- Nick Balaban's Kids' Music (Where we can find the pilot’s unused demo theme, alongside an another unused theme for the 1999 Super Why pilot.)
Clips of the pilot (starts at 0:10): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZSUaza7rbU
BrayBray’s video on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_DCxwlKHF4