Teenaged fraternal twins Chuck and Nancy find a mysterious chest in a cave off the coast of Maine. Inside the chest are two rings, each with one half of a disc that combined to form the word "Shazzan". The first time they join the rings, they are transported to a magical, Arabesque version of ancient Persia and Arabia inspired by 1001 Nights, where they meet the gigantic genie Shazzan, who can be summoned any time they joined their rings together. While Shazzan will grant them almost any wish they have, he is unable to return them back home until they find the original owner of the two rings somewhere in this magical world.

To help them in their search, Shazzan gives them Kaboobie, a sweet-tempered winged camel, as well as a cloak of invisibility and an animated rope that obeys the commands of either of the twins.

Although Shazzan resembled in appearance the gigantic genie from the 1940 Thief of Bagdad film, he was a far more cheerful, avuncular figure, laughing in joy with his "little masters" and laughing playfully at the villains of each storyline. Shazzan never initiated combat and tried non-violent diplomacy a few times, but the villains of the stories always responded by trying to destroy him or his "little masters". Although Shazzan was willing to battle to the death the murderous villains who tried to harm or kill Chuck and Nancy, he let several depowered villains escape rather than pursue the now-harmless, fleeing villains. He is remembered fondly not for his borderline omnipotence but for his nearly indefatigable cheerfulness and genuine parental affection for the teenagers he shepherded across the magical land, the loving happy uncle nearly every child in his original audience would have loved to have had.

Shazzan could do almost anything except read minds -- or find the original owner of the rings for Chuck and Nancy. A scriptwriter for the series once admitted that they had essentially made the character a living deus ex machina for Chuck and Nancy, and the cartoon series ended not so much because of cancellation but because the writers had run out of ideas for worthwhile storylines.

(In one fanzine poll, Shazzan won out over both Samantha Stephens of *Bewitched* and Jeannie of *I Dream of Jeannie* as the most powerful magic regular on a TV series.)