He is afraid. He is alone. He is three million light years from home... Steven Spielberg had brought the friendly extra-terrestrial to the theatres worldwide ? in the avatar of the three-ft-tall loveable alien E.T.

Satyajit Ray had also conceived of a similar friend from the outer world (even before Spielberg did), called The Alien. But the film never got made.

It took 21 years after ET for the creature to land in India via Rakesh Roshan?s Koi? Mil Gaya. Now cashing in on the magic that Jadoo, Hrithik Roshan?s guest from another galaxy, spelt at the box-office, two television serials have been made. The friendly extra-terrestrial from across light years is finally reaching our homes.

The first to meet the audience was Chi on Zee TV (picture above), on weekdays at 7 pm. Chi did not alight from a spaceship but was born from an egg. The egg was found by a boy on the bank of a river in Dalhousie. He brought it over to Mumbai to sell it but soon the egg hatched. ?Chi can?t talk clearly. All he can pronounce of Sachin, the name of his 12-year-old friend, is Chi. That?s how he gets his own name,? explains Aswini Yardi, head of programming, Zee TV.

Jadoo himself has returned (Sunday, 12 noon), courtesy India?s first animation-cum-live action series on Nick called J Boleh to Jadoo. Though the promos feature his original buddy Hrithik Roshan himself, it is not an extension of Jadoo?s exploits on earth with Rohit. ?There is an immense curiosity about what Jadoo?s home looks like,? says Munjal Shroff, director of Graphiti Multimedia, which produces the show.

So the setting has been conceived as Tarkopar, Jadoo?s home planet. He is accompanied by a host of aliens ? his sweetheart Tona, the wise old man of the planet Half Time, young prince and Jadoo?s understudy Ki2. There is an exiled dark lord as well, Namitashak, who plans to kidnap Tona on her trip to Earth.

Chi, till now, has been at it alone ? smashing the school champion?s racquet, drawing with lipstick ? actions for which Sachin has to face the music. But producer Ratna Sinha plans to introduce a second alien in the 100th episode.

Chi owes its movements to a dwarf who acts in costume. But the eyes and ears move by means of robotics gear. Jadoo and his cronies, though, are creatures of animation. ?We showed Rakesh Roshan what all a computer-generated Jadoo could do. It was so much more than the screen counterpart that he was very impressed.?

Rumours have it that there will be no mottle-blue extra-terrestrial in the sequel to Koi? Mil Gaya. But with so much company from the outer world, Indian audiences surely would not complain.