Just stay out of the path of the lava

Volcano Hunters

National Geographic Channel

“Extreme Planet,” Thursday, 7 p.m.;

Feb. 19, 5 p.m.

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How steamy a relationship do volcanoes have with the moon? How many bad volcano puns can you count in an hour? And how did volcano experts come to be called “volcano commandos”? These are just some of the explosive issues in this production, which puts the contentious “Earth-tides theory” (are volcano eruptions influenced by lunar gravitational forces?) to the ultimate test on the lava-rich Italian isle of Stromboli.

The expedition, led by astronomer and maverick volcano chaser Steve O’Meara and his equally jazzed spouse, Donna (think Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin and wife Terry), is a daring two-week camping trip near Stromboli’s fiery summit to study one of the world’s most active craters around the clock and possibly uncover clues that could advance the cause of quake prediction.

We see the intrepid team survive noxious gases, lightning storms, the inevitable “group tensions” and hair-raising mishaps. Viewers survive slick voice-overs, the usual re-creations, lines like “It’s day 12, and I feel like I’ve been through a nuclear holocaust” and a lingering suspicion that, even on a live volcano, fieldwork is still fieldwork.

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Jordan Rane