TV REVIEWS : ‘Geographic’ Goes Under

“National Geographic” opens its new season tonight with its head in the ground--way, way down in the ground.

“Mysteries Underground” (8 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPBS-TV Channel 15, 7 p.m. on KVCR-TV Channel 24) is a fascinating, if somewhat disjointed, look at caves and the people who love them. The program was written and produced by Lionel Friedberg and is narrated by Richard Kiley.

Friedberg’s cameras and crew traveled from New Mexico to Kentucky, from Austria to Florida, to capture footage of the world beneath our feet. While the program jumps around with little transition, the pictures are all in the “National Geographic” tradition and all a bit awe-inspiring.

Along the way, we hear the tragic story of Floyd Collins, a Kentucky caver who became trapped 150 feet deep in a narrow crevasse in January, 1925, and an amusing tale of more modern Kentucky cavers’ long attempts to link Mammoth Cave with the huge Flint Ridge Cave--sort of the Holy Grail of caving.

We also get to visit the giant Lechuguilla cave in New Mexico. Discovered only in 1986, the cave is 60 miles long, 1,600 feet deep and is decorated with spectacular mineral formations.

There are also some interesting characters: Leah Brown is, at the age of 9, a champion rappeller from Alabama; her climbing companion is 64-year-old Avis Van Swearingen. And then there are eyeless fish and bats by the hundreds of thousands. An intriguing place, this under world.