swept away in a carnival hot air balloon that eventually comes to rest in the Canadian wilderness. The voyagers face many perils before being rescued by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Richard Simmons, star of another Jack Wrather property, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, made an appearance, while Lassie star Jon Provost performed whitewater stunts. Lassie sponsor Campbell's Soup objected to multi-part episodes, believing viewers would not want to tune in week after week to find out what happened from one segment to the next, but three of the five segments of "The Journey" hit the Nielsen top ten for the weeks in which they aired. The five segments were later edited into a feature-length film and released in August 1963 through 20th Century Fox as Lassie's Great Adventure. DVD releases The series was released to DVD between 2001–2007. Comics The TV series was adapted into a comic book by Dan Spiegle, distributed by Gold Key Comics. Reception Ratings Every year of its 17-year run on CBS, Lassie placed first in its time slot, Sunday 7:00 P.M. EST, and often ranked among the top 25 shows on television. The show's highest ranking years in the Nielsen ratings were the Martin years when the show placed #24 in 1957, #22 in 1958, #15 in 1959, #15 in 1961, #21 in 1962, #13 in 1963, and #17 in 1964. The only Martin year Lassie did not climb into the top twenty-five was 1960, when it ran opposite Walt Disney Presents on ABC and Shirley Temple Theater on NBC. However, Lassie still ran opposite Disney when the Disney anthology television series moved to NBC in 1961, and still managed to climb into the Top 25. With the advent of the Forest Service seasons, the show began a steady decline in ratings. Awards and honors (All awards listed given during the time of, or specifically related to the TV series) Two-time Emmy Award winner for Best Children's Program (1955, 1956) 1956 Peabody Award Three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Lassie – 1960, June Lockhart – 1960 for television, Jon Provost – 1994) 1967 U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Award (awarded to Lassie for promoting conservation during the series' Forest Service era) Timmy Martin's shirt, jeans, and Keds displayed at the Smithsonian Institution Cultural impact In 1960, the Lassie character became one of only three live canine characters to receive a star on