To the Moon and Back

Peterchens Mondfahrt (Little Peter’s Journey to the Moon/Peter and Anneli’s Journey to the Moon/Peter in Magicland) is one of the most popular German stage productions for children. It depicts the adventurous journey of two siblings and an anthropomorphized cockchafer to the moon, where the companions hope to regain the beetle’s sixth leg. The play premièred in 1911; the script was first published in 1912. Since then, the story has undergone many transformations. Sometimes the whole story was adapted into a different medium, while at other times only single narremes were transformed. This article explores the transformations of Peterchens Mondfahrt published, shown or broadcast between 1911 and 1945. It raises the question how the different versions of Peterchens Mondfahrt are linked to each other. In doing so, it examines different possibilities of describing these connections and questions the applicability of existing terminologies such as media network (Medienverbund), multimedia franchise, commercial supersystem and rhizome. As all of these might function as combining points, the article touches aspects of popularity, mediality, sensuality, economy, time and space. In the end, the article argues that already existing terms are not able to describe the connections between the different Peterchens Mondfahrt versions (Peterchens Mondfahrten) sufficiently. Thus, this text argues for a differentiated terminology and hence for a distinction between direct and indirect as well as retrospective and prospective media networks.