'Tis the season to watch A Christmas Story over and over and over again. But even if you watch the full 24-hour annual marathons, you might have missed this tidbit in the credits: two actors are credited as playing Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless. That's because the movie was originally supposed to feature a fantasy sequence with Ralphie and his Red Ryder on the planet Mongo.


The site for the A Christmas Story House & Museum has script pages from all of the deleted scenes, including a sequence in which Ralphie and Flash Gordon battle Ming the Merciless. Ralphie is reading a Flash Gordon comic book when he starts thinking about that coveted Red Ryder again, and he imagines using the BB gun to battle the terrible despot. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any video from the sequence online, just the script pages and a photo of Ralphie in his retrofuturistic space suit (also from the museum site). Sure beats those pink bunny pajamas.

The first two pages outlining the scene are below, and you can read the rest at the museum site.


Deleted Scenes [A Christmas Story House & Museum via The FW]