Salad Fingers 1037668 226148293 2008-07-17T01:12:31Z 69.235.194.2 /* Episode 7 - Shore Leave */ {{Internet cartoon|image= [[Image:Salad Fingers and Horace Horsecollar.png|275px]] <br /> <small>Salad Fingers plays with Horace Horsecollar in Episode 6.| name=Salad Fingers| devise=David Firth| writer=David Firth <br>Christian Pickup (co-writer) | animator=David Firth | voice-actor=David Firth| launchdate= [[July 1]], [[2004]] | website=http://www.fat-pie.com }} '''''Salad Fingers''''' is a [[Flash cartoon]] series originally created by David Firth in July 2004<ref name="dailycampus">"[http://media.www.dailycampus.com/media/storage/paper340/news/2005/12/08/Focus/salad.Fingers.Stream.Of.Consciousness.Entertains.Viewers-1125194.shtml Salad Fingers' Stream Of Consciousness Entertains Viewers]." The Daily Campus Online Edition. December 8, 2005</ref> which gained rapid internet popularity in 2005. The [[San Francisco Chronicle]] ranked it in the "top 10" pop culture phenomena for that year.<ref name="sfgate">"[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/25/PKGM6GB3BP1.DTL 2005 In Review: Pop Culture]." The San Francisco Chronicle. December 25, 2005.</ref> ==Summary== In the [[surreal]] cartoons, the [[eponymous]] Salad Fingers inhabits a desolate, sparsely populated post-apocalyptic world in which he revels in the delightful feeling of the textures of various objects on his salad fingers (his fingers are long, green and strangely shaped). He enjoys [[rust]]y articles (especially spoons) and derives similar pleasure from experiencing pain. He appears to enjoy meeting new people, though many of his acquaintances are simply [[avatars]] (such as finger puppets including Hubert Cumberdale, Jeremy Fisher, and Marjory Stewart Baxter) for which he provides voice. On the rare occasion he hears coherent speech from another living person, he falls into a state of shock or insanity. When Salad Fingers himself speaks, his voice is generally gentle and fluid though occasionally sharp and stern, and also appears in the cartoon as animated text. The eerie music featured in the background is the tune "Beware the Friendly Stranger" by [[Boards of Canada]]. The dark music in the soundtrack that appears when Salad Fingers is scared is actually Firth playing the guitar, slowed down and reversed. Other music included in Salad Fingers episodes includes work credited to [[Brian Eno]], [[Sigur Rós]] and [[Aphex Twin]].<ref name="semantikon">"[http://www.semantikon.com/RESaladFingers.htm Interview with Salad Fingers Creator David Firth]."</ref> David Firth frequently inserts references to Aphex Twin in his flash cartoons; for example, the Aphex Twin logo can be found on the telephone in Salad Fingers [[#Episode 5 - Picnic|episode five]]. Firth has also cited the films of [[David Lynch]], [[South Park]], [[Tim Burton]], the [[League of Gentlemen]] and [[Chris Morris (satirist)|Chris Morris]] as sources of inspiration.<ref name="semantikon"/> ==Characters== [[Image:Salad Fingers and Puppet Friends.png|thumb|200px|Salad Fingers greeting his finger puppet friends. '''Left to right:''' Jeremy Fisher, Marjory Stewart-Baxter, and Hubert Cumberdale.]] ; '''Salad Fingers''' : The main character is a bald, [[Kyphosis|hunchbacked]] humanoid with light-green skin. His long, strangely-shaped fingers are his most notable feature. They were the focus of the first episode of the series, where Salad Fingers is shown deriving pleasure from rubbing various objects, particularly rusty spoons and taps. Salad Fingers appears to suffer from [[psychosis]], and is unable or unwilling to distinguish between sapient beings and inanimate objects, and is frequently found talking to various inert articles (notably his finger puppets and in two cases a human corpse). He often assigns such objects [[proper name]]s and appears to believe that they can communicate with him directly, sometimes voicing their perceived thoughts himself. He [[hermit|lives alone]] in a small shack with the number [[22 (number)|22]] on the door. His talents include playing the [[flute]] and speaking [[French language|French]]. :The name "Salad Fingers" was invented by Firth's co-writer, Christian 'Crust' Pickup, who described Firth as having salad fingers while playing the guitar.<ref name="semantikon"/> ; Hubert Cumberdale, Marjory Stewart-Baxter, and Jeremy Fisher : Finger puppets who appear variously in episodes two, three, five, six, seven and eight. They often appear in Salad Fingers's [[Fantasy|fantasies]] as life sized beings. Salad Fingers also enjoys "tasting" these puppets, claiming they taste like "soot and poo" or "sunshine dust". Salad Fingers has also referred to Jeremy Fisher as having been out fighting "The Great War". Jeremy Fisher is also a name of a frog in the Beatrix Potter books. In episode five Hubert Cumberdale is temporarily renamed Barbara Logan-Price. ; Harry/Milford Cubicle : Appearing in [[#Episode 3 - Nettles|episode three]], Cubicle is a human-like armless being who wears an apron identifying him as being employed at a "BBQ". Though his nametag reads "Harry", Salad Fingers calls him Milford Cubicle. He dies of exsanguination by banging his head on Salad Fingers' door. Salad Fingers then finds him and drags him inside his house and hangs him on a meat hook. ; Bordois : Appearing in [[#Episode 4 - Cage|episode four]], Bordois is a [[woodlouse]] which Salad Fingers accidentally kills by attempting to pet her. He refers to this bug as "little sister". Once he squishes her, he says "I shalln't play with you again until you've had a wash." ; Mable: Appearing in episode five, Mable is a young girl who goes to a picnic with Salad Fingers. She is the first character other than Salad Fingers who can communicate in [[English language|English]], and she is the first person other than Salad Fingers to actually speak&mdash; something that seems to shock and dismay Salad Fingers. When she sees Salad Fingers looking at her in dismay she says "What's wrong? Do you not like my mouth-words?" ; Kenneth : A decomposing corpse found in a hole near Salad Fingers's house in episode seven; Salad Fingers claims that it is his brother, "back from the Great War," and invites him in for dinner. ;Roger : Appearing in episode eight, Roger is a broken radio, which speaks in a robotic, aggressive manner (much like a [[Dalek]]) and scares Salad Fingers into the cupboard twice. Roger, according to Salad Fingers, must be given 'sustenance' (in the form of small brown pellets which appear to be beans or marbles). ;Horace Horsecollar : A toy horse with which Salad Fingers indulges his senses. ;Penny Pigtails : A character Salad Fingers' imagination created while hiding from Roger in the safety cupboard. Salad Fingers also ramblingly mentions he has an "old pal" named "Charlie" as well as a daughter, though neither of them are seen. It could be that neither of these characters are real, as they could be nothing more than the title character's delusions. ; Unnamed Characters : * A screeching child whom Salad Fingers visits to "enquire about his spoons" in [[#Episode 1 - Spoons|episode one]]. * A young child wearing a varsity-type jacket whom Salad Fingers accidentally cooks in an oven in [[#Episode 2 - Friends|episode two]]. * A big eyed, grotesque small boy who falls in love with Salad Fingers in episode four. ==Episodes== Each episode is 1-6 minutes long; the narratives themselves are quite surreal, and each one only follows a semblance of a story. ===Episode 1 - Spoons=== *'''Release date''': [[July 1]], [[2004]] *'''Credits''': Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth and [[Christian Pickup|Christian "Crust" Pickup]]. Music by [[Boards of Canada]] (in particular, the song "Beware the Friendly Stranger"). This episode introduces us to Salad Fingers and his love of touching rusty spoons. He explains how touching any form of rust&mdash;including spoons, a door bell panel, and a kettle&mdash;stimulates him ("''The feeling of rust against my salad fingers is almost [[Orgasm|orgasmic]]''"), and that he holds a particular love of spoons. Salad Fingers walks to the house of a strange young boy to see if he has any rusty spoons; the child screeches two times, at which point Salad Fingers leaves, after asking to caress a rusty kettle that is on a table beside him. === Episode 2 - Friends === *'''Release date''': [[July 15]], [[2004]] *'''Credits''': Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth and Christian "Crust" Pickup. Music by [[Boards of Canada]] and David Firth. Salad Fingers has a get-together with his "friends"&mdash;finger puppets&mdash;whom Salad Fingers introduces as Hubert Cumberdale, Marjory Stewart-Baxter and Jeremy Fisher. He appears to believe that his "friends" are real, living beings. Wondering what his friends taste like, he briefly inserts them into his mouth, exclaiming that Marjory Stewart-Baxter tastes like "sunshine dust", while Hubert Cumberdale tastes like "soot and poo". Salad Fingers then tells them that he has a fish cooking in the oven and speaks a nonsensical phrase in French: "Alors. Habille-la. Comment t'appelles tu? Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?." This roughly translates to, "So then. Dress it. What's your name? What's the matter?" In the next scene, a frightened child responds to Salad Fingers's call for help. Salad Fingers cannot reach the [[fish]] cooking in his oven and asks the child to get it for him. As the child reaches into the oven, Salad Fingers sees a rusty nail jutting out of the wall reaches to stroke it, causing the oven door to close and trap the child inside. Salad Fingers then impales his finger on the spike and begins bleeding. Salad Fingers pales and passes out. Apparently dreaming, Salad Fingers walks through a large [[meat locker]] singing [[Somewhere Over the Rainbow]] to himself. While inside, he meets a full-size Hubert Cumberdale, who screams distorted electronic noises at him. When Salad Fingers awakens, the oven smokes and oozes, the child forgotten inside as Salad Fingers states, "That fish smells about done." ===Episode 3 - Nettles=== *'''Release date''': [[August 1]], [[2004]] *'''Credits''': Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth and Christian "Crust" Pickup. Music by [[Boards of Canada]], Brian Eno and a yoga flute. Salad Fingers is playing with [[Stinging nettle|nettles]] and has irritated blisters all over his hands. He then comes across an empty [[baby carriage]], which he calls a "nettle carrier" and then leaves with it. An armless man wearing an apron labeled "BBQ" appears and chases after Salad Fingers, screaming unintelligibly. Salad Fingers is sitting on the floor at his home and brushing the nettle over his nipple, which makes "the milk drop out from inside my teat!", when the armless man runs to Salad Fingers' house and begins to bang his head on the door. Eventually, Salad Fingers comes outside and finds the man bloody and unconscious (or possibly dead). He names the man "Milford Cubicle", ignoring the man's name tag reading "Harry". Salad Fingers then drags Milford inside and hangs him on a meat hook on the wall, offering him a "warm glass of milk" which can be assumed to have come from Salad Fingers' "teat". ===Episode 4 - Cage=== [[Image:Hydrocephalic.PNG|thumb|200px|The boy who falls in love with Salad Fingers.]] *'''Release date''': [[August 20]], [[2004]] *'''Credits''': Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth, Christian "Crust" Pickup, and Jimi Mwng. Additional character design by Jimi Mwng. Music by [[Boards of Canada]], [[Aphex Twin]] and David Firth. Salad Fingers wears a [[beret]] and declares that he is going to try and find [[France]]. However, he is frightened by a mutated boy with disproportionately large eyeballs that has been "watching him for a while". Salad Fingers becomes uncomfortable with the child's proximity and begins to leave. The boy, who speaks only in growls and grunts, approaches Salad Fingers, having apparently fallen in love with him. Inside his house, Salad Fingers hears a knock on the door, which he opens to find a "grubby tap" attached to a string on the ground. Salad Fingers becomes excited about this "gift" and begins to fantasize about taps. He attempts to fetch it, but it is drawn away on the string as bait. He is caught in a [[Trapping (Animal)#Foothold traps or Leghold traps|bear trap]] which causes him to lose blood and consciousness while savoring the pain blissfully. He wakes up in a cage, and enjoys rubbing the rusted bars. The grotesque boy approaches the cage and holds out a ring (on which is mounted a human tooth) as if proposing marriage. Salad Fingers becomes distraught, states "I don't like this game", then pulls a curtain down over the window of the cage. When the curtain lifts, the boy, seeing that Salad Fingers has disappeared, begins to cry. The episode closes with Salad Fingers, wearing his beret, flying away gleefully on a giant tap. ===Episode 5 - Picnic=== *'''Release date''': [[November 25]], [[2004]] *'''Credits''': Designed, animated, voiced and written by [[David Firth]]. Additional writing and the voice of Mable by Christian "Crust" Pickup. Music by [[Boards of Canada]], [[Aphex Twin]] and [[David Firth]]. Salad Fingers talks to an apparently broken and disconnected phone, asking the [[telephone operator|operator]] to connect him to his "old pal Charlie" so he can invite him to a picnic. Whilst describing the picnic fare, Salad Fingers rubs his stomach in hunger, then claims to have been rudely disconnected. In the next scene, Salad Fingers wears a [[wedding dress|bridal train]] and talks to himself in a mirror, declaring "You look so beautiful". He then goes outside for his picnic, which is attended by a strange crow (which appears in other David Firth cartoons) and a little girl with scars on her face, a filthy, stained pink dress, and orange hair. Salad Fingers asks the orange-haired girl a question and answers it for her (as he seems to think that only he can speak), ending with "replied Mable". Salad Fingers calls her his new playmate and compliments her on her dress, and as he does this, Marjory Stewart-Baxter is seen in the window, jealous. Salad Fingers offers "Mable" some "[[Pease Pudding]]", which he feeds to her with a grotesque, rusty spoon. The crow then swoops down and steals Salad Fingers's spoon. The little girl giggles and says that the crow must like spoons too. The shock of the girl speaking to him in English and not via Salad Finger's own voice drives Salad Fingers to temporary insanity, hallucinating, hearing screeching, distorted noises, and seeing the girl (complete with empty eye sockets) saying, "What's wrong, Mr. Fingers? Do you not like my mouth-words?" ===Episode 6 - Present=== [[Image:Salad Fingers Teeth 2.png|thumb|300px|Salad Fingers' [[tooth|teeth]] often have alphabetical characters drawn on them. In some frames there are other characters (eg. "j") or even [[Smiley|smilies]].]] *'''Release date''': [[July 24]], [[2005]] *'''Credits''': Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth and Christian "Crust" Pickup. Music by [[Boards of Canada]], [[Chris Gladwin]] and [[David Firth]]. The episode begins with Salad Fingers walking about his house. He sees Hubert Cumberdale on top of a cupboard, and instructs the finger puppet to come down at once. Hubert turns into a black, viscous fluid and oozes down the cupboard. A [[silhouette]] is then seen walking through the house and Salad Fingers asks if somebody is there; it is, in fact, the Jeremy Fisher puppet on his finger. Salad Fingers remarks that he thought Jeremy was out "fighting the Great War". (This may be a clue as to why Salad Fingers' world is very barren and post-apocalytic.) Another perspective shot shows Jeremy Fisher (now with arms) handing Salad Fingers a toy horse. Salad Fingers is pleased with the [[Gift|present]], and remarks on the pleasing texture of the toy. He then eats Jeremy Fisher and plays with the toy horse while making "neigh" sounds. He walks outside with it and goes to an abandoned [[toilet]] which he starts having a conversation with. Suddenly, the mood changes and the music becomes sinister; he grows concerned and he begins defending himself, saying "You've got the wrong bloke, [[squire]]." He then flushes the toilet to "wash those bad thoughts away". Upon arriving home, Salad Fingers gasps and sees himself sitting inside. The Salad Fingers inside appears to be [[hallucination|hallucinating]], seeing the "outside" Salad Fingers as a life-size Jeremy Fisher. The "inside" Salad Fingers speaks in a slightly different voice and also has rougher text showing what he is saying. The conversation starts off just like the earlier one with Jeremy Fisher, but goes on to include accusations that Jeremy Fisher has been "tailgating [his] daughter with aspirations of [[Virginity#Loss of virginity|deflowering her rose]]". This appears to be the other "side" of the conversation Salad Fingers had into the toilet. The inside Salad Fingers is now seen with the Jeremy Fisher finger puppet. Salad Fingers remarks that he never did "sample the delights of your flavor", and begins putting the finger-puppet in his mouth, but the scene quickly changes to a bloody scene of the "inside" Salad Fingers eating the "outside" Salad Fingers' head/brains. The episode ends abruptly. ===Episode 7 - Shore Leave=== *'''Release date''': [[January 28]], [[2006]] *'''Credits''': Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth, Christian Pickup and Jimi Mwng. Music by [[Boards of Canada]], [[Chris Gladwin]] and [[Brian Eno]]. As Salad Fingers is digging holes outside with his finger puppets, occasionally tasting the sand (which he calls "floor sugar"), he finds the decomposing torso of an old [[Dead body|corpse]]. Salad Fingers immediately "recognizes" the cadaver as "Kenneth," his "younger brother" who is back from the previously mentioned "Great War" on shore leave. Salad Fingers pulls the gruesome, dismembered corpse out of the hole, saying it was rude of him to leave for the "the Great War" without him, but promises to draw him a hot [[bathing|bath]]. The next scene shows Salad Fingers turning a [[cog]] which pulls a clothesline, drawing Kenneth out of a wardrobe, now dressed in a white [[suit (clothes)|suit]]. He starts to talk about life with the women of the great war. Salad Fingers has prepared a dinner of [[sand]] for his guest, saying "I&mdash;hope you like... ''SAND''". Salad Fingers tells Kenneth of his life, keeping busy with "every shift I can... [and] sing[ing] at all the functions". There is a [[Flashback (literary technique)|flashback]] in which Salad Fingers measures the distance from his door to a tree named "Mr. Branches" with a [[Surveyor's wheel|clickwheel]] and subsequently teases it for its slow movement. It is now evening, and Salad Fingers is with Kenneth outside near the same hole he found him in. He cries over the fact that Kenneth has to go "back to the [[trench warfare|ghastly trenches]]," suggesting that the "Great War" may be a reference to World War I (as World War I was once called the "Great War," before the second World War). He [[salute]]s Kenneth and sings "[[We'll Meet Again (song)|We'll Meet Again]]" for him. He then kicks Kenneth back into the hole. A dream-like sequence follows in which Salad Fingers sings the same song, in a white dress, on a stage in front of an audience of a [[theatre]]. After singing a few strains, he complains to the pianist - who is shown as the [[silhouette]] of a [[marionette]], with strings attached - that the key is wrong, walks off the stage, and the screen fades to black. ===Episode 8 - Cupboard=== *'''Release date''': [[September 22]], [[2007]] *'''Credits''': Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth and Christian "Crust" Pickup. Music by [[Boards of Canada]], [[Lustmord]] and dyzv0r Salad Fingers is sitting in his armchair, trying to tune his radio, which he calls "Roger." After feeding Roger his "sustenance" (which seems to be marbles or rocks), it begins to emit a strange, piercing frequency. He decides to wait out the tormenting event in his "safety cupboard." When in the cupboard, Salad begins to converse with his hands. One hand enacts "Penny Pigtails," the other a market vendor. After being refused her purchase of [[raspberry]] [[jam]], Penny Pigtails discovers a long strand of hair, which Salad rubs over his eyeball, apparently causing him great pleasure. He then leaves the cupboard and tapes it to a wall to form a "quintette" with four other hairs he has collected. Next, he goes to bed with the Hubert Cumberdale puppet. Before going to sleep, Salad sings "Three in the Bed," and instructs Hubert Cumberdale to "roll over"; as a result, the finger puppet is sent off the bed into a bowl of a filthy, brown substance (likely a [[chamberpot]]). Salad Fingers orders Hubert Cumberdale to clean himself up as he doesn't want any "dirty immigrants" in his house. Later that night, the radio begins to emit strange sounds again. Salad Fingers approaches it warily and threatens Roger with expulsion from the house. The radio replies it was rude of Salad to take his hair. The radio speaks in a static voice, instructing Salad to return its hair, as well as to tidy the house. Salad declares that he shan't, on the grounds that it isn't "his turn" and that it is an extremely unpleasant job. The radio continues to torment him, causing him to eat all of the hairs from his quintette, tape and all, and return to his cupboard in tears. ==References== {{reflist}} *http://www.wickedlocal.com/watertown/homepage/8998915803579416575 *http://www.wirenh.com/Features/Cover_Stories/Flash_nation_20050309321.html ==See also== *[[Newgrounds]] *[[Men from Up the Stairs]] *[[David Firth]] *[[Adobe Flash]] ==External links== ===Episodes=== *[http://www.fat-pie.com/salad.htm ''Salad Fingers'' episode 1 - ''Spoons''] *[http://www.fat-pie.com/salad2.htm ''Salad Fingers'' episode 2 - ''Friends''] *[http://www.fat-pie.com/salad3.htm ''Salad Fingers'' episode 3 - ''Nettles''] *[http://www.fat-pie.com/salad4.htm ''Salad Fingers'' episode 4 - ''Cage''] *[http://www.fat-pie.com/salad5.htm ''Salad Fingers'' episode 5 - ''Picnic''] *[http://www.fat-pie.com/salad6.htm ''Salad Fingers'' episode 6 - ''Present''] *[http://www.fat-pie.com/salad7.htm ''Salad Fingers'' episode 7 - ''Shore Leave''] *[http://www.fat-pie.com/salad8.htm ''Salad Fingers'' episode 8 - ''Cupboard''] ===David Firth=== *[http://www.fat-pie.com Creator's homepage] *[http://www.semantikon.com/RESaladFingers.htm Interview with David Firth] *[http://www.burntfaceman.com ''Burnt Face Man''] - Another cartoon written by David Firth [[Category:Lists of flash cartoon episodes|Salad Fingers]] [[Category:Flash cartoons]] [[Category:Fictional characters with mental illness]] [[Category:Fictional hermits]] [[Category:Fictional monsters]] [[de:Salad Fingers]] [[et:Salad Fingers]] [[fr:Salad Fingers]] [[it:Salad Fingers]] [[no:Salad Fingers]] [[pl:Salad Fingers]] [[fi:Salad Fingers]] [[sv:David Firth]]