The series focuses on three young recruits of the city’s emergency departments- Max the police-monkey, Elphie the firefighting elephant, and Ted the kind young bear (who resembles a certain kind of toy, no points for guessing which one). Other important characters include Martin and Mia, two human children who are usually sensible but sometimes don’t know better, and Jumpi, an impulsive young rabbit who always seems to be getting into scrapes.
In 2011, the series received a thirty-minute Christmas Special called “The Father Christmas Mix-Up” (or “Jul i Vennebyen”).
Tropes in City of Friends include:
- Alliterative Name:
- Animals: Max the Monkey
- Vehicles: Petey the Police Car, Frankie the Fire Engine, Abby the Ambulance, Hayley the Helicopter, Bonnie the Boat, and Topher the Train.
- Alliterative Title: The show’s Hungarian dub is called “Szirénázó szupercsapat”, additionally, one episode is called “Bobby and Barney’s Band”.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: “Beware of the Yeti” sees Martin and Mia becoming convinced that one of these is around after seeming some giant footprints in the snow.
- Birthday Episode: “Congratulations, Frankie”. No points for guessing who’s birthday it is.
- Camping Episode: “Max’s Mercy Ride” has Max, Martin, and Mia going on a camping trip… only for Jumpi to show up and his antics to send their tent tumbling down the mountain.
- Cat Up a Tree: “Jumpi to the Rescue” has the crew being called out to get Tina’s kitten out of a tree.
- Character Action Title: The episode “Ted Forgets the Bandages” has one.
- Circus Episode: A visiting circus is an important plot point in “Elphie Get Your Bun”.
- Cold Snap: Though the show usually subscribes to It's Always Spring, a handful of episodes in the fourth season take place during the winter.
- A Dog Named "Dog": In the show’s original Norwegian, Max’s name is simply the Norwegian word for “monkey”.
- Epunymous Title: The pun in “Max to the Max” is fairly self-explanatory.
- Expository Theme Tune: The theme song covers how nice and happy everyone in the City of Friends is, along with doing a brief overview of the rescue team.
- Fishing Episode: “Gone Fishin’” has Martin and Mia going fishing, only for their boat to end up tangled in an old fishing net.
- Furry Confusion: For all the anthropomorphic animals that are seen in the series, a few “normal” animals still pop up- like Timba the police dog.
- Inventional Wisdom: One episode reveals that Jim the digger has an “overdrive” button; pushing it sends him driving around wildly, barely able to control himself.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: For some reason, the City of Friends is inhabited by Funny Animals, Sentient Vehicles… and regular humans.
- Location Title: The series is named after the city it takes place in.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": Main characters include Elphie the elephant and Jumpi the rabbit.
- One-Word Title: The episodes “Litterbug” and “Fluffy” both have one.
- Questioning Title?: “Where’s Scoot?” has one.
- Pun-Based Title: A few episodes have one: “Flat Out” (involving all of the rescue vehicles getting flat tires), “The Case of the Missing Case” (where Hayley accidentally takes Barney’s suitcase), “Winter Blunderland”, and “Snow Trouble”.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: “Clear the Line” has Abby the ambulance breaking down right on a railroad crossing; Martin, Mia, and Jumpi have go get the train (given the show, he’s alive and named Tofer) to stop before he hits her.
- Running Gag: Throughout the series, Max constantly manages to lose Haley’s keys.
- Sentient Vehicle: A good chunk of the main cast is comprised of sentient rescue vehicles, with a few more living vehicles appearing as episodic or background characters; all living vehicles can drive themselves but are unable to override anyone using their controls.
- Sick Episode: “Winter Blunderland” has a subplot involving Elphie being too sick to work, forcing Barney and Tom to fight a warehouse fire without her.
- Theme Tune Roll Call: Oddly, the theme song introduces the names of the vehicle characters, but none of the Funny Animal or human ones, despite the vehicles being secondary protagonists at best.
- Title Theme Tune: Welcome to the City of Friends!
- Twin Theme Naming: The chief of the fire department and chief of police are a pair of twins named Barney and Bobby.
- The Unintelligible: Scoot, Max’s police scooter, for whatever reason speaks in siren noises only.
- Unnamed Parent: Neither of Martin and Mia’s parents seem to have a name; even the credits only list them as “Mum” and “Dad”.