Spring Is Late in Nutwood. See, the Imp of Spring assigned to the area is training a new apprentice, who’s sure the machine she’s invented can do the work much faster than the magic wand they always use. Also holding them up is the fact that they have to deal with their Arch-Enemy Raggety, a creature who lives in dead trees and hates all things green and growing. Rupert, naturally, just sees someone who needs a friend, but his efforts to make one this time keep making things worse for everyone who just wants spring to arrive on time.
The first of very few adventures where Rupert has no sidekick.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Apprentice: Briar, who thinks there are better, safer, faster ways to do the job than the way it’s been done forever.
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Green, growing, blossoming plant life physically hurts Raggety. You can’t blame him too much for hating it.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: After Rupert saves his life, Raggety rushes into danger to save him.
- Both Sides Have a Point: The Imps hate Raggety because “every time he moves into a tree, he kills it,” which they destroy and replace. Raggety hates them because they keep destroying his homes.
- Explosive Instrumentation: Briar’s Spring Machine.
- Fantastically Indifferent: Rupert doesn’t act as if there’s anything odd or surprising about running into Imps of Spring in the forest. Since he’s perfectly capable of showing surprise when he meets supernatural beings like leprechauns or flying carpets for the first time, he’s clearly met their kind before.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Rupert is trying to help the Imps retrieve the Staff of Spring before it’s destroyed by fire. When Raggety is about to be burned alive, too, Rupert doesn’t hesitate to abandon the Staff (supposedly the only means of bringing back spring) to save him.
- "Just So" Story: Is the weather crazy in your hometown? Does it feel like December one day and June the next? You must have an Imp of Spring in your area having trouble with their machine!
- MacGuffin: Everybody’s after the Staff of Spring!
- Magic Wand: The Staff of Spring. It’s how the Imps switch the flora from winter to spring one bush or tree at a time.
- Magitek: An Imp of Spring invents a Spring Machine to instantly transition a given area from winter to spring. Note that the previous method of doing this was 100% magic and could never be mistaken for science, and there’s a lot of friction between the previous Imp in charge of Nutwood and herself over her strange new method...
- Mentor: Aaron, who tries to teach Briar not to mess with the “old-fashioned way” of doing things.
- Painting the Frost on Windows: The Imps of Spring are responsible for transitioning items of nature from their winter to spring state.
- Shaped Like Itself: One of Rupert’s attempts to explain what a friend is to Raggety is that a friend is someone who’s “friendly.” Yeah, it doesn’t help.
- What Is This Thing You Call Friendship?: Raggety’s never even heard the word “friend” before. Rupert finds himself stumped when he can’t explain it. Raggety doesn’t understand the concept until Rupert sacrifices the Staff of Spring to save his life.
