diff --git a/src/Plots.jl b/src/Plots.jl
index 29b8574e..66d0d779 100644
--- a/src/Plots.jl
+++ b/src/Plots.jl
@@ -125,12 +125,28 @@ annotate!(plt::Plot, anns)                            = plot!(plt; annotation =
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------
 
+
+defaultOutputFormat(plt::PlottingObject) = "png"
+
+function png(plt::PlottingObject, fn::AbstractString)
+  fn = addExtension(fn, "png")
+  io = open(fn, "w")
+  writemime(io, MIME("image/png"), plt)
+  close(io)
+end
+png(fn::AbstractString) = png(current(), fn)
+
+
+const _savemap = Dict(
+    "png" => png,
+  )
+
 function getExtension(fn::AbstractString)
   pieces = split(fn, ".")
-  if length(pieces) < 2
-    error("Can't extract file extension: ", fn)
-  end
-  pieces[end]
+  length(pieces) > 1 || error("Can't extract file extension: ", fn)
+  ext = pieces[end]
+  haskey(_savemap, ext) || error("Invalid file extension: ", fn)
+  ext
 end
 
 function addExtension(fn::AbstractString, ext::AbstractString)
@@ -146,22 +162,19 @@ function addExtension(fn::AbstractString, ext::AbstractString)
   end
 end
 
-
-function png(plt::PlottingObject, fn::AbstractString)
-  fn = addExtension(fn, "png")
-  io = open(fn, "w")
-  writemime(io, MIME("image/png"), plt)
-  close(io)
-end
-png(fn::AbstractString) = png(current(), fn)
-
-
-const _savemap = Dict(
-    "png" => png,
-  )
-
 function savefig(plt::PlottingObject, fn::AbstractString)
-  ext = getExtension(fn)
+  
+  # get the extension
+  local ext
+  try
+    ext = getExtension(fn)
+  catch
+    # if we couldn't extract the extension, add the default
+    ext = defaultOutputFormat(plt)
+    fn = addExtension(fn, ext)
+  end
+
+  # save it
   func = get(_savemap, ext) do
     error("Unsupported extension $ext with filename ", fn)
   end
diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index c92af45f..b982ce5d 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -351,6 +351,12 @@ function getPlotArgs(pkg::PlottingPackage, kw, idx::Int)
       d[k] = _plotDefaults[k]
     end
   end
+  
+  for k in (:xscale, :yscale)
+    if haskey(_scaleAliases, d[k])
+      d[k] = _scaleAliases[d[k]]
+    end
+  end
 
   # convert color
   handlePlotColors(pkg, d)
@@ -386,12 +392,6 @@ function getSeriesArgs(pkg::PlottingPackage, initargs::Dict, kw, commandIndex::I
     d[:linetype] = _typeAliases[d[:linetype]]
   end
 
-  for k in (:xscale, :yscale)
-    if haskey(_scaleAliases, d[k])
-      d[k] = _scaleAliases[d[k]]
-    end
-  end
-
   aliasesAndAutopick(d, :axis, _axesAliases, supportedAxes(pkg), plotIndex)
   aliasesAndAutopick(d, :linestyle, _styleAliases, supportedStyles(pkg), plotIndex)
   aliasesAndAutopick(d, :marker, _markerAliases, supportedMarkers(pkg), plotIndex)
diff --git a/src/backends/gadfly.jl b/src/backends/gadfly.jl
index 28d38d1b..d2e3837b 100644
--- a/src/backends/gadfly.jl
+++ b/src/backends/gadfly.jl
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ function addGadflyLimitsScale(gplt, d::Dict, isx::Bool)
 
   # get the correct scale function
   gfunc, hasScaleKey = getGadflyScaleFunction(d, isx)
-  @show d gfunc hasScaleKey
+  # @show d gfunc hasScaleKey
 
   # do we want to add min/max limits for the axis?
   limsym = isx ? :xlims : :ylims
@@ -375,14 +375,14 @@ function addGadflyLimitsScale(gplt, d::Dict, isx::Bool)
       error("Invalid input for $(isx ? "xlims" : "ylims"): ", lims)
     end
   end
-  @show limargs
+  # @show limargs
 
   # replace any current scales with this one
   if hasScaleKey || !isempty(limargs)
     filterGadflyScale(gplt, isx)
     push!(gplt.scales, gfunc(; limargs...))
   end
-  @show gplt.scales
+  # @show gplt.scales
   return
 end
 
diff --git a/src/plot.jl b/src/plot.jl
index a4c3c063..34f574aa 100644
--- a/src/plot.jl
+++ b/src/plot.jl
@@ -60,8 +60,14 @@ end
 
 
 
-# this adds to the current plot
+# this adds to the current plot, or creates a new plot if none are current
 function  plot!(args...; kw...)
+  local plt
+  try
+    plt = current()
+  catch
+    return plot(args...; kw...)
+  end
   plot!(current(), args...; kw...)
 end