diff --git a/pyglance/glance/gui_figuremanager.py b/pyglance/glance/gui_figuremanager.py
index d45eab8c4131929f699b5c4c87ef97b00572e90a..4c793581b0d1d5b6e7a579bf764b16a228b86ef9 100644
--- a/pyglance/glance/gui_figuremanager.py
+++ b/pyglance/glance/gui_figuremanager.py
@@ -465,6 +465,13 @@ class GlanceGUIFigures (object) :
                 raise ValueError(NO_DATA_MESSAGE)
             
             if dataForm == SIMPLE_2D :
+
+                # double check that our data is a shape we can handle for this type of plot
+                if len(data_object_to_use.data.shape) != 2 :
+                    raise ValueError("Two dimensional data is required for this plot type. "
+                                     "The provided variable data is "
+                                     + str(data_object_to_use.data.shape) + " shaped.")
+
                 if plotAsRGB :
                     figures.create_raw_image_plot(data_object_to_use.data, "RGB image in File " + file_char_to_use)
                 else :