I just noticed the production version (v2013b_10) fails to copy the plot elements down:
- plot http://www.rbsp-ect.lanl.gov/data_pub/rbspb/rept/level2/rbspb_rel02_ect-rept-sci-L2_20120916_v3.0.0.cdf?FPDU
- right-click, add plot, copy plot elements down
This results in an empty plot with no active renderers.