diff --git a/e107_handlers/e107_class.php b/e107_handlers/e107_class.php
index 61dc1b2e9..c23464c0d 100644
--- a/e107_handlers/e107_class.php
+++ b/e107_handlers/e107_class.php
@@ -2743,7 +2743,7 @@ class e107
 		$path = self::coreTemplatePath($id, $override);
 		$id = str_replace('/', '_', $id);
 		$ret = self::_getTemplate($id, $key, $reg_path, $path, $info);
-		
+
 		### Attempt to fix merge issues; in case we override - template array not found in theme, 
 		### so we need to continue and merge with core templates
 		if($merge && $override && empty($ret))
@@ -2751,7 +2751,7 @@ class e107
 			$ret = array();
 		}
 		
-		if((!$merge && !$override) || is_string($ret)) 
+		if((!$merge && !$override) || is_string($ret))
 		{
 			 return $ret;
 		}
@@ -2762,7 +2762,7 @@ class e107
 		$id = str_replace('/', '_', $id);
         // Introducing noWrapper when merging
 		$ret_core = self::_getTemplate($id, $key, $reg_path, $path, $info, true);
-		
+
 		return (is_array($ret_core) ? array_merge($ret_core, $ret) : $ret);
 	}
 
@@ -2812,22 +2812,30 @@ class e107
 		
 		$id = str_replace('/', '_', $id);
 		$ret = self::_getTemplate($id, $key, $reg_path, $path, $info);
-		if(!$merge || !$override || !is_array($ret))
+
+		if($merge === false || $override === false)
 		{
-			return $ret;
+			return ($ret === false) ? '' : $ret;
 		}
 
 		// merge
 		$reg_path = 'plugin/'.$plug_name.'/templates/'.$id;
 		$path = self::templatePath($plug_name, $id, false);
-		
-	
-		
-		
+
 		$id = str_replace('/', '_', $id);
         // Introduced noWrapper when merging
 		$ret_plug = self::_getTemplate($id, $key, $reg_path, $path, $info, true);
 
+		if($merge === true && $key !== null && $ret === false) // key not set, so send 'core' version instead.
+		{
+			return $ret_plug;
+		}
+
+		if($ret === false)
+		{
+			return '';
+		}
+
 		return (is_array($ret_plug) ? array_merge($ret_plug, $ret) : $ret);
 	}
 	
@@ -3041,12 +3049,13 @@ class e107
 		}
 
 		$ret = (!$info ? self::getRegistry($regPath) : self::getRegistry($regPathInfo));
+
 		if(!$key)
 		{
 			return $ret;
 		}
 			
-		return ($ret && is_array($ret) && isset($ret[$key]) ? $ret[$key] : '');
+		return ($ret && is_array($ret) && isset($ret[$key]) ? $ret[$key] : false);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/e107_plugins/news/news_archive_menu.php b/e107_plugins/news/news_archive_menu.php
index a9d56a59c..5bfa50169 100644
--- a/e107_plugins/news/news_archive_menu.php
+++ b/e107_plugins/news/news_archive_menu.php
@@ -29,7 +29,12 @@ foreach($tmp as $id => $val)
 	// e107::getDebug()->log($val);
 }
 
-$template = e107::getTemplate('news', 'news_menu', 'archive');      
+$template = e107::getTemplate('news', 'news_menu', 'archive',true, true);
+
+if(ADMIN && empty($template))
+{
+	$text = "Missing Template. Check that your theme's news_menu_template.php file contains an 'archive' template. ";
+}
   
 foreach($arr as $year=>$val)
 {
@@ -80,10 +85,10 @@ foreach($arr as $year=>$val)
 			foreach($items as $row)
 			{
 				$url = e107::getUrl()->create('news/view/item', $row, array('allow' => 'news_sef,news_title,news_id,category_sef,category_name,category_id'));
-        $var = array('ITEM_URL'   => $url,
-                     'ITEM_TITLE' => $tp->toHtml($row['news_title'],false,'TITLE'),
-        );      
-        $text .=  $tp->simpleParse($template['item'], $var);
+		        $var = array('ITEM_URL'   => $url,
+		                     'ITEM_TITLE' => $tp->toHtml($row['news_title'],false,'TITLE'),
+		        );
+		        $text .=  $tp->simpleParse($template['item'], $var);
 			}
 			$text .= $template['month_end'];
 		}
diff --git a/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_menu_template.php b/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_menu_template.php
index b484864bd..408461196 100644
--- a/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_menu_template.php
+++ b/e107_plugins/news/templates/news_menu_template.php
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ $NEWS_MENU_TEMPLATE['archive']['year_start']        = "<li>
 $NEWS_MENU_TEMPLATE['archive']['year_end']        = '</ul></li>';
 
 $NEWS_MENU_TEMPLATE['archive']['month_start']        = "<li>
- <a class='e-expandit' href='#{MONTH_ID}'>{MONTH_NAME}<span class='badge'>{MONTH_COUNT}</span></a>
+ <a class='e-expandit' href='#{MONTH_ID}'>{MONTH_NAME}</a>
  <ul id='{MONTH_ID}' class='news-archive-menu-items' style='display:none'>
  ";
 $NEWS_MENU_TEMPLATE['archive']['month_end']        = '</ul></li>';