Ch3 TurnShape Help

I'm new at TGE scripting, so if anyone can help me with this problem, I would greatly appreciate it. I typed in the turnshape script just like it said in the book, but everytime I try to rotate, the shape disappears. I played around with it using the echo function, and got this.

My insertshape function:

function InsertTestShape()
{
	// An example function which creates a new TestShape object
	%shape = new Item(){
		datablock = TestShape;
		rotation = "0 0 1 0";  		};
	MissionCleanup.add(%shape);
	
	//Player setup
	%shape.setTransform("-90 -2 20 0 0 1 0");
	echo("Inserting Shape " @ %shape);
	[b]echo(%shape.getTransform());[/b]
	return %shape;
}

when I call this function, I get this:
Inserting Shape 1764
-90 -2 20 1 0 0 0 <====Result of %shape.getTransform() line. Note the values do not match the setTransform parameters above

So I modified the TurnShape function to this:

function TurnShape(%shape, %angle)
{
	%xfrm = %shape.getTransform();
	%lx = getword(%xfrm,0);  //first, get the current transform values
	%ly = getword(%xfrm,1);
	%lz = getword(%xfrm,2);
	%rx = getword(%xfrm,3);
	%ry = getword(%xfrm,4);
	%rz = getword(%xfrm,5);
	%angle += 1.0;
	%rd = %angle;		//set the rotation angle

	//%shape.setTransform(%lx SPC %ly SPC %lz SPC %rx SPC %ry SPC %rz SPC %rd);  //Original statement in the book

[b]	%shape.setTransform(%lx SPC %ly SPC %lz SPC "0 0 1" SPC %rd);  //New statement with hard-coded rotation axis[/b]
	echo(%shape.getTransform());

}

With the hard-coded values, the function works as intended. I also noticed that after the rotation, the 3 number set of rotation values stay at "0 0 1 x.xxxx". Weird.

Another note, when I go to the world editor inspector, the rotation value for the item is 1 0 0 0. When I go to try to change the value (say to 0 0 1 0 like in the book), it always reverts back to 1 0 0 0. I'm thinking somethin in the engine is doing this.

1. Does anyone know why the second set of 3 numbers got changed by itself upon insertion?
2. Is this why the shape disappears when I do a rotation with the original code from the book?
3. Is this an engine bug, or did I do something wrong? Any comments would be appreciated.

Sorry for the long post, I don't mean to be a smart alec, just want to share my experience with this problem and learn from any expert opinions from any veteran scriptors. Thanks