The animated series ended in 1974. This was before my time, so pure speculation, but Star Trek was likely still in the minds of kids of the appropriate age for the toy.
They were going through a few different movie scripts at the time. Interestingly, a rejected one was about a black hole that threatened to consume reality, not dissimilar to the prime timeline part of '09.
Early pre-production for the first movie started that year. Might have been to build hype.
The animated series ended in 1974. This was before my time, so pure speculation, but Star Trek was likely still in the minds of kids of the appropriate age for the toy.
Was it pre-production for the movie or were they still working on the Star Trek II TV series at that point?
They were going through a few different movie scripts at the time. Interestingly, a rejected one was about a black hole that threatened to consume reality, not dissimilar to the prime timeline part of '09.
When did they stop work on the TV series?
Phase 2 production attempts actually only lasted a year or two right before filming on TMP started.