Is Star Trek V canon?

[Nyotarules]

yes it is

 

[DonIago]

There are elements of the movie which make it being canon problematic.

But chief among them is the entire of the “centre of the galaxy” thing.

But I am still one of those who finds FF an endearing movie none the less.

No, those are issues which make it inconsistent with other episodes/films, but canon and continuity are different beasts entirely.

 

[MAGolding]

There are elements of the movie which make it being canon problematic.

But chief among them is the entire of the “centre of the galaxy” thing.

But I am still one of those who finds FF an endearing movie none the less.

SYBOK: Our destination, ...the planet Sha Ka Ree. It lies beyond the Great Barrier...

[Enterprise-A brig]

SYBOK (on viewscreen): ...at the center of the Galaxy.
KIRK: The center of the Galaxy?
SPOCK: Where Sha Ka Ree is fabled to exist.
KIRK: But the center of the Galaxy can't be reached. No ship has ever gone into the Great Barrier. No probe has ever returned.

Everything in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is certainly canon. But not necessarily accurate.

The Great Barrier was not necessarily at the center of the galaxy, what is certain is that a few characters said that it was, and those few characters could be wrong. Maybe it is canonical that a few characters got the distance to the Great Barrier wrong by about 25,000 light years. Or maybe popular opinion insists that the Great Barrier is 27,000 light years from Earth but navigators know it is only 270 light years from Earth.,

Or maybe there is a mistranslation. Maybe the Great Barrier is at the center of a "galactic region" a few thousand light years in diameter, and that is mistranslated into 20th century English as at the center of the galaxy.

Or maybe the Great Barrier is located somewhere on the mathematical central plane of the galactic disc and that is mistranslated for 20th century viewers as being in the center of the galaxy.

I can think of a few other explanations, but the point is that the lines of dialog in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier that say that the Great Barrier is at the center of the galaxy are canonical, but their accuracy is not necessarily canonical.

 

[Jetboogieman]

Everything in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is certainly canon. But not necessarily accurate.

The Great Barrier was not necessarily at the center of the galaxy, what is certain is that a few characters said that it was, and those few characters could be wrong. Maybe it is canonical that a few characters got the distance to the Great Barrier wrong by about 25,000 light years. Or maybe popular opinion insists that the Great Barrier is 27,000 light years from Earth but navigators know it is only 270 light years from Earth.,

Or maybe there is a mistranslation. Maybe the Great Barrier is at the center of a "galactic region" a few thousand light years in diameter, and that is mistranslated into 20th century English as at the center of the galaxy.

Or maybe the Great Barrier is located somewhere on the mathematical central plane of the galactic disc and that is mistranslated for 20th century viewers as being in the center of the galaxy.

I can think of a few other explanations, but the point is that the lines of dialog in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier that say that the Great Barrier is at the center of the galaxy are canonical, but their accuracy is not necessarily canonical.

Ergo, it's problematic.

 

[DonIago]

But not from the standpoint of whether or not it's canon.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Had Shatner NOT been in charge of directing TFF and the same script was used ... would its quantity of suck diminish? For example, had Nick Meyer been at the helm, for this outing ... would this movie have come off as being in any way compelling?

 

[Kronos]

I've never seen ST V problem as being direction, film is directed fine, the problem was always the story.

 

[BigDaveX]

Meyer would likely have refused to use the screenplay as written, and done the same sort of last-minute rewrite he did with The Wrath of Khan. But if it were a Nemesis-type situation where the director was contractually bound not to alter a single word of the screenplay, I doubt there's much another director could have done. Maybe make a few different choices in the editing room and cut out the sillier parts, but that's about it.