Filmsite lists several firsts “Forbidden Planet” achieved:

• the first film to be set entirely on a foreign planet in interstellar space, arrived at via hyperspeed travel on a flying saucer moving at more than 16 times the speed of light
• the first film in which a robot had a personality (and sense of humor), was more than just a boxy ‘tin-can’, and was given his own onscreen credit
• the first Hollywood film to have an all-electronic music score
• the first high-budget sci-fi film from MGM studios, with first-class special effects
• the first sci-fi film with a widescreen scope aspect ratio
• the film that initiated many genre ingredients for future sci-fi films (and TV shows)