Forbidden Planet a faster-than-light starship of their own creation. It was also the first to be set entirely on another planet in interstellar space, far away from Earth. The Robby the Robot character is one of the first film robots that was more than just a mechanical "tin can" on legs; Robby displays a distinct personality and is an integral supporting character in the film. Outside science fiction, the film was groundbreaking as the first of any genre to use an entirely electronic musical score, courtesy of Bebe and Louis Barron. "Forbidden Planet"'s effects team was nominated for the Academy Award for
Robby the Robot by production designer Arnold "Buddy" Gillespie, art director Arthur Lonergan, and writer Irving Block. These concepts were refined by production illustrator Mentor Huebner and perfected by MGM staff production draughtsman and mechanical designer Robert Kinoshita. The robot's groundbreaking design and dazzling finish represented a radical advance on the conventional "walking oil-can" depictions of robots in earlier features and film serials, and the only previous film robot of comparable style and quality was the "Menschmaschine" created for Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927). However, this did not come cheap: As with every aspect of the production of "Forbidden Planet", MGM spared no expense