I'd forgotten about the Criterion edition.  In fact, there are two "editions"
of "Forbidden Planet" in widescreen on laser disc (at least two).  The other
is released directly by MGM (and I don't know off hand whether there is any
production connection between the two).  While Criterion is done with great
care and attention and with supplementary material (and often produces a
somewhat beeter picture), these discs are usually more expensive (sometimes
a lot more--even at over $100--pretty expensive even when discounted) whereas
the studio version will usually be a lot less.  (Criterion, too, will often rele
   ase a less expensive version--usually later--of one of their editions.
 
                Jesse Kalin    Vassar