I loved Thunderbirds but was always more of a Joe 90 and Captain Scarlett fan and later on Terrahawks, but whilst it was cutting edge back in the day, things have moved on.
The problem with supermarionation process was that it was damned expensive, each Thunderbirds episode cost between AU$850,000- $1,200,000 to make in today's money. But you definitely get more of a feel of love and care from the special effects and models than you do in CGI.
Everything looks better when you view through rose tinted glasses though. My kids were ok with the original Thomas, but loved the CGI version. Same with Thunderbirds. I thought the original Transformers cartoons were awesome when I was a kid so we bought the entire series on DVD for the kids. Watched the first episode and realised how rubbish the animation was compared to the new ones
