Supermarionation was a puppetry process invented by Gerry Anderson whereby the mouths of the puppets were synched to the script by special electrical wires, thus allowing for a much more "lifelike" appearence than conventional hand-manipulated puppetry allowed. As applied to his work (Thunderbirds, Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet, etc.) it did make at least some characters look less "puppetty" -- the physical constraints of scaling down such features as eyelashes, hair, and wrinkles to an 18" form made most female characters look a lot more convincing than his males (who, being almost to a man, rugged, action, types, tended to look wooden -- as they were!). The fact that at the time, women were encouraged to use mask-like makeup helped also...