Gary Oldman.
I liked Pat Hingle fine in B89, he did the job as required. It's very Golden Age, a pretty much unimportant character who doesn't really know how to handle the Batman phenomenon, but ends up putting his trust in him. The movie didn't call for any collaboration between Batman and the police, so no relationship was established between Batman and Gordon, which is okay. It would have been nice if something more was built from the foundation layed in B89, but it never happened. Gordon was almost entirely absent from BR (which is a movie I absolutely adore, but has too many character arcs for its own good) and in BF and B&R he was simply played as a baffoon, a stock character used only to deliver some exposition in a VERY perfunctory manner.
The Gordon character from TAS was alright, but never really clicked with me for some reason. I liked that they played him as a real character, putting him in danger sometimes (episodes like Heart of Steel and What is Reality) and giving him true emotions (Over the Edge), but all in all he didn't have that much to do and was often portrayed as not being the sharpest knife in the drawer. This of course served as a means to get a lot of story explained quickly for the kids watching the show, but it's kinda disappointing. Especially cause he takes a lot more cues from recent interpretations of the character (DKR and 90ies comics) than Hingle's Golden Age Gordon, but never realised the potential. But hey, we should still be very glad with what we got, for a saturday morning cartoon, the characterisation of TAS was unparalleled.
Gary Oldman's Gordon is exactly how I want the character however. A complete lift from "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory", this is an honest cop trying against all odds to do his best in a hopeless city. I'm glad there's not more "Year One" Gordon in him, which I found too depressing a character (cynical, riddled with self-doubt, contemplating suicide, cheating on his pregnant wife). He wasn't used that much in BB, which was too bad simply because Oldman plays him SO well, but on the other hand, more Gordon wasn't exactly needed. There is a need for more of him in TDK, so it's great to hear he's so expanded upon in that movie. Oldman plays him as smart, trusting but not gullible, compassionate and completely in the thick of it. Simply love it!
