Batgirl - in Other Media

In Other Media

Portrayed by Yvonne Craig, the character's first adaptation outside of comic books took place in the third season of Batman (1967). Les Daniels, in Batman: The Complete History (2004) wrote that the goal of ABC was to "attract new audience members, especially idealistic young girls and less high-minded older men." According to Craig: "I used to think the reason they hired me was because they knew I could ride my own motorcycle ... I realized they hired me because I had a cartoon voice." A shared criticism of Batgirl and other female superheroes in television at the time (such as Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman), is that she was not allowed to engage in hand-to-hand combat on screen. As such, "her fights were choreographed carefully to imitate the moves of a Broadway showgirl through the use of a straight kick to her opponent's face rather than the type of kick a martial artist would use." However, Craig has also stated: "I meet young women who say Batgirl was their role model ... They say its because it was the first time they ever felt girls could do the same things guys could do, and sometimes better. I think that’s lovely." During the early 1970s, Craig portrayed Batgirl once again in a public service announcement to advocate equal pay for women.

Since Batman, the character has had a long history of appearances in television and other media. As Batgirl, Barbara Gordon plays a supporting role in a string of animated series, voiced by Jane Webb in The Batman/Superman Hour (1968), Melendy Britt in The New Adventures of Batman (1977), Melissa Gilbert in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Tara Strong in The New Batman Adventures (1997), Danielle Judovits in The Batman (2004), and Mae Whitman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008). In 2012, Batgirl will star alongside Supergirl and Wonder Girl in Super Best Friends Forever, a series of shorts developed by Lauren Faust for the DC Nation block on Cartoon Network. Barbara Gordon makes two cameo appearances in the first season of the animated series Young Justice, and is added as a recurring character in season two where she has adopted her Batgirl persona. Dina Meyer starred as Barbara Gordon in the television series Birds of Prey (2002). Although this series focused on her role as Oracle, the series included flash-backs of the character's history as Batgirl. A variation of the character is the Barbara Wilson Batgirl portrayed by Alicia Silverstone in the feature film Batman & Robin (1997). In addition to live-action television and animation, the character has appeared in a number of video games included in the Batman franchise. She appears in The Adventures of Batman & Robin and Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu voiced by Tara Strong. She also appears in LEGO Batman for the PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, and PlayStation Portable.