Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas the Latest South Park Victims

If the aim of South Park, the long-running TV cartoon, is to shock, then it succeeded in the opening episode of its 12th series, aired Thursday night in the US.

The China Problem offered a novel interpretation of the most recent Indiana Jones movie, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: rather than being an irreverent piece of old fashioned cinematic high jinks, the film was actually about the rape of Indiana by his makers, Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas.

Three scenes in the episode show the two – possibly the most powerful film-makers in Hollywood – pinning Indiana Jones to the ground, pulling down his trousers and making him "squeal like a pig". One scene recreates the Jodie Foster rape scene from The Accused, with Indiana in the Foster role.

South Park has never been afraid to take on some of the most powerful figures in American culture: Tom Cruise was locked in a closet, Mel Gibson was lampooned in The Passion of the Jew, and Paris Hilton had an episode – Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset – devoted to her.The show's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, describe themselves as "equal opportunity offenders". Whether they have gone too far in attacking Spielberg and Lucas may be a question for Viacom, the owners of Comedy Central, the US channel that airs South Park. Viacom, coincidentally, also owns Paramount, the studio that owns the Indiana Jones franchise.