before times

"The Before Time" is a reference to the 1966 Star Trek episode "Miri" in which the Enterprise encounters a planet inhabited only by children, due to a pandemic infecting and eventually killing all the adults. The children refer to "the before time" as the time when adults were present. This episode was parodied in the South Park Episode "Wacky Molestation Adventure" in which the children claim to be molested and are subsequently removed from their adult guardians. In 2020, the phrase has come to mean the time before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, when people could freely associate and go to bars and parties.