I hadn't thought to connect it to that TOS episode before. In a lot of early FS, Crichton reads as an undercutting of the mythic status of Kirk. (I.e., according to FS, Kirk would actually be culturally ignorant, culturally incompetent, etc.) I do remember being mildly surprised in this episode that it wasn't Crichton who turned out to be the god. Against the context of "Paradise Syndrome", this episode could be read as a continuation of the undercutting of the Kirk myth.

Which makes me feel even more disappointed with "Jeremiah Crichton", actually. They were perhaps trying for some subversion of that old trope, and yet their subversion was just. so. inadequate. And their "subversion" was wholly centered on the white guy. :-/

...and that's a very generous reading of the episode. Mostly, it's just crap.