The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy started out as a serialised radio drama, but captured people's imaginations so 
powerfully that it was adapted into various different editions of novel, TV series, and even movie (of which we will not speak).

Arthur Dent and his travelling companion Ford Prefect become a great lens to examine the absurdity of life, everything and the Universe as they travel the cosmos following Earth's destruction not as a result of war or self destruction, but to clear space for an interstellar highway; effectively going out with both a whimper and a bang.