theora is supported in Mplayer after all.
EDIT: After checking, libtheora was installed on my machine hence the theora support.
sneaky, it supports theora but needs theora support. i will try it later, thank you for for your dedication.
despite my frustration with that particular video, curaga "converted me" to mplayer (nodeps) when no one else was able. it's what i use for mp3's, ogg vorbis, flv, mpg, in tc and ubuntu (very soon, just tc.)